Lincolnshire firm shares secrets to longevity amid economic challenges

We were delighted to be featured in an article by the Lincolnite recently in a feature on local Lincolnshire businesses that have survived and thrived for over a century.  Our MD, Nigel Bottom, spoke to journalist Joseph Verney about the Witham Group’s history and how the company has had to overcome challenges and adapt with the times.

Witham Group shares secrets to longevity amid economic challenges – Joseph Verney

Trading since 1921, Witham Oil & Paint Ltd is a privately owned, family-run business with its head office and lubricant manufacturing based in Lincoln. It also has a trade shop, decorating centre, and distribution warehouse in Soham, Cambridgeshire, as well as saying it is the first firm in the UK to blend its lubricants carbon neutral.

The business is today collectively known as The Witham Group and it is proud to have served its customers for over 100 years.

The company was the brainchild of Albert Edward Smith, whose great grandson is one of the existing directors.

The business started on the side of the Brayford Pool in Lincoln. Using the river Witham to transport raw materials, the business started off as the Witham Oil & Candle Company making bicycle oils, candles and carbide for local businesses.

A few years later Albert was joined by his two sons Arthur and George before Les Bottom came to work for the company as a sales person in the 1930s. Les’ son Geoff Bottom, aged 15, joined his father in the business in 1965.

The company moved premises from the original site to Webb Street in Lincoln in 1952. In 1968, the third generation of the Smith family joined Witham Oil & Grease, with Alan looking after the technical and financial side of the business.

By 1987, the Webb Street premises was not large enough to cope with the growth of the business and it moved to its current site on Outer Circle Road.

Les is the grandfather of Nigel Bottom – the firm’s current Managing Director who joined the company nearly 30 years ago.

When asked the secret to the firm’s success and longevity, he said: “The continuity of the team, good people giving their all for many years and fulfilling their ambitions, continued growth, and geographically expanding out. We pride ourselves on quality, value and service.”

“We started in 1921 on nothing and now blend in excess of £5m litres of lubricant a year, and employ 52 people from admin to delivery vehicle drivers, factory team and sales.”

“Mechanism is a big part of what we do, but we still need that human touch, and that’s key to our offering and to our customers.”

The coronavirus pandemic, and the ongoing cost of living crisis, presented challenges, but Nigel is proud of how the company has succeeded through them.

“We had a crisis meeting when the government announced people were to stay at home,” he said. “We only had to furlough less than 10% of the team.  As a manufacturer and a supplier to many, including the emergency services, we soon realised that we had to stay open.  We’ve seen harder times over the years of short supplies and inflation going through the roof. Covid was a time and place where we were as busy as ever.”

“The cost of living is much more prevalent currently from the point of view of bills going up at home, energy, mortgages, and trying to help our team on an individual basis. It’s not just about salary increases, but how we can help them.”

“Raw material supply can also be a challenge. Since Russia invaded Ukraine there have been shortages of key raw materials, and what is available is very expensive. We’ve had to pass some cost on to our customer base, but also continued to keep our focus on quality products.”

Nigel said the key has been ”people and retaining and finding new employees to work within the business”.

“Challenges are opportunities and I truly believe that,” he added. “Our average length of service is currently 16-and-a-half years over 52 people.

“We have two team members who collected 45 year service awards at a recent work event and we are super proud of the long-serving staff.

“We are also super proud of the Royal Warrant, given to us by Her Majesty the Queen in 1996, as we are one of only a handful in Lincoln that carries that.”

Lincoln factory foreman Martin King joined the company in 1977 when he was just 15.

He said: “The best thing about working for Witham is the people. It is a family business, with a family culture. If I ever have a query, I know it will get sorted.

“The way we blend has been one of the biggest changes in my time at Witham.

“We used to use mechanical mixing machines which would take about three hours per batch to manufacture the products, using huge amounts of gas to heat the raw materials.

“Now we use new ultrasonic blending technology which has greatly improved the speed and efficiency of our oil production, reducing the time to less than 30 minutes per batch and zero gas usage.”