Award-winning Scottish hospitality operator Buzzworks has announced plans to acquire The Royal George Hotel in Perth, marking its first move into Perthshire and the latest step in the group’s expansion into accommodation. Located close to Perth Bridge and overlooking the River Tay, The Royal George Hotel has been at the heart of Perth’s hospitality scene for more than 250 years, with the planned acquisition marking an exciting new chapter for the landmark venue. Missives have now concluded on the acquisition of The Royal George Hotel, with planning proposals for the transformation of the venue set to be submitted. The acquisition is expected to complete in January 2027. Until then, The Royal George Hotel will continue to operate as normal under its current ownership. Following completion, the hotel will temporarily close for a major refurbishment programme and the transformed venue is expected to reopen later in 2027. Following a major seven-figure redevelopment, The Royal George Hotel will join Buzzworks’ signature House Collection, bringing together timeless, stylish and comfortable bedrooms with a welcoming pub and restaurant at its heart. The transformation will create a distinctive destination where guests can eat, drink and stay while enjoying everything the Fair City has to offer. The Royal George will join Buzzworks’ growing portfolio of award-winning venues across Scotland, which includes well-known brands such as Scotts, Lido and Herringbone, alongside its expanding House Collection of pubs, restaurants and rooms. The project represents another significant step in the family-founded hospitality group’s expansion into accommodation, while establishing Buzzworks in Perthshire for the first time. Designed for golf breaks, couples’ getaways, family stays and business travel, guests can expect exceptional hospitality, great food and drink and stylish, comfortable bedrooms, all delivered with the warm, relaxed service Buzzworks is known for. The redevelopment will build on everything that makes The Royal George special, reimagining the restaurant, bedrooms and guest spaces while introducing a new pub and enhancing the hotel’s historic ballroom. Led by internationally acclaimed designer Jim Hamilton, the transformation will celebrate The Royal George Hotel’s rich heritage and distinctive character while introducing Buzzworks’ signature approach to hospitality, with a focus on timeless design, quality craftsmanship and creating warm, welcoming spaces that feel genuinely rooted in Perth. As part of the acquisition, the existing team at The Royal George Hotel will be offered opportunities in the wider Buzzworks business, with the company committed to supporting team members throughout the transition. When the hotel reopens, there will also be exciting opportunities to be part of the new-look venue, with access to the training, development and career progression that Buzzworks is known for. Kenny Blair, CEO at Buzzworks, said: “The Royal George Hotel has an incredible history, and we’re delighted to have the opportunity to welcome such a well-known Perth landmark into the Buzzworks family." “Hospitality has been at the heart of this site for more than 250 years, with its prominent position overlooking the River Tay and long-standing role within the city’s hospitality scene making it a very special venue. There is so much about The Royal George that we want to celebrate and build upon." “This also marks an exciting milestone for us as our first move into Perthshire. We’re looking forward to becoming part of the local community, building on the hotel’s fantastic legacy and creating something that Perth can be proud of for many years to come." “We look forward to sharing more details on our plans and welcoming everyone through the doors once the hotel reopens.” Eddie Anderson, owner of The Royal George Hotel, said: “After more than 26 years at The Royal George, it’s a bittersweet moment for us. Having celebrated my 80th birthday recently, I realise nothing can last forever, and January will bring to a close more than 45 years for me in the hotel industry here in Perth." “It has been a wonderful journey, and I’d like to thank the many guests who have supported us and all the members of staff, past and present, who have been part of the hotel over the years." “I’m delighted that Buzzworks will be taking The Royal George into its next chapter. They are an award-winning Scottish hospitality business with exciting plans for the hotel, and I’m confident its future is in very good hands." “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved here and excited to see what the future holds for The Royal George. I’ll certainly be popping back in once the transformation is complete.” Buzzworks is a B Corp-certified business and has been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Companies to Work For for ten consecutive years. The group currently operates 25 award-winning bars and restaurants across Scotland and was named Best Managed Pub Company in the UK (under 51 sites) at the 2025 Publican Awards. To find out more with Buzzworks visit here. Photo: Historic city centre hotel to join leading hospitality operator’s growing House Collection portfolio

A family-owned business is taking on some of the world's biggest battery markets after transforming itself from a specialist distributor into an advanced manufacturer in just five years. Avocet Materials Group has built a 29-strong manufacturing and R&D operation in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, developing specialist components for lithium-ion batteries which it says had previously only been manufactured in Asia. Its products are used within Formula One (F1) battery applications, as well as aerospace, defence, electric vehicles and energy storage applications. The business exports 99% of its battery products to markets including China, Japan and the US. Now, having grown turnover from £1.5m to £3.5m, including around 25% sales growth this year, the speed and scale of Avocet's transformation has prompted the company to take stock of the systems, technology and leadership needed for its next phase. It is working with Made Smarter North West, the government-backed programme helping SME manufacturers grow and innovate through digital technology and skills, to improve productivity, increase capacity and build the foundations for further expansion. Kieren Hall, CEO, said: “When you think that five years ago we didn't manufacture anything, what we've achieved is pretty remarkable. We've built a manufacturing operation from scratch, developed our own technology and we're now making specialist components for lithium-ion batteries in Cheshire for some of the most demanding applications in the world." “We're exporting 99% of our battery products and selling into countries with some of the biggest battery industries in the world, including China and Japan. For a business of our size to be competing internationally at that level is something we're incredibly proud of.” Founded in 1996 by Kieren's father, Graham, Avocet began life as a specialist metals distributor before moving into manufacturing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Backed by a £1.4m Innovate UK grant through the Advanced Propulsion Centre and further investment, it has since developed into a group spanning Avocet Precision Metals, its specialist metals distribution business; Avocet Battery Materials, its manufacturing arm; and Avocet Research Centre, its R&D operation. At the heart of the business are lead tabs, small but critical metal components which connect a lithium-ion battery cell to the outside circuit. They can influence weight, conductivity and reliability and must be manufactured to exacting standards for high-performance applications. Avocet's innovations include Flyweight, its bimetallic lead tab for pouch cells which is used within F1 battery applications to reduce the weight of the battery system. It is also developing DryTab, a next-generation surface technology which recently