Celebrating 50 years of Spinney: UK’s trusted dealer

Fifty years ago, the Spinney business began at its original site in Chelford, Cheshire, when Ben and Charlie’s father began a motorhome and car dealership and quickly moved solely into selling motorhomes.

The company grew and eventually moved to the current site in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire where a new showroom, workshop and facilities were built. As Spinney continued to grow, the family involvement increased, starting with Nick (Ben and Charlie’s older brother) followed by the two younger brothers all working alongside their father, also called Nick.

Ben explains: 

“Unfortunately the family experienced some terrible years, loosing Nick junior who was aged 26, in 2010, to a sudden heart attack and, later, Nick senior aged 56 in 2012 after a battle with cancer. From this date, we have headed the business to keep the Spinney legacy going,” 

Since then, the business continued to grow by acquiring more outlets. This started with North Staffs Caravans in 2015 and then Flintshire Caravans in 2018. 

Charlie added: 

“The desire to grow always remained although slowed by Covid, we waited for the right locations to become available. We have been offered many sites across the UK; however, we waited until the right size, location and, most importantly, cultural match became available,”

Then, last year, an opportunity arose to acquire the White Arches from administration and BroadlaneKenilworth prior to Broadlane going into administration.

“The acquisition of these sites happened in an extremely short time period, both took place in the first half of 2024. Myself and Ben both understood that, although we had been put into our position through horrible passings, we wanted to create our own legacy at Spinney. We knew that our dad had given us an extremely strong starting point with brilliant foundations. However, we wanted to grow Spinney to be UK-wide and not just northwest based.

"Both of these locations are very well respected, long-standing dealerships with teams on site who have a very in-depth knowledge of how the industry works... We felt that, given the right direction, these sites would flourish and we are seeing that already. We have plans to develop these locations over time.

"Currently we have no immediate plans to expand. However, if a location became available that suited Spinney, we are always looking to improve and develop. Our focus and energy currently are centred on our sites; looking for ways to improve our customer journey and internally striving for efficiencies to ensure the future of Spinney remains bright. As a company we know we can improve and as a management team we are always looking how this can be implemented, we remain passionate about being the very best we can be.

"Spinney, of course, sells the trio of leisure vehicles – motorhomes, caravans and campervans – and, while some dealers are focussing less on caravans, Spinney intends to continue to sell all three.

Many people have an assumption that Spinney is a motorhome dealer; they are in fact a caravan, motorhome and campervan dealer with zero intention of changing this. Indeed, 50% of all its sales are caravans.