Call : 020 8688 7063

History of F Smith & Son

F Smith & Son Have Been Trading for Over 90 Years

F Smith & Son is a family run business, covering South London, Surrey and Kent areas.

The company has been established for over 90 years, giving us extensive knowledge and experience, in all aspects of furniture handling and removals. So whether you are moving locally or nationally, from a small flat to a large stately home you can rely on us to carry out your removal in a personal, professional and friendly manner.

History

F Smith & Son are very proud to be home grown family business offering a wide range of skills to the services industry. Outlined below is a chronological illustration of how the company started and some key changing points in its past.

1930’s Frank Smith Senior sets up the business named ‘Smith’, focused on furniture upholstery and local deliveries.

The company was established in 1930 by Frank Smith (Senior). The initial set-up of the company was as furniture upholsterers.

Frank Senior had a shop located on Derby Road, Croydon and offered collections and deliveries of furniture in the local area as an integral part of his furniture restoration process. His shop doubled up as a show room which he used to sell second hand furniture to the general public.

Frank Senior’s renowned upholstery skills helped him secure on a new contract providing a repair services for the General Universal Stores group (GUS), including Jays and Woodhouse. These businesses also enlisted Frank’s vehicles and staff to handle their furniture distributers from their shops within the local area.

1940’s Frank Smith Junior joined his father and they renamed the business ‘F Smith & Son’,

Continued Furniture upholstery and local deliveries, opened a shop and offered Removals.

Frank junior joined his father’s business and between them they continued the furniture re-upholstery and local deliveries.

Their small fleet of vehicles were very sought after by the local community. They were often approached by locals for assistance with moving home. It was at this point that Frank Smith (junior) saw an opportunity to better utilise the vehicles. It was during this period that our removals business was born, initially starting as a side-line alongside the upholstery and delivery work.

1970’s Richard Smith entered into partnership with his father Continued Furniture Upholstery, local deliveries, shop, Removals and started Collections around London.

With Frank junior’s deteriorating health and fast approaching retirement, Richard joined his father in the business at the age of 18. Offering a new lease of life to F Smith & Son. Richard secured further local delivery contracts with Contrast Furnishers (Purley Oaks Centre, Croydon and Reigate High Street) and Verralls (Wimbledon, Tooting, Morden), during this period the contracts progressed from shop deliveries to collections from Manufacturers within London and deliveries back to the local shops.

A Trusted & Reputable Removals Company

Fsmithand Son Bromley

1980’s Sue Smith acting as a part time book keeper. Continued Furniture Upholstery, shop, local deliveries, Removals, London Collections and Nationwide Distribution

With Frank and Richards wealth of experience in removals and furniture handling, Richard saw further opportunities to target other manufacturers offering distribution services nationally for clients such as Foster Clark Ltd Furniture Manufacturers, Northampton Cabinets and Buckingham Furniture (Larkswood), leading to a point where they often had 3 or 4 vehicles covering the country each week.

New premises were sought continuing to sell the re-upholstered goods and various other nick knacks to the local area. They took on a shop and residence on the corner of Selsdon Road and Croham Road. Parking vehicles on the one way system at Spurgeons Bridge, St James Road, Croydon.

Richard continued to operate removal services within the local area, growing their presence as a removals and transport company. By this point, Frank junior had retired from active participation in the business, leaving Richard acting alone, with Sue Smith acting as part time bookkeeper for the company.

As the trade started to decline, F Smith & Son sold their premises on the corner of Selsdon Road and Croham Road, discontinuing upholstery and retail side of the business, and moved office’s to Norfolk Avenue, Sanderstead.

1990’s Increased Removals, Introduction of Storage, decreasing volumes of furniture distribution

As a direct result of the recession in the early 1990’s, the reproduction furniture trade dropped off and Richard’s attention was focused on the Removals section which was running alongside his distribution work.

F Smith & Son started parking vehicles at Selsdon Goods Yard, Selsdon Road, Croydon, alongside another local removal company. With use of their storage facilities, Richard ventured into the Storage market which was growing at the time and was closely linked with the Removals part of the business.

