Stoke tyre retailer wins Dragon’s business competition

A Stoke-on-Trent tyre retailer has been named a winner of Dragons’ Den investor, Deborah Meaden’s Local Business Accelerator competition. The proprietors of For Tyres, Anthony Rogers and Kevin Ecclestone said that the company will benefit from three months’ free advertising and business mentoring following its win in the North Staffordshire region, supported by local newspaper and Tyres & Accessories neighbour, The Sentinel. Nationally over 3,000 entries were received from businesses of more than one but less than three years old.

The pair said that they hope the competition victory will help them to continue the strong growth achieved in years one and two. They said that the company’s expansion into mobile fitting and commercial vehicle tyres had demonstrated the ambition that helped to win the LBA award. The company is to launch a sale on Pirelli tyres, “to build on the success with budget and Kumho brand tyres”.

In the long term, For Tyres said it would seek a premium brand to act as a partner, encouraging interested manufacturers to contact them. The company also stated its plan to expand further in the near future.

The LBA competition has the support of Prime Minister, David Cameron and CBI director general John Cridland. Cameron said: “It’s brilliant that so many promising young companies, from such a wide range of sectors, are benefiting from this excellent initiative.

“Entrepreneurship, creativity and ambition are essential for our economic recovery and through Local Business Accelerators, newspapers such as The Sentinel are supporting some great new British businesses to grow, and helping to boost their local economy.”