John Bright Fencing and Country Store was established way back in 1982 by owner John Bright and his wife Bridget in the South of Dorset. To most people that means the lovely Jurrassic Coastline and the likes of Lulworth Cove and Chesil Beach; for John Bright it encompasses a happy hunting ground that also covers the surrounding counties of Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire.

A butcher by trade, John ran his own shop moving to working in a meat factory where he started early and was usually finished by nine or ten in the morning giving him the rest of the day free.

With so much time to spare, he began to erect fencing in the local area and as word got around, contracts started to roll in. Originally John had set up to supply the agricultural trade and backed that up with a lot of fencing erection work for house builders Bovis, but the housing market is a fickle place to make a living and as it went into decline in the early nineties, John spent more and more time developing his supply and retail business and expanding the range he carried to encompass the whole of the fencing market.

Around this time his wife, Bridget, came into the business full-time and five years ago Daughter, Beth, came to join them after college and working in veterinary nursing. The company moved onto its current 1.5 acre site in 1994 at Salway Ash (near Bridport).

This was a farm site and it wasn’t long before they knocked the original farm buildings down to make way for a new purpose built shop and offices. And three years ago John put up a new workshop to allow the manufacture of gates, chicken houses, dog kennels and garden furniture on site. Still maintaining their original roots in fence erection, John employs three teams of experienced fencers and they undertake contracts throughout the local area.Currently the company are just about a complete ‘one stop shop’ for fencing and related requirements in the South of England.

The purpose built shop is described by many of the company’s customers as ‘an Aladdin’s cave’ and stocks just about everything you would require be you farmer, sportsman, fencer or just odd job man. Deliveries are made throughout the Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon areas on a regular basis using five pick ups and one HGV tipper lorry.

Things seem pretty good in the Dorset fencing industry for John and his family and over the next few years he intends to increase his current customer base again and take on more bespoke work for his machine shop – especially doors and gates.

Family run companies become mainstays in local communities and valuable links in an industries
supply chain. For fencing in the South West of England, John Bright Fencing certainly seemed to have achieved this.

For more information, call 01308 421545, email sales@johnbrightfencing.com or visit www.johnbrightfencing.com