2000’s Specialists in Removals (Domestic and Commercial), and Storage. Change of premises improving its efficiency.

Outgrowing the facilities at Selsdon goods yard, F Smith & Son moved locations to Mill Lane, Croydon, where large amounts of warehousing, office space and parking were readily available through a self storage company. This allowed for Richard to consolidate the business and improve efficiency by having all aspects of the business close together.

Following the collapse of the distribution market in the 1990’s, Richard had rebuilt the business back to full strength by focussing his efforts in the removals and storage sector. He had taken the business to a point where the business was thriving.

2002 John Smith joined his father, providing the much needed assistance to Richard. Further expansion of the Removals and Storage business.

John Smith joined his father (Richard) at the age of 23, offering extra capacity to the company in which to grow within the Removals and Storage sector. The company was well positioned in the local area and John’s fresh eyes working alongside Richard’s wealth of experience allowed quick expansion of the business.

2004 F Smith & Son was incorporated and became F Smith & Son (Croydon) Ltd

A major change was made to the company taking it from Sole trader ownership to an incorporated company trading as F Smith & Son (Croydon) Ltd.

John also achieved his Certificate of Professional Competence and became operations manager.

2006 Change of Premises to Endeavour Way, Croydon, 7000sqft unit. The whole business under 1 roof. David Smith joined his father and brother adding another dimension to the business. International operator’s licence was granted creating International & European moving capacity.

F Smith & Son had outgrown the facilities at Mill Lane and decided to make a major step by taking on a 7000sqft unit on Endeavour Way, Croydon, incorporating the office, warehouse and yard space all in 1 location.

With the business going from strength to strength, David Smith also joined his father (Richard) and brother (John) at the age of 24. This provided a great platform for F Smith & Son to further develop into other areas of the business that complement the nationwide removals and storage sectors. With John and David developing these other sectors, F Smith and Son has developed a high competence in a range of storage solutions for domestic and commercial clients together with being able to offer International and European relocations.

2007 Sue Smith joined the family full time as book keeper and secretary

Sue Smith started to work full time as book keeper and company secretary, alongside her responsibilities as a director.

2010’s Specialists in Removals (Domestic and Commercial), Storage (Containerised, Loose, Archive), International Relocations, European Relocations

With storage booming and an increase in the quantity of vehicles that were being operated, F Smith & Son decided to take on an additional 3500sqft unit for additional office and warehouse space.

Today F Smith & Son continues to deliver high quality services in each sector of its business.

Any future development will be to consolidate the position as market leaders in the local area, offering a highly professional, friendly and personal service to each and every one of its clients.

Our office staff are on hand to offer advice and assistance at any stage throughout the removal process, so don’t hesitate to ask us and benefit from our knowledge.

Our friendly removal crews are all highly trained in the art of moving and are supplied with the best materials and handling equipment currently available. This ensures that your possessions are handled with the utmost care.

FSmith-and-Son-Removals-Croydon-London
House-removals-Croydon-Surrey-London Sevenoaks

House / Flat Removals

If you are moving home however big or small, we can provide a removal service to suit your needs. We are able to offer local and National deliveries alongside many other services.

Office removals Croydon 1

Office Relocation

If you're considering
moving your whole office
to new premises or just a small team internally, we can provide the expertise that is required to successfully manage the relocation.

Storage-services-Croydon

Storage Services

Need extra space at home or at the office?
Moving out but don't
have a new property to move in to?
We have the perfect solution with our range of storage services.

Packing-services-header

Packing Services

we offer a well priced professional packing
service where our team
will come to your property to prepare your goods for removal. This can be a full or part ( fragiles only ) packing service

Not Available For A Site Visit? Try Our Video Survey

We can provide high quality, professional video surveys. These surveys will still be conducted by our experienced removal and storage surveyors, however, they will be conducted at arm’s length by video survey technology. Our video estimators are available:

  • Monday to Friday 08:00 – 18:00
  • Saturday 09:00 – 13:00