During the 1950’s William Secker turned his attention to the domestic market as this was a relatively undeveloped sector – only 13% of UK homes had a refrigerator by 1960 compared to 96% in the USA. He secured a major contract with Longford Engineering Company Ltd (LEC refrigeration as it was to become) of Bognor Regis to become the sole distributer of the domestic refrigerator in the Eastern Counties. Under William’s leadership, the company had also succeeded in securing contracts with national companies such as Birds Eye Frozen Foods, Walls Ice Cream and The Lever Group who contracted us to install & service their refrigeration systems.
William was joined by his five sons as they became of employment age and together they strived to provide a personal service that delivered on quality, customer care and value for money. Aware of new innovations and market trends, as we are today, Secker & Sons (Norwich) Ltd, were among the first to promote the sale of chilled dairy decks and display freezers to the convenience store retailer. Knowing that this was a growing market, William’s sons took the decision to import Italian made cabinets that quietly but emphatically stated flair, style & finesse. This made the comparatively small family business the sole importers of Arneg Refrigeration (now a well know brand) to the UK and enabled us to develop a national client base during the 1960’s which we continue to service today.
At the age of 16, Alan James Secker followed his father and grand-father into the business & trained from the bottom as an engineer’s mate. He qualified as an engineer and remained on the tools until the age of 40 when he became Director of Shopfitting. This was a relatively new department within the business & had evolved as a result of our client relationships within the retail sector. In a little over a decade, Alan secured numerous Shopfitting contracts, increased Seckers employees to over 50, and won many awards for his clients. Today we continue to handle large shopfits and associated refrigeration installations.
Since the company was established over 70 years ago, three generations of the family have strived to maintain the personal approach and conscientious values which were so important to William Secker and have helped establish Secker & Sons (Norwich) Ltd as a family-run, independent business with a reputation for outstanding service and high quality installations.
Today we are proud to see our name linked to national accounts such as Budgens, Petrogas, Applegreen, Nisa, Londis, Madonalds, KFC, The Ministry of Defence, The US Air Force and the Metropolitan Police. We continue to specialise in Commercial Refrigeration, shopfitting and Air Conditioning installations within the Retail, Commercial and Industrial sector and are capable of handling any size of project and from one small wall mounted air conditioning unit through to full large scale commercial installations.
