Nearly 100 members of Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture were impressed by the diversity of the business and investment when they recently paid a visit to award-winning leisure company Salop Leisure in Shrewsbury.
Such was the demand for places that the chamber had to arrange two visits on June 6 and 13 to Salop Leisure’s Emstrey headquarters.
Chamber members were given guided tours of the company’s caravan and motorhome sales centre, the Love Plants specialist plants centre, Love Coffee restaurant and Love2Stay caravanning and glamping resort by managing director Mark Bebb, marketing manager Ed Glover and marketing officer Laura Wilde.
They discovered that Salop Leisure has satellite sales centres in Stourport-on-Severn and Machynlleth together with nine five-star holiday home parks in across Mid Wales.
Chamber secretary John Sumner explained that the visit to Salop Leisure was fully booked with 60 names within four days of the chamber’s social programme being announced at the annual meeting.
Due to the demand, a further visit was organised, taking the total number of members to have visited Salop Leisure to 95. “I can probably speak for members in saying that we were somewhat amazed by what we found,” said Mr Sumner.
“We had no idea of the variety and extent of the business and the investment involved. Our members are drawn from the farming and agricultural/rural service industries where investment and business diversification are key elements in securing their futures. We were so impressed by Salop Leisure’s vision and the quality of the work.
“We also learned about the company’s turnover and the revenue the business brings to Shrewsbury and Shropshire. The whole enterprise was a complete eye opener.”
The chamber, which has 320 members as well as 10 corporate members, was formed in 1866 and is one of only two in the UK that has a continuous record.
