London City Bond celebrates 30 years in business

30 years ago, Ben Jones and Alf Allington founded London City Bond. Since then, it has grown, including its purchase of British & Foreign Wharf dating back to 1870, and developed into today’s LCB.

LCB’s “Olympus” warehouse

From one small warehouse on the north bank of the Thames at the Barrier, the estate has expanded to 10 sites throughout the whole of the UK , and executives say there is more to come.

As the demand for quality warehousing grows, so does the importance of providing a high level of customer service along with the back up systems support. “Put this into a mixture of demands from potential new customers of all shapes and sizes, the continued growth of our existing customer base and add in the hike in storage deemed by some customers as a necessary post Brexit precaution, and you arrive at the conclusion that even more capacity is needed,”  a spokesperson for LCB said.

Hence the latest acquisition to LCB’s portfolio – a new site at Melksham in Wiltshire. This consists of four former aircraft hangars each of which have been renovated with “particular emphasis on thermal resistance and industry led climate control systems.” A fifth hangar will become LCB’s transport hub for the South West region.

LCB have said that the first customer to occupy space at the Melksham site is Farr Vintners – “the world’s leading fine wine wholesaler”- who “perceived the advantages of dealing with LCB at this purposely designed site.”

An extension to LCB’s Global warehouse in Burton upon Trent is also under way, and agreements have been reached to acquire two further sites. The addition of a third site in Burton upon Trent, together with a new site in Leeds, will bring the total warehousing capacity to over 2 million square feet.

Over the years, LCB said it has “been fortunate in building the finest team of people for all aspects of the business.”

Managing director Alf Allington said: “our present market leadership places us in prime position for the next 30 years and beyond!”