Former Richard Read transport site at Longhope to become business park

By Nicky Godding

4 December 2019

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Robert Smith of Bruton Knowles, with Grant Ruddy of the consortium which has bought the former Richard Reed Transport site in Longhope, Gloucestershire, being sold by Bruton Knowles. - 28 November 2019 Picture by Andrew Higgins - Thousand Word Media NO SALES, NO SYNDICATION. Contact for more information mob: 07775556610 web: www.thousandwordmedia.com email: [email protected] The photographic copyright (©2019) is exclusively retained by the works creator at all times and sales, syndication or offering the work for future publication to a third party without the photographer's knowledge or agreement is in breach of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, (Part 1, Section 4, 2b). Please contact the photographer should you have any questions with regard to the use of the attached work and any rights involved.

A former warehouse and transport depot in Longhope, Gloucestershire will be transformed into a business park following its sale to local investors, Dr Roger Head and Jim Ruddy.

Previously the home to Richard Read Transport, the site had been used as a warehouse and distribution site for more than 60 years.

Robert Smith at Bruton Knowles’ Gloucester office, who brokered the deal, said: “The former owners wish the purchasers every success for the future with their plans for the property.

“The site has huge potential and with Roger Head and Jim Ruddy at its helm, it has an exciting future ahead as a business park.”

Roger Head said: “We intend to start as soon as possible on what will be a multi-million pound refurbishment. We already own a number of industrial estates and are pleased to add this to our portfolio.”

To be renamed Longhope Business Park, the project is to be headed up by company director, Grant Ruddy who joins Head Ruddy Ltd after 15 years’ experience with Barnwood Construction.

Set in a prime location on the A4136, 14 miles from the M5 and seven miles from the M50, the site includes 70,000 sq ft of warehousing and industrial units and office space, along with large areas of hardstanding and parking. The new owners are also set to benefit from 5.32 acres of expansion land which already has outline planning consent for commercial uses. The site also includes a detached three storey, five-bedroom residential property.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.