Bishop's Move held a meeting in May to discuss the Bishop's Move brand and franchise developments.

Bishop’s Move, the UK’s largest privately owned removals company, has held a ‘Franchise Forum’ where 11 franchises that operate under the company’s banner met to discuss brand and franchise developments. The meeting, which took place on 19 and 20 May 2011, was held in Weston-Super-Mare city centre at Nightingale’s new offices – which operates a Franchise as Bishop’s Move Bristol.

This ‘Franchise Forum’ is arranged for franchises and trial franchises to get together to understand Bishop’s Move’s business. Bishops has added six franchises in 2011 with another four being trialled. With several potential contracts up for discussion, Bishop’s Move wanted to ensure that everybody understood the requirements.

Bishop’s Move’s franchises have been carefully selected to ensure that they continue the service levels of the brand across the UK, many of which cover postal codes and various areas of business which may require specialist knowledge, and may not be covered by the Bishop’s Move Group depots.

The forum was led by Nigel Bishop, Franchise Director and Joint Chairman of Bishop’s Move, and was also attended by Alistair Bingle, Bishop’s Move Managing Director.

“It was good to have such a well-attended and positive franchise forum spread over the two days,” said Nigel. “When selecting a Franchisee, we always look for service levels, membership of BAR and family businesses which have a similar philosophy to those of Bishop’s Move.  We want them to run their businesses under their own family name in conjunction with our brand.”  He added: “Once that trial franchise feels comfortable working with Bishop’s Move, we will offer it a franchise covering a specific area and will ensure that all our enquiries in that area are handed over to that franchisee.  On their part, the franchisee will develop the brand in ways such as vehicle livery, uniform, Bishop’s Move materials, Bishop’s Move telephone and Bishop’s Move advertising. We very much look forward to putting these plans into action in the coming months.”

Bishop’s Move currently has eight franchisee companies with another four currently on trial. The company is looking for additional franchisees particularly in northern Scotland, Kent, Hull and Solihull.  To find out more contact Nigel Bishop at nigel.bishop@bishopsmove.com

Some of the attendees of the Bishop's Move forum.