History of Lowdhams
Launch of Lowdham Caravans
1966 was a great year (not just for football) but also for the world of caravans as this saw the launch of Lowdham Caravans by George Crafts (father of current partner Roger Crafts).
Initially, selling residential and static caravans the business then took advantage of the franchise opportunity for tourers with Willerby, Astral, Mardon (egg shaped), Knowsley, Abbey, Swift, Ace (Terry Reid) and Buccaneer. The site was a small, but perfectly formed, three quarters of an acre and customer parking was on the street. As you can imagine there was a lot of pressure for space!Addition of new caravan franchises
Moving into the 70's & 80's, 1978 saw the first ABI solus commitment and the addition of the Ace & Elddis franchises.
Expansion followed in 1986 with the purchase of Midland Counties Caravans. 1989 saw ABI going solus again and we relocated the brand to the Midland Counties Site.
New caravan sales centre
The nineties saw a huge investment in the company with our move to a 26 acre brand new sales centre at Gunthorpe. No more street parking for our customers!
Steve Sharpe became a partner in 1996 and he oversaw the further expansion of the business with an extension to our showroom and the addition of a storage compound.
Motorhomes start to arrive
Finishing the 90's on a high note with the arrival in 1996 of the first motorhome (Buccaneer) at Gunthorpe. Mr John Smith was the proud owner of the first Buccaneer motorhome built. Lowdhams went on to display the new four berth and six berth models at the NEC Show in February 1997.
Our first European import (Laika) swiftly followed in 1998 and the addition of the prestigious Hymer brand of caravans in 1999.
Huddersfield branch
Moving into the noughties, 2002 saw the further expansion of the business with our second branch at Huddersfield being purchased.
Addition of new motorhome franchises
Steve Sharpe added additional motorhome franchises with Carthago, Dethleffs and Knaus coming on board.
Aftersales on motorhomes was our next focus with a new workshop being acquired at Bingham (a few minutes drive from our Gunthorpe base).
And we finished the decade by adding Autocruise & Swift motorhomes to our already impressive portfolio in 2007, then Chausson came on board in 2009.
2010 onwards
It will be interesting to see what the next 40+ years holds for the business.....watch this space, as they say!