In an interview with LBN Dan Taylor, a director at law firm Fletchers and chair of Southport BID, talks of his passion for the town and of Fletchers’ commitment to the local economy and community. Tony McDonough reports
Dan Taylor is meticulous when it comes to separating his roles as chair of Southport BID and as a director at law firm Fletchers.
However, his passion for both the town he calls his home and the business where he has built his career over almost three decades, shines through. And Dan is clear there is a symbiotic relationship between the two that is mutually beneficial.
“I was honoured to be asked to speak at the Southport and Ormskirk Law Society annual dinner in November in my capacity as BID chair,” he said.
“It was a brilliant evening but it was very strange because I had attended that event as a member of Fletchers around 20 times over the years and looked at some of the amazing speakers – I never thought I would be one of them.
“I talked a lot about the importance of Southport to Fletchers but also how personally invested I am in the town and why I am proud to be BID chair. I’ve lived in the town longer than I have lived in Liverpool (where he grew up). I met my wife here, raised my family in the town.
“I drew a parallel in that speech between the importance of Southport to me and to Fletchers. We do aim to stay true to our roots.”
Fletchers was founded as a small high street personal injury and criminal negligence firm in 1987. Today it operates nationally with bases in Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton, Leeds and other locations.
Its growth accelerated in 2021 when it was acquired by an affiliate of private equity outfit Sun European Partners. This has led to major expansion and now the firm employs more than 1,000 people and is projecting annual revenues of £100m for the current year.
Dan trained as an accountant in Liverpool with Deloitte and, after working for a number of small accountancy practices in the city, joined Fletchers in Southport in 1996. At that point it employed around 40 people but had already gained a strong reputation.
By 2000 he had been appointed as the firm’s finance director. After a decade in that role he became director of technology, then director of operations and now director of mergers and acquisitions integration. And given Fletchers’ M&A ambitions that is a key role in the business.
“I am proud to have worked at Fletchers for so long and seen it grow from a company that was around 40 people to well over 1,000 now. We are now beyond the North West and have grown from a local firm to a national one,” explained Dan.
“While Fletchers has grown massively, and continues to do so, we very much remain committed to Southport – this is our founding office.
“One of the things I remain proud of is that we are still one of the biggest employers in Southport. Out of our 1,000-plus colleagues around 400 of them would call Southport their base office. We have a hybrid model so people aren’t always in the office.
“Our commitment to Southport is not just in name. We continue to recruit locally for teams that are Southport-based. We are very much invested in local people by offering legal apprenticeships here. It is important for us to do that. That is in both legal and non-legal departments.”
Dan adds the firm continues to invest in its Southport assets. A new learning and development suite is in the pipeline and in the past year it has installed a staff gym and wellness facilities.
Fletchers’ corporate social responsibility arm engages with organisations across Southport, and it supports local charities as well as operating its own charity, the Fletchers Foundation, which was founded two years ago.
And Dan is passionate that Fletchers plays an active role, and supports local businesses and the wider economy. He said: “Southport is our largest office. It is around 24,000 sq ft.
“For maintenance we always try to use local tradespeople whenever we can. There are a lot of local businesses that we use for multiple reasons and keep money in Southport.
“Our partnership team attends BID events to make sure we get involved in supporting local businesses. Despite the fact that we are now a large company, we started in Southport and remain committed to being part of the business community.
“It gives us an opportunity to make sure our people are invested in local issues, whether that is business or CSR. It would be very easy for us to be focused on the bigger cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. They have bigger business communities.
“Membership of Southport BID is one of the ways we ensure we focus resources here in Southport. It gives us a reason to stay anchored to our roots.
“In my capacity as BID chair I am there because I work for a levy-payer. Myself and the other board members always have to balance that. We are on the BID board to represent the levy-members and not the businesses we work for.
“That wealth of experience I have gained in my 29 years at Fletchers has given me a broad view of some of the challenges that our businesses face in Southport.”
Dan is, again, conscious of the different hats he wears, pointing out that “anyone that speaks publicly on behalf of a town has to choose their words carefully”.
He adds: “If I speak as BID chair then that is my opinion as BID chair but not everyone will agree with my opinion and so I will never claim to speak for Southport, or the people of Southport. They have their own voices.”
But he goes on to offer the view that Southport’s economy has recovered well since the pandemic. It is a town “in transition” he says. And he talks about bumps in the road such as the currently closed Southport Pier, which needs significant investment to reopen.
The town is now “beyond green shoots and is starting to blossom” he insists. And there is plenty of evidence to back up that assertion.
Investment has gone into the north end of Southport with money now also going into the other end of Lord Street in ventures such as the Garrick and the new Wetherspoons Hotel.
On a bigger scale work will get under way this year on the construction of the new £73m Southport Marine Lake Events Centre (MLEC) and hopes are high that The Cove, a multi-million pound leisure beach and thermal spa resort will also become a reality.
“There will be a lot of business owners in Southport who will look at these projects and ask “well what does that mean to me?’. The answer is that these projects will bring around half a million extra people into Southport a year,” said Dan.
“People will come into this town to eat and drink and shop and use other services in the town. One of the issues with change on this scale is that it rarely happens quickly. And when it does happen quickly it is not always a good thing.
“It never happens quick enough for the public but the process takes time and money. But right now I think the future for Southport looks very bright.”
For several years BID chief executive Rachel Fitzgerald has been a champion of business diversification in the town. While she recognises the critical and ongoing importance of the visitor economy, she also believes it is important to future-proof Southport’s economy by supporting growth across multiple sectors.
New ventures are helping to make that vision a reality. Work on the £1.5m Sefton Council-backed Enterprise Arcade in Eastbank Street is close to completion. It will provide co-working space for entrepreneurs.
It will add to other spaces in Southport providing space for co-working and digital businesses including The Engine Room inside Wayfarers Arcade and Werksy on West Street.
Dan is excited by the potential of these facilities. He explained: “That is our new paradigm now. We are not anchored into buildings and locations in the way we were pre-pandemic. You can start to see business people thinking in a different way about how they operate.
“A lot of micro-businesses have appeared in Southport. Seeing that happen feels like a real change. There is talk about empty space above retail premises for urban living. That will breathe new life into our town.
“Diversification will come from individual entrepreneurs. That support space that is now available will lead to more growth.
“Fletchers is always looking at ways to support local businesses. We have a wealth of knowledge and experience in this business and we want to share it. Southport’s success is Fletchers’ success and vice-versa.”