Retirement is sweet for founders of John Hall Schoolwear

John and Maureen Hall founders of John Hall Schoolwear

The founders of a successful Rochdale business received a ‘sweet’ send off to celebrate their retirement.

John and Maureen Hall ran John Hall Schoolwear from Fieldhouse Industrial Estate, Whitworth Road, for 34 years. When they retired in December, business centre owners Bizspace marked the occasion with a special commemorative cake.

Centre manager Damien Maddock said the couple would be missed.

“John Hall Schoolwear is a really well-known firm in Rochdale and I used to wear their uniforms as a child,” he said.

“The business will remain here with its new owners, which is fantastic, but we will miss seeing John and Maureen around the site after so many years. My wife is a baker, so I asked her to make a special cake to mark the occasion and thank them for being such wonderful customers.”

The specialist school uniform manufacturing business first moved to Fieldhouse in 1979, as a convenient location to house the 12 machinists who previously worked from home.

Company founder John recalls: “We started off in a small unit for around 18 months, then as business increased we took a larger premises where we stayed for 28 years.

“We also had a premises in Manchester and in 2008 we decided to combine the two operations, so moved into our third business unit at Fieldhouse. We took a 10,000 sq ft unit and incorporated our Rochdale operation and the plant and machinery from Manchester into a single premises and never looked back. The business went from strength to strength.”

John says it feels strange to not be working after 50 years, but he and Maureen, who ran the business alongside him, plan to spend more time socialising and seeing their four grandchildren.

“I will miss seeing all the customers and the banter about football,” City fan John says.

“Fieldhouse was a wonderful place to work and our relationship with Damien and the team was fantastic. I also must praise the site’s security company, who were always so diligent and caring.

“The cake which Damien brought us was a wonderful surprise and we had it on display in our dining room as part of our Christmas celebrations.”

John Hall Schoolwear has been bought by Trutex and it will continue to operate from Fieldhouse Industrial Estate as an independent business within the group, from an expanded 20,000 sq ft premises.