secured government backing through the DRIVE35 programme. But the pace and ambition of Avocet's expansion has created a new challenge, with its systems and processes struggling to keep up with its rapidly evolving manufacturing operation. Avocet turned to Made Smarter for support, securing a £13,000 grant towards a £75,000 ERP system. Going live in January 2027, the technology will integrate operations across the business, improve productivity and give Avocet the digital infrastructure it needs to scale. Made Smarter has also supported Kieren through its Leading Digital Transformation programme, helping him develop the strategy and leadership capability needed to drive the business forward. Kieren said: “We've grown incredibly quickly and there comes a point where you realise the systems and processes that got you this far aren't necessarily the ones that will take you to the next stage." “Working with Made Smarter has given us the opportunity to take stock and look at the business differently. We're putting the right digital infrastructure in place, but it's also helped me think much more strategically about how we lead the business, where we're going next and what we need to get there.” Avocet is already looking to its next manufacturing challenge, exploring automated inspection technology to increase production capacity, alongside opportunities to use AI to improve efficiency and decision-making across the business. Donna Edwards, Director of Made Smarter North West, said: “Avocet is a fantastic example of the ambition and innovation within UK manufacturing. In just five years it has built advanced manufacturing capability here in Cheshire, developed its own technology and is now competing successfully in global battery markets." “Rapid expansion on that scale brings challenges as well as opportunities. Made Smarter is there to give ambitious SME manufacturers access to the right technology, skills and leadership support at the right time, helping them turn that potential into sustainable growth. It is incredibly exciting to see what Kieren and the team have achieved and to support them as they prepare for what comes next.” Visit here for more information on MadesmarterUK

Small and medium-sized businesses face fresh uncertainty over how future business rates changes could affect their plans for growth, investment and recruitment, as property-related costs remain one of the biggest fixed pressures on firms operating from commercial premises. The issue has come into sharper focus ahead of the 2026 business rates revaluation in England and Wales, which will update the rateable values of more than two million commercial properties. According to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), revaluations are carried out every three years to reflect changes in the commercial property market, but for businesses already managing tight margins, the timing and impact of any resulting changes will be closely watched. While an increase in a property's rateable value does not automatically translate into an equivalent rise in its business rates bill, many businesses are carefully reviewing their ongoing occupancy costs as they plan for the years ahead. For Andrew Cusworth, Managing Director of Buckle Shipping, the conversation is not just about tax policy. Buckle Shipping’s warehouse is only three years old, meaning the business is still building the operation, developing its customer base and investing for future growth. Rising fixed costs therefore risk restricting that growth before the operation has had the opportunity to reach its full potential. “For many small and medium-sized businesses, the challenge is not one single cost increase, it is the cumulative effect of rising overheads across the board. Business rates remain a significant expense for firms operating from commercial premises, and when those fixed costs become harder to predict, it can affect decisions around investment, recruitment and growth.” The latest government reforms have introduced a new structure for business rates from April 2026. As part of the changes, lower multipliers are available for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties below certain rateable value thresholds, while a higher multiplier applies to properties with rateable values of £500,000 and above. The government has stated that properties above this threshold account for less than 1% of all rateable properties in England. Alongside the new multiplier structure, the government has introduced a package of transitional support designed to limit the immediate impact of revaluation-related increases for eligible businesses. The government says the wider support package is worth £4.3 billion over three years. Further proposals put forward by Andy Burnham have also added to the wider debate over whether business rates could be reshaped to give more support to high streets and independent operators. His suggestions have included cutting rates for pubs and music venues, raising the threshold for small business rates relief, and taking some smaller high street firms outside the scope of business rates altogether. For businesses planning ahead, the central concern is not the purpose of those ideas, but whether any future changes are introduced with enough clarity, consistency and notice to support long-term decision-making. The debate has also widened beyond how rates are calculated for individual premises. Some of Andy Burnham’s proposals have raised the possibility of shifting more of the business rates burden onto larger warehouse developments and other commercial property categories to fund relief elsewhere in the system, adding another layer of uncertainty for firms trying to plan ahead. For businesses such as SMEs and warehouse operators, the concern is not necessarily the aim of those proposals, but whether further changes to the rates system could create additional cost pressure without enough time for businesses to adapt. Even with support measures in place, business owners are still having to make long-term decisions in a cost environment that can change quickly. For a relatively young operation, the concern is that more money spent simply maintaining its existing position leaves less available to invest in facilities, expand the customer base, recruit and create further opportunities. Mr Cusworth said: “Companies need stability and predictability when making long-term decisions. Whether it's taking on additional space, investing in new facilities or recruiting more staff, confidence in future operating costs is an important factor.” Commercial premises remain vital to large parts of the UK economy, particularly in sectors such as logistics, warehousing, manufacturing and distribution, where physical space is not optional. According to official guidance, non-domestic properties such as shops, offices, warehouses, pubs and factories can be liable for business rates. That certainty, Mr Cusworth said, can be the difference between businesses delaying decisions and pressing ahead with investment. Mr Cusworth said: “Small businesses are often the engine of economic growth within their communities. When business owners have confidence to invest, expand and create jobs, the benefits are felt far beyond individual companies.” Mr Cusworth said: “Businesses are continually looking for ways to improve efficiency and remain competitive. The more certainty they have around their operating costs, the better positioned they are to invest for the future.” For organisations operating from commercial premises, business rates remain one part of a wider cost picture that also includes wages, energy, rent, borrowing and supply chain pressures. For younger SMEs still building their operations, the challenge is not protecting the status quo but preserving the capacity to invest, expand and create opportunities. If the cost of standing still continues to rise, businesses with ambitions to grow may find that an increasing share of their resources is absorbed before that growth can take place.

