When I first heard the name ‘Brads Fencing’, the image that came to mind was of an aussie surfer-dude type, passing the time between waves by making fences out of driftwood. How wrong I was. This company, located in Godalming, Surrey, is in fact one of the most traditional and respectable companies in the book, producing some of the finest gates and fences in the south since they began, back in 1946.

The story began back when Bert Steere and his brother, Fred, both decided to put their fencing skills to use by starting up their own company. With just Fred’s motorcycle and sidecar as transport, and a small collection of hand tools, the men started out in a shed at 22 Hare Lane, Farncombe, which was then owned by a dealer named Jim Nash.

The next big move was when brother-in-law Herbie Barnett joined forces, bringing a second motorcycle and sidecar to the now flourishing transport section of the enterprise! In 1948, the name Brads was born from the five names of the eight shareholders – Barnett, Robinson, Aldridge, Deeks and three members of the Steere family. The company grew quickly, soon employing three fencers and a clerk and purchasing the builders yard at no. 22 Hare Lane, where the business still stands today.

Brian and John Steere are now the managers of Brads, which specialises in the manufacture and erection of fencing – from cleft rail and closeboard to steel post and welded mesh ball screens. They manufacture a full range of wooden gates both standard and bespoke. All traditionally dry jointed and wooden pinned with framing of high quality imported European redwood. All fencing timber is home grown. Now with two full-time teams, Brads find themselves well known in the area, with the majority of their business coming through either word of mouth or by people taking note of the quality of their work, prompting them to ring the number on the van themselves.

Indeed, with their distinctive website and olde-worlde logo, the cream, black and red motif certainly stands out from the crowd. John tells me, “The company didn’t hire a fancy designer – it happened by accident. The original Directors bought a small lorry from Deekes and Steere (a local builder). They didn’t want that logo on it and happened to have a pot of cream paint sitting around, so they used that to paint the lorry temporarily, leaving the wings black but the colour sort of stuck!” The best advertising seems to happen on its own, it would seem.

John continues, “We’re also in the Yellow Pages and belong to Checkatrade, a local website set up for reviewing local tradesmen: if you log on to our website, the customer can immediately see what others have thought of our work.” And with clientele including the likes of Surrey County Council and the late Peter Sellers, there’s clearly nothing Goon-ish about Brads (I couldn’t resist).

It’s not all been rosy however, with the company suffering a major set back in the recession of the early nineties, forcing the business to reduce staff and regroup, which was a real blow to Brads’ morale. As John put it, “This was a very sad time, in which we lost a lot of promising young workers, but fortunately we managed to retain a nucleus of very capable and loyal staff, and with their co-operation we have fought back and are now again in a strong trading position.”

Strength comes from well formed roots, with Brads conserving the best of their skills and values, whilst also taking the company forward with the times, with the regular updating of their website and still constantly on the look out for new projects and jobs, as well as taking care of their regular custom.

John tells me, “I can still remember helping on the site as a school boy, in the days when sawn oak was delivered directly to site from the sawmill and all other work was carried out on the site by hand.” Today, a great deal of the preparation is achieved with the assistance of machinery, but John is proud of how little the company have changed: “Our workers still rely on the same skills as my father, and his father before that. It is comforting to know that during the sixty years of the company’s existence, we haven’t moved so very far, either in location or habit; from Bert, Fred and Herbie in heir shed at the end of Jim Nash’s garden.

To contact John or Brian call 01483 414745 or visit www.bradsfencing.com