Shoe and key cutting chain chief wants Brexit
THE chairman of Manchester-based cobbler and key-cutting chain Timpson is backing a British exit from the European Union in the June referendum.
Self-proclaimed maverick John Timpson, 72, told listeners to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs a Brexit would be a risk worth taking.
He said “risk-averse, process-driven sorts of people” would prefer to stay in, but people like him would be more likely to want out.
“People like me, who are a bit of a maverick, think, ‘Give me a chance to have a go, free me some of the red tape,” he said. “I’m more a character who’s likely to want to be out than in.
“But it wouldn’t make much difference to our business either way, because a lot of stuff that comes down from the EU, if I don’t agree with it, we do it our way.”
Timpson has more than 1,400 outlets across the UK and was launched by Timpson’s great-grandfather in 1865.
Daily Telegraph columnist Timpson is widely known for his upside down management approach which aims to empower his emplyees, one in 10 of whom is a former offender.