For the generation that built the business, stepping back is rarely just a career decision. It is a change of identity, and it deserves as much planning as any handover of shares. We talk a great deal about preparing the next generation to lead. We talk far less about preparing the current generation to let go. Yet a succession is far more likely to stall because a parent cannot find their place outside the business than because a successor is not ready. That is entirely understandable. For decades the firm has been where they spend their days, where they are respected, and often where their closest relationships are formed. Asking someone to walk away from all of that, with nothing in its place, is asking a great deal. The good news is that it need not be a choice between hanging on and disappearing. There is a middle path, one where the older generation continues to add real value while steadily building a rich and fulfilling life beyond the firm. Getting there takes thought, honesty and, above all, time. 1. Contributing Without Getting In The Way Stepping back from day to day management does not mean stepping away from the family enterprise. The key is to move from running the business to strengthening it. There are many ways to do that: Chair or board member. A clearly defined board role lets a former leader guide strategy and challenge the executive team without second guessing operational decisions. For some, a fixed term as chair is a natural bridge to full retirement. Steward of the family. Leading or supporting a family council, overseeing a family charter, or organising family assemblies keeps the owning family united. This is work that rarely gets done when everyone is busy running the company. Mentor to the next generation. Sharing experience on request, rather than by instinct, is invaluable. The best mentors ask questions more than they give answers, and accept that their successors will sometimes do things differently. Ambassador and keeper of relationships. Long standing customers, suppliers, bankers and the local community often value continuity. A gradual, deliberate introduction of successors to those relationships is one of the most useful things a departing leader can do. Guardian of history and values. Recording the story of the business, its turning points and the reasons behind key decisions gives future generations something precious: an understanding of why the family is in business at all. Philanthropy and family wealth. Many founders find great purpose in leading a family foundation or charitable giving, often bringing the wider family together around shared values in the process. 2. Building A Life Beyond The Business The single most important thing a leader can do is to start building their next chapter years before they need it. A life outside the firm cannot be switched on the day after the leaving party. For some, that means sharing their experience elsewhere: a non executive role at another business, mentoring young entrepreneurs, or supporting a trade body, charity or school. These roles keep the mind sharp and offer the sense of contribution that many fear losing, without the temptation to interfere at home. For others, it means rediscovering interests that were squeezed out over decades of long days: travel, sport, music, learning, or simply more time with grandchildren. Health deserves real attention too. Many founders have neglected it for years, and the energy to enjoy the next chapter depends on it. Relationships matter just as much. A spouse or partner whose life has fitted around the business may have their own expectations of retirement, and those conversations are best had early. Friendships outside the business, so often neglected, are worth rebuilding while there is still time to invest in them. 3. As The Time Draws Closer The handover itself goes most smoothly when it is treated as a planned project with a clear destination, rather than a vague intention. There are some common steps that the most successful families take: Set a date and say it out loud. A firm timetable, shared with the family, the board and key staff, turns good intentions into a commitment. It also gives successors the confidence to plan. Hand over in stages. Transfer responsibilities one area at a time, with the successor genuinely in charge of each before moving to the next. Let them make decisions, and live with them. Separate management from ownership. Decide what happens to the shares, and when, as a distinct question from who leads. Many founders step down as chief executive long before they reduce their ownership. Secure you own finances. Make sure your income in retirement does not depend on the business continuing to pay you. A well funded pension and personal wealth outside the firm give everyone more freedom. Update the paperwork. Review wills, shareholder agreements, lasting powers of attorney and inheritance tax planning, particularly in light of the Business Property Relief and pension changes. Introduce successors to key relationships. Walk them into the customer meetings, the bank, the supplier dinners, and then step out of the room. Mark the moment. A proper celebration for staff, family and the wider community honours what has been built and signals clearly that leadership has changed. Physically make space. Move out of the corner office. It sounds small, but it sends a powerful message to everyone in the business about who now leads it. 4. Agreeing The Rules Of The New Role The most common source of friction after a handover is ambiguity. Staff do not know whose word counts, successors feel undermined, and the former leader feels sidelined. The answer is to agree the new role explicitly, and ideally to write it down. That means being clear about which decisions the former leader will be consulted on, which they will simply be informed about, and which are no longer theirs at all. It means agreeing how often they will be in the office, if at all, and how disagreements will be raised: privately, with the successor, rather than in front of the team. The family has its part to play too. The next generation should actively value the experience on offer and find meaningful ways to draw on it. A departing leader who feels respected is far less likely to cling on. Many families find an independent adviser or chair helpful in holding everyone to the arrangement once the initial goodwill has faded. Questions To Ask Yourself Who are you, if you are not running the business? What would a fulfilling week look like five years from now? Which of your current responsibilities could your successor take on tomorrow? Have you agreed a date, and does everyone who needs to know it know it? Is your financial security truly independent of the business? How will you resist stepping back in when things are done differently? The Bottom Line Letting go is not the end of a leader's contribution. It is often the moment their legacy is truly tested. The founders and senior generation who handle it best start early, build a life worth stepping into, find a role that strengthens rather than shadows the business, and agree its boundaries openly. Do that, and stepping back becomes not a loss but a fresh chapter, for them, for their family and for the business they have devoted their lives to.

Aldi has revealed that Scotland is set to receive around £19.5 million in 2027 as part of its £900m investment programme. The investment will see Aldi open a new store in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, while its existing stores in Alloa, Leven, St Andrews, Gilmerton Road Edinburgh and Motherwell will be extended, creating more space for customers to shop and improving the store layout. The supermarket plans to open 40 new stores across the UK during the year, alongside continued investment in its distribution network. Aldi currently has 1,095 stores and plans to grow to 1,500 across the UK, with a focus on communities that do not have easy access to affordable groceries because of a lack of local choice or competition. Jonathan Neale, Managing Director of National Real Estate at Aldi UK, said: "We're continuing to invest significantly across the UK as we progress towards our long-term ambition of 1,500 Aldi stores." "These new locations are part of our £900 million investment programme for 2027 and will help us bring Aldi's award-winning quality and unbeatable value to even more communities. We're excited to take the next step in our expansion plans and look forward to welcoming customers through the doors of these new stores in the years ahead." The investment builds on Aldi’s existing expansion programme, with the supermarket set to open 30 stores during the final months of 2026. Its continued growth will create thousands of jobs and further opportunities for British suppliers.

