L & F Jones Holdings Ltd. was founded by Catherine Lucy Jones in Stratton-on-the-Fosse in 1911. It started trading as L & F Jones, named after Catherine's two daughters Leona and Frances.[2]
In 1929, the shop was replaced by a larger premises, which included a function room for catering dinners and wedding receptions. In 1936, the management was taken over by her eldest son, Basil Leo Jones. Four of Basil’s six sons (Laurence, Christopher, Peter, and Richard) joined the business in the 1960s. Each brother managed a local shop, located at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Peasedown St John, Paulton, and Trowbridge.[2]
The premises at Stratton-on-the-Fosse became the first wholesale cash and carry in the area. The business moved to premises in Radstock. The four shops were sold to enable the brothers to concentrate on growing the cash and carry business. As the business expanded a catering depot was purchased in Shepton Mallet in 1977.[2]
The company joined Landmark Wholesale, a consortium of independent wholesalers, in 1973 and are one of the group's oldest members.[3] In 1983, the cash and carry relocated from Radstock to its present site in Westfield. This has developed into Jones Food Services, a catering food service business.[2]
L & F Jones Holdings Ltd. purchased the Best Western PLUS Centurion Hotel near Westfield, Somerset (formerly the Fosseway Country Club). The Health Club was added in 2000.[4]
By 2010, the company had 16 shops within thirty miles of the head office at Westfield.[2]
In 2011, L & F Jones celebrated its 100th year, with current and former workers joining a celebration at the Assembly Rooms in Bath to mark the milestone. Among the four hundred people attending was Dorene James, who started working in 1939, aged 14, at Stratton alongside Mrs Jones.[5]
Jones Food Solutions
Jones Convenience Store, Fosseway shops, Westfield, Somerset.
The company’s wholesale/catering foodservice business operates from the depot located at its HQ in Westfield, Midsomer Norton, serving customers predominantly in Somerset and Wiltshire.[6]
Jones Food Solutions acquired Radstock's local butchery 'Paul Loader' in 2010 and claimed it will improve their offering for the local community and beyond.[7]
Landmark Wholesale named Jones Food Solutions as Out of Home Development Member of the Year in 2017.[8][9]
Jones Food Solutions won a Taste of the West Gold award for their Pork Sausages and their Pork & Cheddar Cheese Sausages in 2017. They also won a Highly Commended award for their Burgers, faggots and meatballs.[10]
Jones Food Solutions added online ordering for their customers, stating "we...make our system even better for our customers"[11][12]
In 2018, Jones Food Solutions were finalist for a Gold Taste of the West Award for their Marmalade Sausages.[10]
Jones Food Solutions won a Silver Taste of the West Award for their Pork Sausages, a Commended Award for their Pork Sausages, a Commended Award for Cheese Sausages and a Commended Award for their Gourmet Beef Burger in 2019.[10]
Jones Food Solutions became a member of SALSA in 2019.[13] the food and drink approval scheme.[14]
Jones Food Solutions won the Unitas Wholesale Annual Award for 'Foodservice Marketing Member of the Year 2018'.[15]
In April 2020, the company's wholesale and butchery divisions were acquired by Devon-based RD Johns Foodservice.[16]
Jones Convenience Stores
The company closed down its Jones convenience shop in Peasedown St John in 2008, blaming competition from the recent opening of a Tesco Express shop in the village.[17]
By 2010, the company had 16 shops within thirty miles of the head office at Westfield.[2]
In 2011, L & F Jones celebrated its 100th year, with current and former workers joining a celebration at the Assembly Rooms in Bath to mark the milestone.[5]
The chain had reduced to a total of twelve shops by 2016.[18]
Their Batheaston store returned to a five star food hygiene rating in August 2018[19] after it was awarded just one star in a food hygiene inspection in March 2018.[20]
L & F Jones Holdings put four convenience stores up for sale in 2018 after deciding to focus on a smaller number of outlets and invest in its wholesale business.[21]
Best Western PLUS Centurion Hotel & The Centurion Health Club
The Best Western PLUS Centurion Hotel near Westfield, Somerset
The Centurion Health Club was added to the premises in 2000.[4]
In 2002, the Centurion was host to the World Professional Billiards Championship.[22][23]
The Centurion Health Club won a Silver Health Club Award in 2001 and was voted as the second best gym in the South West.[24]
In 2012, for the second year running The Centurion Health Club wins a Silver Health Club Award, voted as the second best gym in the South West.[24]
The Hotels Head Chef Sean Horwood, earned the hotels restaurant two AA rosettes.[25]
On 15 February 2019, family member Fraser Jones (one of the chefs at the Best Western PLUS Centurion Hotel) wins Bronze in the Professional Challenge category at the Annual Chef v Chef Competition.[26]
Fifth Avenue Coffee
L & F Jones created '5th Avenue Coffee', an American style coffee shop in Trowbridge in 2011. The name was chosen to reflect the company's historical involvement with Fifth Avenue, New York (Basil Jones was an artist who created stained glass for the windows of St. Patrick’s Cathedral).[27]
Charity Fundraising
In 2011, L & F Jones helped to raise more than £13,000 at two charity events, for Kidney Research UK. They then set a target of £40,000 to raise before the end of the year.[28]
L & F Jones’ staff organised events in support of The Forever Friends Appeal in 2015. The Gala alone raised over £5,000, helping L & F Jones achieve a target of £15,000 for the RUH Cancer Care Campaign. Corporate Officer for The Forever Friends Appeal, Jo Common, commented: “L & F Jones has been an incredible supporter of The Forever Friends Appeal and their very significant donation of just over £15,000 will truly make a difference to the lives of our cancer patients at the RUH. [29][30]
In 2016 L&F Jones became a Corporate Partner of The Forever Friends Appeal. The Appeal presented the company with a commemorative Corporate Partner plaque to display in their office, to thank them for all their hard work and support in 2015.[31]
In 2018 L & F Jones held its 22nd Annual Charity Gala Dinner at the Best Western Plus Centurion Hotel. They were supporting their charity of the year, ‘The Nicola Corry Support Foundation’. The Gala is held every year, and has raised more than £100,000 for charities. The evening was attended by staff, customers, suppliers and a Nicola Corry Support Foundation representative.[32]
Related Research Articles
The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Exeter in the southwest and Lincoln to the northeast, via Ilchester, Bath, Cirencester and Leicester.
Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) is a unitary authority district in England. Bath and North East Somerset Council was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the county of Avon. It is part of the ceremonial county of Somerset.
Radstock is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, 9 miles (14 km) south west of Bath, 8 miles (13 km) north west of Frome, 12 miles (19 km) west of Trowbridge, 12 miles (19 km) north east of Wells and 18 miles (28 km) south east of Bristol. It is on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills and is 4 miles (6 km) south of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset and had a population of 5,620 at the 2011 census. Since 2011, Radstock has been a separate parish with a town council.
Sachertorte is a chocolate cake, or torte of Austrian origin, invented by Franz Sacher, supposedly in 1832 for Prince Metternich in Vienna. It is one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties.
Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, 10 miles (16 km) south-west of Bath, 10 miles (16 km) north-east of Wells, 10 miles (16 km) north-west of Frome, 12 miles (19 km) west of Trowbridge and 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Bristol. It has a population of around 13,000. Along with Radstock and Westfield it used to be part of the conurbation and large civil parish of Norton Radstock, but is now a town council in its own right. It is also part of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust is a UK-registered charity which owns the museum and railway at Midsomer Norton railway station. Commercial activities such as catering, retail services and the operation of public trains over the original trackbed come under the control of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway Company Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trust. It is separate to and should not be confused with the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust, which is located at the West Somerset Railway's Washford railway station.
Chilcompton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated in the Mendip Hills two miles south of Midsomer Norton and 3.0 miles south-west of Westfield. It is situated on the B3139 road between Radstock and Wells, close to the A37.
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since its 2010 creation, by Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative currently serving as Minister for Brexit Opportunities & Government Efficiency
Peasedown St John is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, standing on a hilltop roughly 5 miles (8 km) south-southwest of the city of Bath, and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Radstock at the foot of the Mendip Hills. Peasedown used to be a coal mining village, and after the last of the mines shut in the 1970s it became a dormitory village for Bath, Trowbridge and to a lesser extent Bristol. Its size was increased by substantial housing developments in the 1960s, 1970s and late 1990s, making it one of the largest villages in Somerset.
The Somerset Coalfield in northern Somerset, England is an area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973. It is part of a larger coalfield which stretched into southern Gloucestershire. The Somerset coalfield stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and from Bath in the east to Nailsea in the west, a total area of about 240 square miles (622 km2). Most of the pits on the coalfield were concentrated in the Cam Brook, Wellow Brook and Nettlebridge Valleys and around Radstock and Farrington Gurney. The pits were grouped geographically, with clusters of pits close together working the same coal seams often under the same ownership. Many pits shared the trackways and tramways which connected them to the Somerset Coal Canal or railways for distribution.
The Bristol and North Somerset Railway was a railway line in the West of England that connected Bristol with Radstock, through Pensford and further into northern Somerset, to allow access to the Somerset Coalfield. The line ran almost due south from Bristol and was 16 miles (26 km) long.
Bath College is a Further Education college in the centre of Bath, Somerset and in Westfield, Somerset, England. It was formed in April 2015 by the merger of City of Bath College and Norton Radstock College. The College also offers Higher Education courses and has its own Undergraduate building.
Radstock Co-operative Society is a small regional consumer co-operative, which was established in Radstock, Somerset, England in 1868 and today operates twenty food stores and across Somerset alongside a 1000 acre farm. It is owned and democratically controlled by its customer members, who numbered approximately 7000 in 2014. The society grew from a turnover of £15 million in 2006 to over £35m by 2016, doubling the number of stores over the period. The business has held the Fair Tax Mark since 2016.
Norton Radstock College was a further education college in Westfield, Somerset serving Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Westfield, Keynsham and surrounding districts in Bath, Bristol, Wiltshire and Somerset, England. In April 2015 it merged into Bath College, which continued to operate on the Norton Radstock College site as the Bath College Somer Valley campus.
Norton Hill School is a state school with academy status in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England. It is part of the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership academy group. It was formerly the Midsomer Norton Grammar School.
Somer Valley FM is a local community radio station in North East Somerset that serves Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Westfield and surrounding areas. It was launched in 2008.
The Midsomer Norton, Radstock and District Journal is a free weekly newspaper circulated in Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Westfield, and surrounding villages in Somerset.
Westfield is a settlement lying on the Fosse Way between Radstock and Midsomer Norton in Somerset, England. In 2011 it was raised to the status of a civil parish.
↑ Sethi, Geet (18 May 2002). "Advantage Nalin Patel". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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