When I sold my old business, which I built up over more than 40 years, the plan was to retire from the business I’d been part of since the late 1960s when I started my apprenticeship. I always intended to stay in business, but a return to plumbing game was not in my plans.

But it soon became very clear that the Americans who bought Pimlico Plumbers didn’t have the passion or expertise to grow the business as they planned.

They saw how well we were doing, bought the company, then changed everything, so it’s no surprise to me when I hear they were half a million quid down on their 2025 September target.

Watching from the outside was painful and I soon came to regret selling my life’s work. That was the actual moment WeFix London came into being in my head. My son Scott and grandson Ashley were up for the challenge of building a new company from scratch, as CEO and MD, respectively.

If it wasn’t for the way the new owners treated the business, letting standards of workmanship and customer service slide, there wouldn’t have been a reason for WeFix to exist. But there was a reason; the premium service Londoners used to rely on no longer existed. So, back we came – three generations of my family – growing our new venture month on month.

Last month (September) was a record month for WeFix , beating the previous month (that was also a company record) by 15%. And the thing that tells me we made the right decision to go again is when I hear that Pimlico were 12.5% down on their September target, which adds up to a £500k miss.