Independent family brewer Shepherd Neame has teamed up with the licensee of its Whitstable pub, The Old Neptune, to support a local yacht competing in an international race. The Sailing Yacht Cormorant will take part in the 2026 Rolex Middle Sea Race, which starts in Malta on Saturday (October 17), becoming the first yacht from Whitstable to take part in the prestigious event. Sponsored jointly by Shepherd Neame and The Old Neptune’s licensee Darren Wilton, the yacht will be sailed by Whitstable resident Patrick Maflin, Director and Founder of Marine Accounts, and members of his team. The Kent accountancy firm has spent the last 12 years working with crews, captains and marine professionals across the yachting industry. Now in its 47th year, the race will start from Malta’s historic Grand Harbour, with the fleet setting off beneath the fortified walls of Valletta before racing out into the Mediterranean. Affectionately known as ‘The Neppy’, The Old Neptune is one of the country’s most recognisable coastal pubs, thanks to its unique beachfront location. The logos of both the pub and Shepherd Neame’s Whitstable Bay range will be displayed on the yacht’s hull throughout the race. The award-winning Whitstable Bay collection comprises Whitstable Bay Pale Ale, Whitstable Bay Lager and Whitstable Bay 0.5% Pale Ale. Inspired by the seaside town just a few miles from Shepherd Neame’s historic Faversham Brewery, the range celebrates the character and heritage of the Kent coast. Licensee of The Old Neptune, Darren Wilton, said: “Pat is a local at The Old Neptune, and I’ve known him for more than 20 years - we even call him Captain Pat! When he mentioned he would be showcasing Whitstable with a yacht race around Sicily, I really wanted the pub to get involved. You can’t showcase Whitstable without The Old Neptune! We hope the team do well and come back here for a celebratory drink after the race.” Shepherd Neame Head of Brands Rose Davis said: “We are thrilled to support the team aboard the Sailing Yacht Cormorant for this historic race. As the first yacht from Whitstable to take on the Rolex Middle Sea Race, this is a fantastic opportunity to introduce our Whitstable Bay range, The Old Neptune pub, and everything else the seaside town has to offer, to an international audience. We wish the team the best of luck!” From Malta, the fleet heads north towards Sicily before passing through the Strait of Messina, a narrow stretch of water between Sicily and mainland Italy. The yachts will then race around the volcanic island of Stromboli, along the northern coast of Sicily, and around the western islands of the course, before heading south past Pantelleria and Lampedusa. The final stretch takes the boats back towards Malta and the finish line, covering approximately 606 nautical miles. The race attracts a diverse field of competitors, from some of the world’s fastest professional racing yachts to experienced amateur crews taking on a demanding offshore challenge. Conditions can include light winds, heavy seas and challenging currents, with crews spending long periods racing through the night. For some, completing the course takes several days at sea. Patrick said: “We started with an idea not just to sail a course, but to build a legacy. With the support of Shepherd Neame and The Old Neptune, that idea has become a reality.” The race can be followed live on the Royal Malta Yacht Club and Rolex Middle Sea Race social media channels, with commentary in English. Find out more here.

Every family business owner knows the moment. A board discussion that should be about margins or a new market quietly becomes about something else entirely: who Dad listened to, who got the corner office, who has always been the favourite. Sibling rivalry is as old as families themselves, and in a family firm it has a stage, an audience and real money attached. Handled well, the competitive energy between brothers and sisters can drive a business forward. Left unchecked, it can split a company that took generations to build. History offers plenty of cautionary tales. The Dassler brothers fell out so badly that their shared shoe business in Herzogenaurach became two rival companies, Adidas and Puma, facing each other across the same small town for decades. Most family firms will never play out their disputes on that scale, but the underlying pattern is familiar to anyone who works with business families: unresolved personal grievances spill into business decisions until neither the family nor the firm can function properly. The good news is that the damage is rarely inevitable. Here is how families can keep rivalry where it belongs and protect the business they share. Rivalry Is Normal. Damage Is Optional The first step is to stop pretending the tension does not exist. Siblings who grew up competing for attention, praise and space do not suddenly become dispassionate colleagues because they share a payroll. Families that acknowledge this openly tend to manage it far better than those who bury it, because a problem that can be named can be discussed. The aim is not to eliminate competition between siblings but to stop it from becoming personal, destructive or a substitute for proper decision making. Understand Where The Tension Really Comes From Arguments about strategy are often arguments about something deeper. Common sources include: Fairness versus equality. Parents often want to treat their children equally, but equal shares, equal pay and equal titles can feel deeply unfair to the sibling who has worked in the business for twenty years compared with the one who joined last spring. Childhood roles that never changed. The eldest who was always in charge, the youngest who was never taken seriously. These patterns follow people into the boardroom. Parental approval. When the founder is still active, siblings may be competing less for the business than for recognition from Mum or Dad. Working and non working owners. Those running the business want reinvestment; those who are not often want dividends. Both positions are reasonable, which is precisely why they collide. In laws and spouses. Partners hear one side of every story at the kitchen table and can harden positions without ever being in the room. Understanding which of these is really at play makes it far easier to address the actual issue rather than the symptom. Separate The Family From The Business Family membership should earn someone a seat at the family table. A role in the business should be earned on merit. That distinction sounds simple, but it is where many family firms come unstuck. Clear job descriptions, defined responsibilities and proper reporting lines take the guesswork out of who decides what. Where possible, avoid having one sibling report directly to another without an independent layer of oversight, and make sure performance is assessed against agreed criteria rather than family history. Many successful families also set entry requirements for the next generation, such as gaining experience outside the business first. Someone who has proved themselves elsewhere arrives with credibility, and is less likely to be seen as having been handed a job. Put governance in place before you need it The worst time to agree the rules is in the middle of a dispute. Governance gives a family a framework for disagreeing well, and it works best when it is built in calm waters. Useful tools include: A family charter or constitution setting out shared values, how family members can join the business, and how decisions are made. A shareholders' agreement covering share transfers, valuations, exit routes and what happens when owners cannot agree. A family council that gives everyone, including those not working in the firm, a forum to be heard on family matters. Independent non executive directors who bring objectivity to the board and can act as a trusted voice when siblings reach deadlock. None of these will make a family love one another, but they do stop disagreements from paralysing the business. Make Fairness Visible Suspicion thrives in the dark. Pay family members at market rates for the roles they actually perform, and keep salary for work clearly separate from dividends for ownership. Be transparent about how promotions are decided and how the next leader will be chosen. When siblings can see the criteria, they may still disagree with the outcome, but they are far less likely to believe the process was rigged. Talk Early, Talk Often, And Agree How To Disagree Regular family meetings, separate from board meetings, give space to raise concerns before they become grievances. It helps to agree some