Fox Brothers Established 1932
1930
1930
Fox Brothers were founded in 1932 by Jack Fox. The first few months of the company saw Jack and his brothers working together before Jack took full ownership of the company – Hence the name ‘Fox Bros’. The early days of the company saw Jack Fox operating 2 to 3 wagons out of the now-former brickworks buildings at Hoo Hill, Layton.
1940
1940’s
Jack Fox’s son, Harold Fox (HF) known to many as Barney joined the company to work alongside his father after leaving the merchant navy. This was around the mid-1940s after serving on several merchant ships including the Empire Flint, City of Durham and Evagoras. After the war, the company quickly expanded, opportunities presented themselves with acquisitions of land through British Rail and additional tipper wagons and plant machinery bought from the exiting Americans. This also led to one of the company’s first big jobs working on one of the runways at RAF Burtonwood in 1946
1950
1950’s
In 1956 Fox Brothers became a limited company, ‘Fox Bros Blackpool Ltd’
A strong mutual respect between the owners and employees had created a family orientated and hard-working ethos for the company allowing more growth and success. Many employees were ex-military, some even POW, it was important to HF that they were looked after, taken on as gardening staff or working in the office if no longer able to do the more laborious tasks.
1960
1960’s
Fox Brothers added housebuilders to their services, acquiring land in the years 1961/62 by the side of the Lancaster canal running through Garstang. Here they built a housing estate consisting of between 20-40 houses and then went on to build houses across Fylde, Wyre, Gr Eccleston and other parts of Lancashire.
Mid 60s also saw Fox Brothers become involved in works on the Preston New Road dual carriageway, another big landmark job for the company. This also led to one of the company’s first big jobs working on one of the runways at RAF Burtonwood in 1946.
