Brighton Tools and Fixings is now in its third premises which it moved to about 10 years ago. Arthur Hyde set up the company in 1991 and changed its name to Brighton Tools and Fixings in 1993.

Arthur was formerly the Southern Area Director of a major tool and fastner distributor after serving as the Logistics Manager for Olivetti UK.

Arthur's entry into the nut and bolt company started inauspiciously but his attention to detail soon paid dividends. The first task he set himself was to look at all the correspondence and found more than £9000 worth of unprocessed orders. He then contacted the companies and arranged delivery of them, which turned the company from loss making to profit.

One of Arthur's customers owned a fixings company based in Hove and approached Arthur and asked him to run the company. Within weeks the owner had to go into hospital with a serious illness and Arthur was soon made MD.

The Hove based company was subsequently taken over by one of the leading UK tool and fastener distributors which in turn was taken over by a famous international company who embarked on a rationalization programme which eventually led to the closure of the Sussex operations.

Arthur was not prepared to sit around however, and looked for premises to set up his own business. He wanted to act quickly and asked an agent to look for suitable premises. He phoned business estate agent on a Thursday and all seemed to be going well but as not untypical in such situations he lost the premises when the owner accepted a different offer. Undaunted Arthur intensified his search and instructed the agent "I want to move in on a Monday and be open for Business on the following Monday". This time luck was on his side and he found a shop at 148 Trafalgar Street, which is a busy street near Brighton Station.

Arthur was able to get a lot of stock by using the contacts and reputation he had built in previous experience in the trade. In particular Rothenberger was particularly well featured in the early days. However, with very few exceptions almost all the key players opened accounts with Arthur's Company which was originally called Power Tools and Fixings Ltd.

However some confusion arose with a similar named company so Arthur changed the name to Brighton Tools and Fixings Ltd.

The company soon outgrew the premises and moved to into what was formerly an Alldays supermarket, in the Hollingbury area of Brighton.

As mentioned previously the company moved into much bigger premises ten years ago when the Hollingbury premises became too cramped for the expanded business.

The balance of the business is changing with Tools prices increasing while fasteners prices coming down.

Brighton tools and Fixings has always aimed to be selective with its range and focuses on the higher end brand leaders. It has been particularly successful with Atlas Copco and Milwaukee in the power tool area and recently became involved with Festool as well as having a good relationship with Hitachi.

Arthur firmly believes that this business is down to personalities. And speaks well of a wide variety of suppliers. Draper made a determined effort and the Company and did well with the Draper display scheme.

Brighton Tools and Fixings also sell a lot of Trend products and always use Toolbank because of the service. If Toolbank have it, the product will be delivered to the company tomorrow.

Brighton Tools and fixings already have a web presence but Arthur hopes to see that improve and grow. The company now has three Directors: Arthur, his son Matthew Hyde and Andy Nash. These three men work well with a team of nine tool and fastener specialists to serve customers over a wide area of South East England.

As a well known personality in THS, Arthur has retained the astuteness of his background as an East End grammar school boy from London. He speaks highly of THS and mentions the social side of networking with colleagues in the industry almost as much as the business contacts he he has made. Arthur said: "THS has undoubtedly helped us grow". The organisation's focus on individual company needs is one of its strengths and Arthur looks forward to that being expanded and continued in the future.