rules of engagement: disagree in private but present a united front to staff, customers and suppliers; criticise decisions, not people; and never use the business as a weapon in a family argument. Employees watch closely, and nothing unsettles a workforce faster than open warfare between the owners. The Role Of The Senior Generation Parents have enormous influence here, for better or worse. Founders who play favourites, make side deals with individual children or delay succession decisions indefinitely often sow the seeds of the very conflict they fear. The most helpful thing the senior generation can do is plan succession openly, communicate decisions to all their children together, and resist the temptation to act as the go between in every sibling dispute. Stepping back gracefully allows the next generation to build their own working relationship rather than one routed through their parents. Know When To Bring In Outside Help Sometimes a family simply cannot resolve things alone, and there is no shame in that. Experienced family business advisers, facilitators or mediators can help siblings have the conversations they have been avoiding, and an independent chair can steady a board that has lost its balance. Bringing in help early is almost always cheaper, in every sense, than waiting until relationships have broken down and lawyers are involved. Questions To Consider Do we each understand, and accept, how roles and responsibilities in the business are decided? Are we confusing fairness with equality, and have we ever talked about the difference? Is there a disagreement between us that is really about something that happened years ago? Do we have agreed rules for resolving deadlock, or are we relying on goodwill? If our parents stepped away tomorrow, would we know how to work together without them? Would our employees describe the family as united? The Bottom Line Sibling rivalry is not a sign that a family business is failing. It is a sign that it is a family. What matters is whether that rivalry is channelled into healthy ambition or allowed to fester into something that damages relationships and value alike. Clear roles, visible fairness, good governance and honest conversation will not make every disagreement disappear, but they will make sure the business survives them. The families that endure across generations are not the ones without conflict. They are the ones that have learned to manage it, and who never forget that the legacy they share is bigger than any argument between them.

When a family business passes from one generation to the next, the assets are only part of the inheritance. Alongside the buildings, machinery and shares come a history, a reputation and expectations that can be difficult to escape. There is a moment in almost every family business when somebody realises that what they are building is bigger than themselves. It might happen on the shop floor, watching a child learn the trade. It might come during a difficult conversation with a long-serving employee, who has worked for the business longer than the founder's children have been alive. Or it might arrive much later, when a founder looks around the room at a family gathering and recognises that the business has become part of the family's identity. For some, that realisation brings pride. For others, it brings a burden of responsibility that is difficult to articulate. A family business is never simply a collection of assets and commercial relationships. It is also a repository of decisions, sacrifices, values and memories. The founder remembers the early mornings and the risks taken when failure seemed a very real possibility. Employees remember the people who gave them their first opportunity. Customers remember the service that kept them coming back. The next generation inherits all of these things, whether or not they have asked to do so. This is what makes legacy in family business so complicated. It is not merely a question of what one generation leaves behind. It is a question of what the next generation believes it has received, what it feels obliged to preserve and what it must be allowed to change. The Founder's Shadow Founders occupy a distinctive place in the history of family enterprises. Their personalities often become inseparable from the businesses they create. The founder may be remembered for an instinctive understanding of customers, an uncompromising approach to quality or an extraordinary willingness to work when others would have given up. These characteristics can become part of the company's identity. They may also become rules that nobody thinks to question. A decision that made perfect sense when a business had five employees may become an obstacle when it employs 500. A founder's instinctive refusal to borrow money may have protected the company during difficult years but could restrict investment in a changing market. A culture of personal loyalty may have helped establish a reputation while making it harder to introduce professional management or hold underperforming relatives to account. The difficulty is not that founders leave their mark. That is inevitable, and often desirable. The difficulty comes when the mark becomes a mould into which every subsequent generation must fit. The most successful family businesses understand that honouring a founder is not the same as reproducing them. The founder's determination may be worth preserving, while the methods through which it was expressed may need to change. Their commitment to customers may endure even as technology transforms how those customers are served. Legacy, in other words, is not a set of instructions from the past. It is a set of principles that must continue to make sense in the present. The Inheritance Nobody Puts In The Will When families discuss succession, the conversation often begins with ownership: who receives the shares, who becomes chairman, who takes responsibility for the business and how inheritance tax will be funded. These questions matter. Poorly planned ownership transfers can threaten the continuity of even a healthy enterprise. But they represent only one part of the transition. There is also the inheritance of expectations. A son or daughter joining a family firm may feel that they are accepting responsibility for something they did not create. They may have grown up listening to stories about the business's early struggles, hearing how much their parents sacrificed or understanding that family security depends on its continued success. That history can be a source of motivation. It can also make it difficult for the next generation to admit that it wants a different career, a different management style or even a different future for the company. The emotional consequences are rarely captured in a succession plan. Some family members want to join the business but worry that they will never escape comparison with the founder. Others do not want to join at all but fear disappointing their parents. Those who do take leadership positions may find themselves expected to modernise the company while demonstrating that they have not abandoned the traditions that made it successful. The result can be a curious contradiction: families say they want the next generation to take responsibility, yet become uncomfortable when that generation exercises independent judgement. A genuine legacy gives successors room to become leaders in their own right. That means allowing them to question inherited assumptions, develop new capabilities and make decisions that the founder might not have made. It also means being honest about the limits of the previous generation's knowledge. Experience is valuable, but markets change, customers change and the world in which a business operates rarely stands still. The task is not to choose between respecting the past and embracing the future. It is to establish what deserves to survive. A Reputation Built Over Decades There is another dimension to legacy that extends beyond the family itself: reputation. A family-owned business may have spent generations earning the confidence of customers, suppliers and employees. Its name may be associated with reliability, craftsmanship or a willingness to stand behind its promises. In some communities, the business is as much a local institution as it is a commercial enterprise. Such reputations are difficult to manufacture. They emerge through repeated behaviour over time: paying suppliers when promised, treating employees fairly, resolving problems honestly and maintaining standards when cutting corners would be easier. They can also be lost surprisingly quickly. A