Overview of a Centenary Business
Enterprise, hard work and a determination to give excellent service were the principles established by Mr Fred Rees when he launched his haulage and charabanc business in Neyland, Pembrokeshire in 1925. And the formula has been followed by his son and grandson. Fred Rees Garages, now a household name in West Wales, started as a one-man operation by purchasing a Dennis flatbed lorry / charabanc and established itself from humble beginnings in a Great Western Railway shed in Neyland. This one lorry chassis with interchangeable bodies, doubled as a goods carrying vehicle and a people carrying vehicle. Fred Rees drove the vehicle himself and carried out his own maintenance and repairs. So started a business which soon grew rapidly with its success based on personal attention, hard work and foresight. By 1939 and the outbreak of the Second World War, he was operating thirteen lorries and coaches from garages in Charles Street and James Street, Neyland. Wartime austerity and rationing of essential commodities put a stop to fuel for coach trips, but the haulage business was at full stretch during the war years, carrying large quantities of materials to the numerous airfields and military establishments which were springing up around the County of Pembrokeshire. Flour was transported to the bakeries as well as cattle feeds, fertilisers and supplies for many farms and agricultural and potato industries. Operating seven days a week for long hours, "Fred Rees" became one of Neyland’s largest employers.
The coach and bus business revived after the war, with seven modern coaches taking parties from Neyland and Pembrokeshire on trips all over the Country to Rugby Internationals at Cardiff and Twickenham, the Grand National and the Blackpool Illuminations. A new garage was built in Neyland in 1947 and Fred started selling new Austin cars and vans, by which time son Douglas Rees had left school and joined his father in the business. However, with the advent of nationalisation of the goods haulage industry, the lorries were taken over which saw the end of that side of the enterprise. Fred had the foresight to redirect his business energies into the retail motor trade and purchased and opened another garage at Perrots Road, Haverfordwest (Victoria Garage) in 1948 from where the motor trade business has operated ever since. He acquired the Austin dealership here too and his son, Douglas, who learned the trade the hard way, sold his first vehicle, a five-ton Austin truck, Reg. Number KDE785, to the Brodog Timber Company of Fishguard for £598.
The coach business was sold to Prendergast Motors in 1956 to further expand the motor car garages and to allow Mr Fred Rees to spend more time with his son, to prepare him in his business principles. Two years later however, Fred Rees died suddenly, leaving his son Douglas in sole charge. "It was almost as if he had a premonition because he insisted on teaching me the business not long before he died, drumming in the principles that good service and never breaking a promise were the most important things". The business took on the Rootes dealership in the 1960’s which later became Chrysler which unfortunately suffered its own international financial troubles in the mid 1970’s.
In 1975, Douglas Rees decided to cease his Chrysler relationship and replaced such with the Volvo and Lancia franchises which it held successfully until the late 1980’s, added to with Mitsubishi Motors range in 1984. A major redesign and modernisation of the original garage premises were completed in 1988, coinciding with the advent of the town’s new road scheme, which meant the garage was now even more prominent on what became the second busiest roundabout in the town. At this time, a third generation joined the company, Ralph, son of Douglas and grandson of the late Fred Rees. Ralph had been educated at local Grammar School and had spent many of his school holidays and weekends involved in the business from age of 12. He progressed to study and completed a Business Management Degree at University of Glamorgan, followed by a placement at South-East of England large Motor Trade Group, Caffyns. He then joined the business full time in 1990 and was taught by his father, Douglas, those original business principles of giving excellent service and value for money, which have stood the business in good stead as it grew and further developed.
In 2000, Douglas and Ralph could see the emergence and potential future growth opportunities of the ŠKODA range of cars (following the investment that the VW Group had made) and courted appointment as a Retailer, which was granted in June 2001. A further opportunity came to fruition at this time with the purchase of an adjacent former petrol station, which Douglas and Ralph developed into an All Makes Used Car Centre, still managed and administered from the main garage showroom premises. Douglas "semi-retired" in the early 2000’s but still enjoyed a few hours a day, most days of the week, being at the business, meeting customers, new and old. He then unfortunately suffered a stroke in 2006 and sadly passed away in December 2008, leaving son Ralph as main director to continue the next chapter of this successful, local, privately owned company. Ralph’s mother (and widow of Douglas, Mrs June Rees) is also still a director and minority Shareholder and takes an active interest in the day to day running and success of the business. The ŠKODA brand and range, as both Douglas and Ralph had the foresight to recognise back in 2000, has grown immensely and very successfully over the past 25 years, and as a result offers a width and depth of models that suit the Pembrokeshire motorist, now with 8 car model lineup offering hatchbacks, estates, SUV’s as well as electric powered cars. 2015 saw the landmark of 90 years trading for Fred Rees Garages and the achievement of being awarded ŠKODA Retailer of the Year for the whole of the UK. It also was the year where a major refurbishment of the premises was successfully completed, implementing the latest ŠKODA Brand Identity. 2016 witnessed the winning of ŜKODA Retailer of the Year Award for a second time, which has been repeated five more times between 2017 and 2023.
" A business never stands still as it has to keep changing with the times" (Douglas Rees)
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