Bridgestone has detailed the new organisation of its retail network, bringing together its current UK and Ireland operations. As part of the company’s regionalisation strategy – essentially northern European operations being streamlined from the UK – the division is headed by Alex Watson, retail managing director UK and Ireland, who takes up responsibility for Kingsway Tyres Ltd, Fast Fit Tyres and also the First Stop network. He has been involved in Kingsway Tyres Ltd since 1996 and stayed with the company when it was bought by Bridgestone in 2004, becoming its managing director during the acquisition. There are 170 First Stop centres in the UK, and around 2,000 across Europe.