successor who pursues short-term profit at the expense of established relationships may discover that the goodwill accumulated by previous generations was more fragile than it appeared. Equally, a family that assumes its name alone guarantees customer loyalty may fail to recognise that reputation must be renewed with every transaction. This is why legacy should not be confused with nostalgia. Customers do not remain loyal simply because a company has traded for 100 years. They remain loyal because the company continues to give them reasons to do so. The same is true of employees. A history of looking after people creates an expectation that the next generation will behave similarly. When that expectation is broken, the disappointment can be greater precisely because the relationship has endured for so long. The family business inherits a reputation, but it must earn the right to keep it. The Danger Of Preserving Everything There is a temptation to regard continuity as the highest measure of success. If the business survives, the argument goes, the family has protected its legacy. But survival alone is not enough. A business can continue trading while exhausting its owners, alienating its employees or refusing to adapt to changing customer needs. A family can preserve ownership at the cost of its relationships. A company can remain under the same surname while losing the values that once distinguished it. Sometimes, the most responsible decision is to sell. A sale to another family, an employee ownership trust or an external investor may offer the business a better chance of surviving and growing. In other circumstances, a carefully managed closure may be preferable to leaving the next generation with unsustainable debt or obligations it cannot meet. Neither outcome automatically represents failure. The question is whether the family has acted in accordance with its responsibilities to the business, its employees and the people who depend on it. Those responsibilities may sometimes be better served by relinquishing ownership than by insisting on retaining it. That can be a difficult conclusion for founders who have spent their lives building an enterprise. Yet a business exists to create value, provide employment and serve customers, not simply to preserve a family's name. Legacy is ultimately about the quality of what is left behind, rather than the length of time for which ownership is retained. What Should The Next Generation Inherit? The most useful legacy conversations begin long before a founder retires or a succession becomes urgent. They ask questions that are more revealing than the usual discussion of shares and job titles. What do we want this business to stand for? Which of our traditions remain relevant? What would we change if we were starting again today? What obligations do we believe we have to our employees and community? And what should future generations be free to decide for themselves? These questions help families distinguish between principles and practices. A commitment to quality may be enduring. A particular production method need not be. Treating employees with respect may be non-negotiable. Expecting every family member to work in the business should not be. Independence may be an important part of the company's identity, while a partnership or external investment might nevertheless be the right response to a new commercial challenge. Writing down the answers can help. So can bringing different generations together in a setting where people can speak openly without every disagreement becoming a judgement on the founder's achievements. The process is not always comfortable. But it is better to confront differences while there is time to work through them than to leave them unresolved until a death, illness or sudden retirement forces decisions to be made. The strongest legacy is not one that removes uncertainty from the future. It is one that prepares people to deal with it. The Value Of Letting Go Every generation eventually faces the same question: what does it mean to be a good custodian? For the founder, it may mean building something that can survive beyond their own working life. For the second generation, it may mean proving that the business can thrive without the founder's daily presence. For the third, it may mean finding a way to make a long-established company relevant to a world that looks very different from the one in which it began. Each generation has a different contribution to make. None should be expected simply to repeat the achievements of the last. A family business is at its strongest when its history gives people confidence without dictating every decision; when its reputation opens doors without excusing complacency; and when its ownership creates a sense of responsibility without becoming an obligation that individual family members cannot question. The ultimate legacy of a family business is therefore not the money it passes on, or even the enterprise itself. It is the combination of capability, character and opportunity that allows others to build on what came before. The founder's name may remain above the door. The business may occupy the same premises and serve some of the same customers. But its real inheritance is more demanding than the preservation of familiar things. It is the ability to make something of the future without forgetting what the past made possible.

Family businesses rarely fail because the market turns against them. More often, they fail from the inside. Family firms are the backbone of the UK economy. They think in generations rather than quarters, they reinvest patiently, and they weathered the pandemic and the cost of living squeeze with a resilience many listed companies would envy. Yet the oft quoted figures are sobering: roughly 30 per cent survive into the second generation, around 12 per cent into the third, and only a handful make it to the fourth. Those numbers are debated, and some businesses close or sell for perfectly good reasons. But anyone who has spent time in this community recognises the pattern. The threats that end a family business are seldom competitors or customers. They are the conversations that never happened, the structures that were never built, and the plans that were always for next year. Having spent fifteen years championing family firms through Family Business United, we have seen the same handful of causes again and again. Here they are. 1. Succession Left Too Late If there is one cause that eclipses the rest, it is succession treated as an event rather than a process. Too many founders plan to step back "in five years" for twenty years running. Then illness, a sudden death or simple exhaustion forces the issue, and the business is handed over in a crisis rather than by design. Succession is not only about who sits in the chair. It covers ownership as well as management, the transfer of relationships with customers, banks and suppliers, and the slow, deliberate building of a successor's credibility. That takes years, not months. There is an emotional dimension too. For many founders, the business is their identity. Letting go can feel like a small death, so it is quietly postponed. The kindest thing a leader can do for the next generation is to start the conversation while they still have the energy to see it through. 2. Governance That Never Grows Up In the first generation, governance is often a conversation over the kitchen table. That works when one founder owns and runs everything. It stops working when there are siblings, then cousins, some in the business and some not, each with different expectations of dividends, roles and influence. Families that last tend to separate three things clearly: the family, the ownership and the business. They create a proper board, often with independent non executive directors who can ask the questions no family member dares to. They agree a family charter or constitution that sets out who can work in the firm, on what terms, and how decisions are made. None of this is bureaucracy for its own sake. Good governance is what allows a family to disagree without falling apart. Without it, every decision becomes personal, and personal decisions are the ones that split families and sink firms. 