Removals History
As sales of new furniture steadily increased in the late 1940’s deliveries became a problem. The simple answer was to apply for a ‘B’ licence to transport furniture. After an initial refusal due to opposition from local transport rivals, they won their appeal and were now able to deliver furniture from the shop and carry out removals.
The household removals side of the business soon grew and a larger vehicle became necessary to cope with the demand. An 800cu ft furniture van was specially built at Tayfen Garage in Bury St. Edmunds followed by a second soon afterwards In 1953 Tim Reardon joined the firm, Tim was engaged to Jerry Glasswells daughter, Peggy and soon took over the running of the removals business which was developing our of the firm’s small fleet of delivery vehicles. When British Road Services firm Pickfords was de-nationalised in the mid 1950’s, their fleet of removals vehicles was put up for sales and Jerry and Leslie Glasswell took a trip to London and bought two of the,. This enabled Tim to considerably expand his side of the business.
Later on, in 1976, Tim handed over the removals to Fred Raison, who joined the first as a driver in 1969 and was to play an important part in the takeover of Howard and Moss, another local firm of removers, in 1988. Fred was eventually to take responsibility for removals, storage and furniture deliveries from the new Kempson Way warehouse.
Today, Glasswells removals and storage business operates from a 57,000 sq ft warehouse in Bury St. Edmunds, using a fleet of modern specially constructed removals vehicles manned by dedicated and experienced staff. There are also a number of smaller vans operating daily furniture deliveries throughout the region.
Over the past 60 years, Glasswells have moved thousands of families all over the country, some many times over. In more recent years, operations have moved further afield with the launch of an international service in 2004, handling removals and furniture deliveries throughout Europe and the rest of the world, whilst removals throughout the UK continue to grow.
