A Brief History of Lindleys Autocentres

1957

Richard Lindley moved to Nottingham and went to work at John Player & Sons in the engineer’s department.

Richard was a keen motor mechanic and his colleagues quickly found out – he was inundated with requests to repair their vehicles.

He decided to rent his first workshop to the rear of the flats at 67 North Road, West Bridgford to cope with the demand.

John Campbell (A resident of the flats) quickly offered Richard a job at his workplace, A.V Caldwell Diesel Engineers of Ruddington. Richard became manager of the garage located in Lower Parliament Street in Nottingham and built up a good customer base with his main customer being Jessops. He worked late almost every evening servicing Jessop’s vehicles whilst they were not out on the road.

1959

After 2 years, things were not working out at Caldwell’s and Richard decided to contact Jessops to find out if he could carry on servicing their vehicles if he left and set up his own business.

Jessops agreed to move their work to Richard which gave him a good starting base for his business.

Richard rented some stables at the back of 44 Dickinson Street, St Ann’s, Nottingham – On the first day of R.B Lindley & Sons, he made a grand total of £7.

1961

R.B Lindley & Son moved the workshop to larger rented premises on Cromwell Terrace, St Ann’s, Nottingham.

1966

R.B Lindley & Son moved to Peveril Terrace on Alfreton Road, Nottingham due to the clearance of the St Ann’s estate.

1976

After 10 years at the Alfreton road location, R.B Lindley & Son moved to 66 Carlton Road, Nottingham.

1980

Richard’s son, David Lindley joined the business on a full-time basis after working part-time for several years.

1984

R.B Lindley & Son finally buy their first premises on Furlong Street, Arnold, Nottingham after many years of renting and moving.

2000

Richard Lindley announced his retirement and David Lindley becomes managing director.

2004

R B Lindley & Son purchase 55 Church Street, Old Basford, Nottingham. At this point, the business experienced rapid growth and went from 2 employees to 10.

David’s son, Alex Lindley joins the business at the age of 16.

2009

R B Lindley & Son Ltd celebrate their 50th anniversary!

Apart from a short break in 1957, the Lindley family has been in the motor trade for over 80 years!

2010

R.B Lindley open their first MOT bay at 55 Church Street, Old Basford, Nottingham.

2012

After great success with the MOT bay at Basford. R.B Lindley & Son Ltd purchase Arnold Tyres (Nottingham Road, Arnold, Nottingham) and re-brands the company to Lindleys Autocentres.

Lindleys Autocentres now employ 20 people.

2014

Lindleys Autocentres open its 3rd branch in Nottingham City Centre (Unit 2, 15 Traffic Street, Nottingham)

2016

Lindleys Autocentres garage in West Bridgford

Lindleys Autocentres opens its 4th branch in West Bridgford (Pavilion Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham)

Lindleys Autocentres move into mobile tyre fitting with 2 vans working full time fitting tyres throughout Nottinghamshire.

There are now 40 full-time employees working at Lindleys Autocentres.

2017

Richard Lindley passes away at the age of 82 years old.

2018

Lindleys Autocentres garage in Carlton

Lindleys Autocentres open their 5th branch on Oakdale Road, Carlton, Nottingham.

Alex Lindley becomes Managing Director of Lindleys Autocentres.

2019

Lindleys Autocentres open their 6th branch on Portland Road, Hucknall.

2020

Lindleys open their first tyre & alignment centre on Furlong Street, Arnold in the building where it all started back in 1984!

2020

Lindleys Autocentres open a vehicle sales department at the rear of 55 Church Street, Old Basford.

2021

Lindleys open their second tyre & alignment centre in Colwick, Nottingham. 

There are now over 70 employees working at Lindleys.