3. Family Conflict And The Silence Around It Every family has tensions. The difference in a family business is that those tensions follow you into the boardroom, and the boardroom follows you home for Sunday lunch. The most damaging conflicts are rarely the loud ones. They are the long held resentments that nobody names: the sibling who feels overlooked, the in law who feels excluded, the parent who still overrules decisions they formally handed over years ago. Left unspoken, these grievances harden. Eventually they surface over something trivial and spill into shareholder disputes, legal action or a forced sale. The families who endure are not those without conflict. They are the ones who talk early and often, who have agreed forums for difficult conversations, and who are willing to bring in a trusted outsider when emotions run too high to resolve alone. 4. A Next Generation Unprepared, Or Unwilling Failure can come from both directions. Some successors are handed the keys because of their surname rather than their ability, with no experience outside the firm and no one willing to tell them the truth about their performance. Others are perfectly capable but have never been asked whether they actually want the job. The strongest families treat the next generation as future owners first and potential leaders second. They encourage time spent working elsewhere, they set clear entry criteria, and they invest in education about what responsible ownership means, whether or not a family member ever holds an executive role. Crucially, they also make room for the next generation to bring new ideas. A successor who is allowed only to preserve will soon either leave or stop trying. One who is trusted to evolve the business becomes its best guarantee of survival. 5. Losing Sight Of Purpose, Or Clinging To The Past Values are a family firm's greatest competitive advantage. Customers trust them, employees stay for them, and they give a business a reason to exist beyond the next set of accounts. When a family loses sight of why the business matters, ownership becomes merely an asset to be divided, and assets are easily sold. The opposite danger is just as real. "We have always done it this way" has ended more family businesses than any recession. Loyalty to tradition can harden into an unwillingness to invest, to digitise, or to step away from a product line the founder loved. Meanwhile the market quietly moves on. The trick is to hold values tightly and strategy loosely. The family firms that thrive across generations are clear about what never changes, which frees them to change almost everything else. 6. Tax And Wealth Planning As An Afterthought A business can be well run, harmonious and profitable, and still be undone by an unplanned tax bill on the death of an owner. That risk has grown in the UK this year. Since 6 April 2026, 100 per cent Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief apply only to the first £2.5 million of combined qualifying assets, with 50 per cent relief above that, an effective inheritance tax rate of 20 per cent on the excess. Unused allowance can pass to a surviving spouse or civil partner, so a couple can shelter up to £5 million, and tax on qualifying assets can be paid in interest free instalments over ten years. The government's decision in December 2025 to raise the threshold from the £1 million first proposed was a welcome concession, and one this community campaigned hard for. But for larger family firms and farms, there is still a real liability. Where a family has no cash set aside, the only way to pay may be to sell land, take on debt or sell the business itself. Ownership planning, life cover and regular valuations are no longer optional extras; they are part of keeping the business in the family. Questions To Ask Around Your Own Table If you were unable to work tomorrow, who would lead the business, and do they know it? Does your family have an agreed way of making decisions, or does it depend on who shouts loudest? What is the conversation your family has been avoiding, and what is the cost of avoiding it another year? Have you asked the next generation what they want, rather than assuming? Which of your values are truly non negotiable, and which habits are simply tradition? Do you know what your inheritance tax exposure is today, and how it would be paid? The Bottom Line Family businesses do not usually fail because they were bad businesses. They fail because the family stopped planning, stopped talking or stopped adapting. The good news is that every cause on this list is within the family's control. Succession can be planned, governance can be built, difficult conversations can be had, and tax can be prepared for. The firms that reach the fourth generation and beyond are not lucky. They simply did the hard work early, and kept doing it.

We tend to talk about legacy as if it were the final chapter of a story. It is the thing that gets discussed at retirement dinners, written into wills and engraved on the plaque in reception. It belongs, we assume, to the end. However, in many cases the opposite is true. Legacy is not something you leave behind. It is something you build, quietly and consistently, every single day. The founder who is remembered fondly fifty years on is rarely remembered for a grand gesture. They are remembered for thousands of small decisions that added up to a way of doing business. That is both a reassurance and a challenge. A reassurance, because legacy is not reserved for the dramatic moments. A challenge, because every ordinary Tuesday is shaping it, whether we notice or not. Legacy Lives In The Everyday Decisions Think about the decisions that land on your desk in a typical week. Which supplier to stick with when a cheaper one comes calling. Whether to reinvest this year's profit or take it out. Who to promote, and why. How to handle the customer who has made a genuine mistake. None of these will make headlines. Yet each one says something about what your business stands for. Over time, those choices harden into reputation, and reputation is the most durable thing any family business owns. It outlasts buildings, products and even the family members who built it. The real test is how the business behaves when nobody is watching. Paying suppliers on time when cash is tight. Keeping a promise that would be easy to wriggle out of. Turning down work that does not sit right. These are the moments that the next generation remembers, and the moments that the wider community quietly notes. What decision did you make this week that your grandchildren would be proud of? Legacy Lives In How You Treat People Ask anyone who has worked for a long established family business what made it different, and the answer is rarely about strategy. It is about people. The owner who knew everyone's name. The business that stood by staff through a hard winter. The firm that sponsored the local football team for forty years without ever making a fuss about it. Culture is legacy in its most visible form. It is passed on not through mission statements but through behaviour, repeated until it becomes simply "the way we do things here". Employees absorb it, customers feel it and communities come to rely on it. This is where family businesses have a genuine advantage. Because ownership is personal, values can be lived rather than just laminated. But that advantage only holds if the values are practised consistently, by every generation and at every level of the business. If you asked your longest serving employee to describe your values, would their answer match yours? Legacy Lives At The Kitchen Table The next generation does not learn about the family business from a succession plan. They learn from what they see and hear long before they are old enough to join. The conversations over Sunday lunch. The tone used when talking about customers or staff. Whether The Business Is Spoken Of As A Privilege Or A Burden. Children notice whether their parents come home energised or exhausted, proud or resentful. Those impressions shape whether they see the business as something worth joining, and what kind of owner they might become if they do. That is why legacy cannot be bolted on at the point of handover. By then, the most important lessons have already been taught. The good news is that it is never too late to start telling a better story, through how we talk about the business, how we involve younger family members and how openly we share both its successes and its struggles. What story about the business is your family hearing at home right now? Legacy is not a monument you unveil at the end of a career. It is a habit, practised daily in the decisions you make, the way you treat people and the stories you tell at home. Get those right, consistently, and the legacy takes care of itself. So the question is not "what will I leave behind?" It is "what am I building today?" Answer that honestly, every day, and the next generation will inherit far more than a business.

