Think back to 1987. The world was a very different place. Rick Astley’s classic ‘Never gonna give you up’ was released, Euro Disney opened its gates for the very first time, The Simpsons first hit our screens and a £1 million operation failed to locate the Loch Ness Monster.
Of course, 1987 also saw the first stages of our business, as Andrew Harper left his job with the Merseyside Police and started his own venture. Equipped with a van, dog and mobile phone, Andrew began patrolling an area of the Wirral that had been victim to increasing crime rates, utilising the skills that had been acquired during his years served as a police officer, and Anchor Group was born.
From there the business quickly grew, becoming a Limited Company in 1990 following a series of new commercial property client wins, reaching £2m turnover in 1993 and appointing its first Commercial Director, Lorraine Hiles in 1997.
2001 saw us become an accredited SIA (Security Industry Authority) Approved Contractor, highlighting our status as a ‘distinguished’ provider of private security services within the UK and in that same year, we hit a milestone £5m turnover.
Our services expand!
Having built a reputation for a fantastic service within commercial properties across the UK, we looked to expand our service offering, leading to the launch of our cleaning division in 2007. Cherry Tree Shopping Centre in Liscard on the Wirral became our very first dual service contract (security and cleaning); a client that is still ongoing to this very day.
Of course, we couldn’t simply stop there! 2007 saw the launch of our parking division, Care Parking, which was subsequently rebranded to Ocean Parking in this year and is now one of the UK’s top car park management operators.
Anchor Academy, our sector specific training division, launched in 2014, with our bespoke cloud monitoring security solution, eGuarding, following closely behind in 2019.
As you can see, we’ve come a very long way from 1987, and with 2022 marking the launch our PAL Protect Consultancy brand and our turnover exceeding £20m, the future is very bright for Anchor Group.
On behalf of the entire Anchor team, we would like to say a huge thank you to all our clients and contacts who have supported us over the past 35 years, we couldn’t have done it without you! Here’s to the next 35!
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