History

Thurlow Nunn Standen is very much a family concern. Our current Chairman John Thurlow's great Grandfather George Thurlow set up in business in Stowmarket, Suffolk in 1875 as an oil merchant and engineer. From these humble beginnings the Company moved into the supply of steam engines and threshing tackle to become one of the country's leading distributors. From steam the company moved into agricultural machinery and is now one of the leading Massey-Ferguson distributors in Europe.

L to R: Jeremy Nunn, Sally Tew, James Thurlow and Chris Tew.
John Thurlow is seated.

Considerable growth has taken place since 1875. In 1970 George Thurlow & Sons Ltd merged with their neighbouring Massey-Ferguson dealer F.J Nunn and doubled the size of their business at that time by becoming Thurlow Nunn & Sons Ltd. In 1985 Thurlow Nunn & Sons Ltd purchased another Massey-Ferguson dealer, F A Standen & Son Ltd, then trading in the Cambridgeshire area, to become Thurlow Nunn Standen Ltd, again doubling the size of their business.

John Thurlow took over the running of the business in 1968 when his Father died. He is now Chairman of the holding company, George Thurlow & Sons (Holdings) Ltd and his son, James, has responsibility for the day-to-day management of the business following his appointment as Managing Director during 2006.  John's daughter, Sally Tew, was appointed Personnel Director at the begining of 2005.  James and Sally are the fifth generation of the Thurlow family to become involved in the business and Jeremy Nunn continues the Nunn family's involvement. Jeremy is a Director and has responsibility for the Specialist Installations Division (SID). Chris Rutterford, who has served 43 years with the Company and was first employed as Office Junior in the Sales Office at F A Standen & Son Ltd, is chairman of the company.

The Group now employs approx. 500 people, with an annual turnover of approx. £100 million, and operates from 14 sites throughout East Anglia in the supply of agricultural machinery and irrigation equipment, motor vehicles and the manufacture and erection of steel framed buildings.

In 1982 the Company purchased a small interest in a Vauxhall garage and this led to a major investment in the Vauxhall franchise, with Thurlow Nunn Standen now owning eight Vauxhall garages in East Anglia located at Dereham, Fakenham, Holt, King's Lynn and Wisbech; with the purchase of Warwick Shubrook during 2005 this added Great Yarmouth, Diss and Beccles.

In addition to Vauxhall, Thurlow Nunn Standen also operates a Toyota franchise at St Ives in Cambridgeshire and Saab in Norwich and Kings Lynn.  In 2005 with the purchase of Warwick Shubrook we added the Chevrolet Norwich brand to our porfolio of franchises.  Vince Courtney was appointed Managing Director of our vehicle interests during 2005.

Thurlow Nunn Standen Ltd is a Company based on tradition that prospers from the reputation it has established over the past 100 years. We believe that being part of a traditional, family business gives our employees a sense of pride in the service we offer to our customers. We have a loyal and committed staff and feel immensely proud to have awarded almost 100, 25 year, long service awards.