Keeper of the keys

Historit was one of the first businesses on site, what first attracted you to Bicester Heritage in 2013?

I came here to be part of the Bicester Heritage project and the business of Historit followed after that, I had a tenuous connection to Dan Geoghegan and made the most of that through an engineered visit here very soon after the site was acquired. He was bouncing with enthusiasm and completely hooked me! Handed my notice in, moved house, jumped in with both feet.

Can you give us a brief outline of how Historit has progressed and what % increase in turnover do you think has been achieved? What do you think is key to its success?

Historit was a fresh start, so the percentage is an infinite increase really. We were a fresh start in 2013, we had a vision, and 48,000 square feet… Myself and Charlie (Morgan) operating from a wrinkly tin hut alongside the finance department, the marketing department… which was all basically two people at the time. When we first walked into the building, we had no concept that we could ever fill it – it was so vast! I think by the winter of year four we were full in here, which is getting on for 300 cars of all eras. We’ve stayed comfortably full ever since. The success is helped massively by where we are, the site, the community, the infrastructure, the symbiotic relationship between all the businesses helped massively on that front – but we’ve obviously done well! The ongoing success is through feeding off the vision of the site; always looking forward, always developing, always pushing standards while having a clear vision and sticking to it. You can see the value and the power of that.

I come from a customer-facing background so standards, customer experience… I think it sets us apart from the non-dedicated car storage set-ups. We see other dedicated storage businesses as our competition and reference. Whereas the businesses that are more of an add-on, for example those related to engineering companies who see it as more of an additional service, it’s not their core business. But car storage is our core business, and it helps us to stay focused.

Do you value being in Bicester/Oxfordshire, and do our geographic location and facilities help Historit?

Geographically and the nature of the things that we deal with, London is a big customer base – its easily reachable, motorways and rail links are great, we also have air access with the airfield behind us – customers have arrived by both fixed and rotary wing aircraft before now! The Bicester name is familiar already, Bicester Village is known internationally. I think the town itself has helped too, it’s really open and supportive to the site being saved and regenerated and repurposed – both at the council level but also local residents, while living in Bicester I’ve never met anyone who isn’t pleasantly surprised to hear where I work.

You must care for a vast array of vehicles, what are the trials and tribulations of holding so many sets of car keys?

A fleet of heavy duty key safes on the wall, reaching the point at which we might need to start reinforcing the wall! Organisation, and systems and standards ring all the way through; just have a system, stick to it. There have possibly been one or two occasions when we have had to hit the nuclear option on finding a key, which is to get all the keys out of the safes and go through them one by one – but that’s a serious step to take…! We’ve never lost a set of keys, temporarily mis-located, but never lost! It’s about good systems and sticking to them.

Is there a moment of distinct pride that you often consider as a seminal moment in your time at Historit?

It’s interesting, I don’t think there is one particular moment because its ongoing. Pride is a word that makes people feel uncomfortable, but I am genuinely proud of where I work. It’s being part of the business and the site from day zero is a sort of ongoing pride. Looking at what we’ve achieved, the cars we look after, our customers… The real moments of pride are when we get thanks for our good service, and I genuinely am proud of that.

We always enjoy watching visitors to your Hangar gape as they see the vast size of the storage space, what elements of this building are you most proud of?

It’s the history and being part of its history, the building has been in use since 1936 and it’s had a varied use, it was a frontline bomber base originally. It was the building in which they bolted together the prototype Halifax, the first four engine bomber in RAF service. There’s also the fact that a lot of it is recorded and I get to meet people who have worked here years ago because of the site receiving so much interest, so I get to meet people to talk about what we do and share their own experiences. Just being a part of the building and securing it for the future, if you could go back in time and show them what the building was being used for in 30, 40 years’ time, you wonder what they would make of it.

What are the strangest requests from clients that you have found solutions to?

None that I can disclose! Wie are part of people’s leisure time, so are involved in some slightly unusual requests but there is nothing truly bizarre that we have been asked to do. But it’s fun to be involved in some of the surprises, we’ve had cars gifted to partners and we’ve been the secret location for it. We’ve had lots of cars used by people for friends’ weddings, I’ve driven cars for customer’s daughter’s weddings… so being involved in that is always good fun! We deliver cars to hotels in the Cotswolds, we meet people at Heathrow with their car, I’ve chased people down the M40 with their passports before… I think one of the more satisfying requests was being asked to take a customer’s son for his first driving lesson in a his family heirloom DB6. So, I took his son out on our test track – there was quite a level of responsibility, but I got him driving and he’s gone on to completely immerse himself in classic and vintage cars.

What work ethic do you value above all others and what do you hope that customers and visitors to your location will take away with them?

For me, its honesty and customer focus, we are entrusted with people’s second-most valuable asset, usually, after their house, and so we really have to respect that leap of faith they are making when they hand the keys over and walk away. The honesty element is key in maintaining that trust. It’s always putting yourself in the customer’s position. We are here to help people to enjoy the cars and give peace of mind.

Your team has grown in recent years and feels very close knit, who do you work with? Including team members with paws!

Our core team, founding members are me and Charlie – we are very similar and very different! We get on very well but have definitely had to learn to respect and value each other’s differences! We’ve got Vinny, who is former military and joined us through Mission Motorsport and has been with us for around eight years. He has responsibility for the storage and well-being of the vehicles. We’ve got Philly, and her role is to manage non-storage parts of the business, such as keeping MOTs up to date, servicing and valeting requests and other non-standard business. Magda is in charge of facilities and she is very focused on keeping us clean and tidy – she has really raised the bar and whipped us into shape!

We have three dogs; Myrtle is Charlie’s working Cocker, she’s the original dog on-site at Bicester and she came along very early days. My two are Obi and Kona, Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Obi has been here longer than most people here and he knows that – anyone who has driven a car towards him knows that Obi doesn’t move, he will stare you down! Kona is the free spirit.

What piece of advice would you give to any aspiring enthusiast hoping to get in to the motoring world?

Well, my own past is quite varied… but, I think looking back, have a vision for what you would like to do, what makes you happy, but be flexible. The industry that we are in is enormously varied and you never know what’s around the corner, so if you are too focused and blinkered before you start your journey you will miss things. Grab every experience you can and log them – good and bad – are all valuable. Make the most of people who want to help you, because they wouldn’t offer it if they don’t mean it.

Finally, can you give us some final words of wisdom and advice about business or life that you live by?

For business: Remember it’s your customer that pays all the bills! I’m not one for stress, you might experience stress but don’t be stress – it’s been a goal of my life not to be stressed!

One rule that I’ve reinforced by being here is never judge a book by its cover. I would have missed out on some amazing experiences if I had judged some of the people I’ve met through working here by their covers…! So that’s an important one!