Member Article

Swinburne Maddison cleans up with Poppies deal

Swinburne Maddison, Durham City’s pre-eminent law firm, and one of the leading law firms in the North East, has acted on the sale of ‘Poppies Durham’, a cleaning business based in Framwellgate Moor.

The business which uses the ‘Poppies’ brand name and employs approximately 40 members of staff was sold for an undisclosed sum . It was operated by current owner, Elizabeth Richardson for 34 years prior to her retirement. Elizabeth started the business in 1983 and through hard work and excellent customer service, grew it substantially over the intervening years. As a testament to the excellent service provided by Poppies a number of clients and staff have been with the company for over 25 years.

Speaking about the transaction, Sarah Carr, the solicitor who acted on behalf of Elizabeth, said: “It is always gratifying to win new work as a result of a recommendation, which was the case here. Although we regularly work on larger transactions, our approach and experience in respect of small to mid-market deals allows us to offer a tailored and efficient service and we are delighted to take on this instruction at a time when Elizabeth wished to sell her business at the end of a very long career.

“Swinburne Maddison was perfectly suited to the task not only because ‘Poppies Durham’ is almost on our doorstep, but because our team is well versed at working on behalf of SME business owners. We are committed to achieving the best outcome possible for every client irrespective of the size of the business.”

Poppies, which is a national franchise, provides a wide range of home-cleaning services including regular cleaning and ironing as well as house removals cleaning and services to landlords, light commercial cleaning, independent living assistance and second home services.

Reputed to be the most trusted local name in home cleaning services, Poppies Durham operates throughout the Co Durham area with customers from as far afield as Lanchester and Consett across to Washington and Houghton le Spring and south to Sedgefield, Bowburn and Sherburn.
Its new owners, Jonathan Marinan and his partner, Nicola Bowron, have entered into a new franchise agreement with Poppies (U.K.) Ltd. Nicola said:

“I have known Elizabeth for many years and when we heard she was keen to retire, it seemed to be the ideal business opportunity for us. The company has a tremendous reputation and very loyal customers. It is the longest established ‘Poppies’ business in the UK, so it was also a prestigious enterprise to be involved in and we are very pleased that Elizabeth decided to sell to us.

“We are settling in at the moment and getting to know one another following the transaction, which went without a hitch - so there has been a seamless transition for current customers who can expect the same high standards of service from Poppies in the future.

“We are already looking for new cleaning staff because we are very busy. However, in the New Year we plan to start a marketing campaign to develop the business further within the Durham area. Elizabeth would like to personally thank all of the clients, staff and suppliers for their loyalty and dedication to Poppies and wishes everyone well for the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Bosnyak .