Every family business carries its history with it. The founder's portrait on the wall. The stories retold at every anniversary. The products, places and people that made the name. That history is a source of enormous pride, and rightly so. Few things are more powerful than a business that knows where it came from. But history has weight. For every family firm that draws strength from its past, there is another quietly held back by it. The next generation arrives full of ideas, only to hear "that's not how we do things" or "your grandfather would never have allowed it". The past, meant to be a foundation, starts to feel like a fence. The families who endure across generations are the ones who learn to tell the difference. When Heritage Becomes A Handbrake The warning signs are usually subtle. Decisions are justified by what was done before rather than what is needed now. Long serving products are protected long after customers have moved on. Family members feel that questioning the old ways is somehow disloyal to the people who built them. None of this comes from bad intentions. It comes from love, respect and a fear of getting it wrong on someone else's watch. Yet the irony is hard to escape. The founders we revere were almost always disruptors in their own time. They took risks, broke with convention and built something new. Freezing their business in amber is the one thing many of them would never have done. Markets, technology and customer expectations do not stand still out of respect for tradition. A business that stops adapting does not preserve its legacy. It slowly spends it. If your founder walked in today, would they recognise the courage that built the business, or only the habits it left behind? Separating Values From Habits The most useful distinction any family business can make is between its values and its habits. Values are the principles that define who you are: integrity, quality, care for employees, commitment to a community. Habits are the ways those values happened to be expressed at a particular moment in time: a product line, a sales channel, a management style, a way of running the Monday meeting. Values deserve to be protected fiercely. Habits deserve to be questioned regularly. Trouble starts when the two are confused, and a habit is defended as though it were a value. A commitment to craftsmanship, for example, is a value. Insisting that everything is still made exactly as it was in 1965 may simply be a habit. Treating customers as friends is a value. Refusing to sell online because "our customers like to come in" may be a habit that customers abandoned some time ago. Which of the traditions in your business are truly values, and which are habits wearing their clothes? Getting The Balance Right The families who manage this well tend to share a few approaches. They write their values down. A family charter or statement of values gives every generation a shared reference point. It allows a fierce debate about strategy without anyone feeling the family's identity is under attack. They tell the founding story properly. Not just what the founders built, but why, and the risks they took to do it. Told this way, history becomes permission to innovate rather than a reason not to. They give the next generation real responsibility. A project, a new market or a division of their own lets younger family members test ideas and earn trust, rather than waiting a decade for permission. They make change a family conversation. Big shifts are discussed openly, in family meetings or councils, so that the older generation feels heard and the younger generation feels backed. They review traditions on purpose. Some families set aside time each year to ask which practices still serve the business and which are simply familiar. None of this diminishes the past. If anything, it honours it more deeply, by keeping alive the spirit that made the business worth inheriting in the first place. The past is a family business's greatest asset, but only if it is treated as a foundation rather than a fence. Protect the values that define you, question the habits that have simply become familiar, and give the next generation room to write their own chapter. The best way to honour those who came before is not to preserve exactly what they built. It is to show the same courage they did.

Walk down any British high street, industrial estate or country lane and you will see them. Names painted above shop fronts, stitched onto work shirts, printed on the side of delivery vans. Smith and Sons. Jones Brothers. A surname followed by a date and the word "established". It is easy to pass them by without a second thought. But a family name above the door is one of the most powerful statements a business can make. It says: we are not anonymous. We are real people, we live round here, and we stand behind what we do. That simple act of putting your name on a business carries more meaning, and more responsibility, than many owners ever stop to consider. A Promise Made In Public A corporate brand can be refreshed, rebranded or quietly retired when things go wrong. A family name cannot. When your surname is on the door, every product sold and every service delivered carries a personal guarantee. Customers know exactly who to hold to account, and that is precisely why they trust you. This is one of the quiet strengths of family business. Research and experience alike suggest that customers associate family ownership with reliability, accountability and a long term view. The name signals that someone has skin in the game, not just for this year's results but for their reputation in the community for decades to come. That trust is hard won and easily lost. It is built one interaction at a time, and it belongs not just to the current generation but to every one that came before and every one still to come. What promise does your family name make to your customers, and are you keeping it? The Weight That Comes With The Name For the family members who inherit it, the name can be both a gift and a burden. It opens doors and earns goodwill before a word is spoken. But it also brings expectations, comparisons and, at times, a sense of living in someone else's shadow. I have met many next generation leaders who describe feeling that they must prove themselves twice over: once to the market and once to the memory of those who went before. Some are energised by that. Others find it quietly crushing, particularly when the family has never talked openly about what the name means and what is expected of those who carry it. The responsibility is real, and it extends beyond the family. Employees, suppliers and whole communities often tie part of their own identity to a family name. When the business thrives, they share in the pride. When it stumbles, they feel it too. Has your family ever sat down and talked about what the name means to each of you? Keeping The Name Meaningful As businesses grow, the link between the name and the people behind it can weaken. New sites open, non family managers join, and eventually the name over the door may belong to people the customer has never met. In some cases, the business is sold and the name lives on under new ownership. None of this need empty the name of meaning, but it does require deliberate effort. The families who keep their name meaningful tend to: Stay visible. Family members remain present in the business and the community, even when they no longer run daily operations. Codify what the name stands for. Clear values, written down and shared, help non family leaders understand what they are custodians of. Recruit for fit, not just skill. Senior hires are chosen as much for how they will carry the name as for what they will deliver. Think hard before selling the name. If the business or brand is sold, families consider carefully what happens to their reputation once it is no longer in their hands. A name only means something because of how people behave under it. Protect the behaviour and the name looks after itself. A family name above the door is far more than a label. It is a public promise, a personal guarantee and an inheritance in its own right. It earns trust that no marketing budget can buy, and it asks for a standard of behaviour that no policy can enforce. The businesses that endure are the ones that never take their name for granted. They talk about what it means, live up to it every day and hand it on with care. Because in the end, the name is only ever as good as the people standing behind it.