Property Interview: John and William Gaunt, owners of Sunny Bank Mills

Cousins John and William Gaunt are this year marking a decade since they set about transforming their family business with more than 150-years of weaving history into a successful mill re-development.

The duo are the sixth generation of the family business, which made its name on a worldwide platform as a high quality textiles manufacturer. Weaving first began at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley in 1829, and Harry Gaunt bought the premises in 1917.

Both John and William joined the firm when the business was still weaving, having both studied textiles and grown up around the trade. In their roles, they travelled the world selling cloth and generating orders; in fact, towards the end of the textile firm’s life, 95% of its trade was exporting.

Ten years ago, in 2008, the cousins made the hard decision to close the manufacturing firm. Now, they are eight years into a major re-development of the whole site, which currently houses more than 70 businesses as well as arts and meeting spaces. And more is yet to come under its masterplan, which will later this year see disused buildings demolished and in the coming years further buildings added to the ten-acre footprint.

In 2008,  they employed around 70 members of staff and the business had a turnover of around £3m; but they needed £5m to break even. At its height of manufacturing, the textile business employed hundreds of people, mainly from the surrounding area.

They tried to further diversify the business and break into sectors including the aerospace industry but sold the business to Bulmer and Lumb Group when they felt it was no longer a viable proposition to keep going.

“The value had gone out of weaving. So we had to think of a way of turning around the family business and forging a new way forward. It was a very hard decision, and very sad,” said John.

William added: “But we were fortunate in that we had the asset of the mill; we recognised that it certainly wasn’t without its charm.”

The pair wanted to raise the profile of Farsley and attract people to use the mill building – part which had also been used as a film set for both Emmerdale and Heartbeat – for mixed business and community use.

“The opportunity to develop the mill was just too good to miss. We had a real vision of re-claiming the employment that had been lost on the site,” added John.

The pair sold assets of the business, including much of the machinery, and have since self-financed the re-development of the site. John said: “More than ten years of income has now been poured back in to Sunny Bank Mills. You can’t re-develop a building of this scale all at once, we are doing it phase by phase. But £1m a year is being invested in the site and when our income streams increase further we will be able to ramp that investment up.

“Around 300 people are employed on the site at the moment, across more than 70 businesses. But around 600 people employed here are the levels we would like to get to,” said John.

As well as the creative businesses that base themselves at Sunny Bank Mills, there is also studio space for people to use and community areas for rent  – so the whole mixed-use site is accessible to as many people as possible. William said: “Our family has a connection to the arts and the arts is a fantastic re-generator.”

Of course, the re-development has not come without its challenges; namely the recession. The cousins said their hard work, passion and commitment to the re-generation of the building saw them through those extremely tough times.

“We set out on this journey in a recession and this site costs money just to sit still. We knew we had to get the income in to break even before we spent £1m a year in capital. That was a major achievement for us. ” added John.

Asked whether they are now seasoned property developers, the pair said they don’t think of themselves in this context but were clear in their vision as to what they are looking to achieve in the coming years. This will include sympathetic new buildings erected on the site and the demolition of unused buildings to create a bigger courtyard space; as well as ambitions to build an arts centre.

John said: “The core principle of this business is being honest, straight-forward, innovative and imaginative.”

William said the weaving business built up a reputation for high quality goods and so their were looking to achieve the same stance in the property sector. He added: “We have been the transitional generation and our aim is to run a debt-free property investment.”

The pair said there is a further ten years of investment and re-development to come. John added: “We are enhancing the most amazing historical mills for the first time in generations. The journey we have ahead it still very exciting.”