Episode 71
Moving Matters with Edward Kessell of Martell's of Sutton
July 13th, 2023
40 mins 37 secs
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About this Episode
In this episode Edward Kessel, Removals Manager of Martell’s of Sutton discusses how he got involved within the industry, probably like many, working as a porter during the summer holidays from his A levels, and has completed over 25 years’ service, all for Martell’s.
Martell’s are a family owned and run company, and have been trading mainly in retail since 1917, starting as a pram and bedstead shop in the Elephant & Castle, London. Martell’s have a department store in East Grinstead, own several properties which they rent within the private sector, and commercial premises for storage and office space. On the moving side they cover all of the usual removal services, running a mixed fleet of 6 vehicles, employing 15 fulltime staff and offer self-storage as well as containerised storage (using the 250 cuft steel containers).
One of Ed’s biggest challenges is staff, not only finding new staff but also current staff are less inclined to want to spend days and nights away from homes, and some are not even interested in overtime. Ed has even had to incentivise bonus schemes for some of the staff to do nights away.
Ed doesn’t have anything major that he would change from his moving past, although he has learned some hard lessons along the way.
Ed’s highpoints of being within the industry are; professionally, being the Chairman of the BAR National Group Council, which gives Ed a seat on the BAR Board, and personally, the jobs Ed has quoted and moved, one in particular to the Cayman Islands.
Ed would like to change a couple of things within the industry, one being more regulation for the 3.5 tonne sector and the other being the house purchase process, two controversial topics indeed!
The advice Ed would give himself just starting out within the industry again is to embrace every opportunity presented.
In the next 5 years Ed hopes to still be at Martell’s looking after operations, and to still be involved with the BAR. Industry wise, the electric vehicle rollout is coming but Ed doesn’t think as an industry (and as a nation) we are ready for it.
Outside of the industry Ed likes to travel, spend quality time with the family, cooking and enjoys go-karting.
And as always we end Moving Matters with not one but three funny moving stories; a move to Portugal with Ed’s now wife, a TV cameo debut, and a bit of removal banter.
Enjoy!
Links to Martells: