The Arch Publications Podcast.
You're listening to the Arch Publications Business Insight podcast.
In this episode, I talk to Andrew Pass.
He's the owner of a jeweller's in crew and in Newcastle called John Pass.
They've been around for 75 years this year and they're celebrating.
He tells me how.
Hope you enjoy.
All those years ago, it was really my grandfather who was himself the son of a watchmaker who
served his time in the RAF as an instrument maker during the Second World War.
When he was demobbed from the RAF, he applied the apprenticeship that he'd learnt beforehand
to set up a very small business with his brother in Haslington just outside of crew.
That was 75 years ago to this very year.
We are in the shop on Nantwich Road, which is the one that everybody knows in Cheshire.
How did the business grow from just doing watches to other type of retail?
That was really a credit of my grandfather and my dad.
They started off in the service industry in Haslington, repairing watches in a very small
way.
My granddad at the time was his brother.
For those who have lived in the area for a long time, they'll remember that my granddad's
brother went to open a small shop in Olsager.
In return, granddad came from Haslington to this site in Nantwich Road.
In those early days, it was just a move onto Nantwich Road where we still provided a watchmaking
service.
My dad joined the business.
He was going to be a teacher.
He decided that granddad at the time was getting a little bit busy towards Christmas, so he
would leave his studies for a short while in order to come and help out.
Like many generational businesses, he never went back to his studies and joined the business.
Really in fairness, it was my mum and dad who built the retail side of the business,
whilst maintaining a service centre on site, both in terms of watch repairs at that time
and jewelry repairs.
Of course, Martin Ardula, he's actually been here next year for 50 years of those 75 years.
He's celebrating next year his 50th year service after our 75th as a business here on Nantwich
Road.
You make your own jewellery here, do you?
So if someone came in and they wanted a particular style of engagement ring, you could actually
do that here?
Absolutely.
Our bespoke service, you can come in with a germ of an idea, you can have pictures off
Pinterest, off TikTok, Instagram, doesn't matter what.
Just show us what it is that's on your mind and we can take you on that journey from a
two-dimensional drawing into a 3D wax printing of the item so that you can actually visualise
it in 3D space and handle it before it's made.
And then we get it manufactured now.
We don't always manufacture every piece here in our workshop.
Our workshop here does an awful lot of our repair work and a limited amount of our manufacture,
but we also get manufacturing done with one of Britain's oldest, if not the oldest, workshop
of manufacturing jewellers in the UK.
And so we get that piece manufactured bespoke English handmade for you.
Wow, that's amazing.
So can you do it?
Can you make jewellery?
I'm not trained at the bench.
My background was Marks and Spencer's.
I have a little bit of an eclectic background.
I graduated with a first class honours degree from Cardiff in mining engineering.
And in those days, the blue chip companies would actively recruit any graduate and I
was lured into the world of Marks and Spencer's, went as a graduate trainee for them and spent
the first few years of my life selling knickers and bananas with Marks and Spencer's.
Great sandwiches.
Absolutely.
And travelled around with them, did a number of stores with them all over the UK.
And again, that same story repeated itself.
I recognise that mum and dad were at the time getting a little bit short handed and a little
bit tired as they got older and the demands of the business were growing.
So allegedly, well, I actually took a year career break from Marks and Spencer's and
not dissimilar to my dad, never actually returned back to M&S after that year.
So that was nearly 30 plus years ago now.
But I suppose that retail experience has been really important for this.
I think particularly for the challenges that retail has faced, pricks and mortar retail
has faced and is facing.
I think it's really healthy for a family business to encourage their succession plan, to learn
some transferable skills elsewhere.
Sadly, in our industry, we see a lot of businesses die on the vine because there isn't that
fresh injection of ideas and ways forward.
And the story repeats itself again.
My daughter's just graduated in biochemistry and is currently working in research of toxicology,
doing a masters at those as well.
And we encourage him to go out and do that at this present time because these transferable
skills will come in with a different perspective on the business and a different way of looking
things.
And that helps you keep things fresh and alive.
And I think it's important.
And indeed, when you look at the team that we've recruited lately, we've brought them
in from different industries as well, just to give us that, as I say, different perspective
on how things can be done and make sure we stay fresh and current.
So in your time here, has there been something that you've sold that has been particularly
memorable as far as jewellery is concerned?
I think one of the things we're famous for is we treat all customers equal.
And I think maybe your question probes the answer of a really expensive item.
It does, actually.
It absolutely doesn't in our world.
We have a phrase, you know, we say in our group, hugging in morning, let's make dreams
happen.
And that dream can be anything.
It can be a very sentimental piece that just needs repairing in time for baby, perhaps a
funeral or a wedding.
Something that's really significant to people.
And jewellery and retail jewellery and watches is a very emotional business.
In fact, to answer your question, you know, there's never a day that goes by without we
do something memorable for somebody.
It really doesn't matter the value of that.
It's just about making people happy.
And our strap line is a great place to work, a great place to shop.
Yeah.
And that's what we try and do every day.
We're talking about memories.
Say for example, someone has some jewellery that's been handed down, but they wanted to
make it a bit more modern.
And you use the stones from that and the gold and turn it into something.
Absolutely.
I just said a background to that where the UK's only and first consequently carbon neutral
retail jeweler.
And so there's a whole story I could tell you about that.
Tell me.
But I won't bore you with all that detail on this conversation.
But basically, upcycling and recycling is a big part of what we're trying to do more
and more of now.
So there's nothing better as far as we're concerned to take in perhaps a slightly dated
out of fashion piece of jewelry that nevertheless carries huge sentiment and rework the stones.
Sometimes rework the metal the same.
Sometimes we bring fresh metal in, but the sentiment carries on through the generations.
And we would always encourage people to think about remodeling jewelry.
Jewelry that's left in a drawer is doing nobody any good.
Nobody needs to have the jewelry in a drawer.
It's no fun to anybody.
If you have something at home that you just think you want to upcycle or recycle, come
and talk to us, we can design it for you.
We can take you on that journey and make it the right piece of jewelry for the next generation.
We actually touched on before we started the interview, careers in watchmaking and jewelry.
If somebody really wanted to become a jeweler or a watchmaker, and how do they go into jewelry
as a career?
So there's many avenues.
And I think, you know, as an industry, I would really passionately like to put it out there
that we are desperately keen for people, young, old.
It really doesn't matter to consider a career in either watchmaking.
It's a slightly confusing phrase.
That's really in the UK at the moment, more about service centers for watches and servicing
watches.
There's a very, only a very limited and niche business of actually English handmade watches.
So we talk about the word watchmaking.
It means servicing watches and meaning that they can be used reliably for the next 10,
12 years and beyond and for subsequent generations.
And similarly with jewelry, there's a lot more manufacturing jewelry in the UK, but
there's equally and the same way we have watchmaking and servicing watches, we have the same thing.
We have repairing jewelers as well.
The message is really serious out there and it's really clear.
We need you and we can't attract enough people into the industry.
I don't believe it's anything to do with conditions or pay.
I just don't think people think about becoming a repairing jeweler or a watchmaker and it's
a wonderful career.
It's incredibly rewarding and of course both inherent in them are detail.
You have to be very detailed and very, very focused and precise and creative to a degree,
but just a wonderful career.
And if anybody out there is thinking about a changing career, just get in touch with
us because we'll guide them and support them on that journey with pleasure.
Yeah, that sounds really interesting.
I'm going to go home and say to my 13 year old boy who wants to be a pilot, probably
going to cost us less to put you through the training than being a pilot.
Or he could do both.
You could do both and I think it's good to have plan A, plan B and plan C and see which
one works out the best.
Yeah, because people who want to be pilots very often love watches.
I mean the red arrows, often you see them as sponsors of certain brands of watches and
I think that's great because it's getting him into enjoying watches early.
He's already got a case with various different watches in.
I think that's just really nice thing for him to have.
There's a lot of synergies.
People who like and enjoy watches and watchmaking often have synergies with military.
They have synergies with engineering, synergies with cars and actually they often don't just
think that next step into watchmaking, but we would encourage anybody to give it a go
because it's incredibly rewarding.
Do you think watches are coming back again because there was a period of time that everybody
was looking at the phones?
I normally wear a watch.
I haven't got it on today, but I do normally wear a watch.
Do you think they're coming back?
I don't think they ever went away.
I think that there's many motivators why people buy watches and jewelry and there's no doubt
that the accurate time source is all around of it.
It's on our laptop in front of us.
It's on our iPhone.
It's on our mobile phone.
It's everywhere.
And so perhaps the primary function of a watch these days is slightly reduced because we're
accessible to the time wherever we go.
In fact, we can't escape it sometimes.
But people's motivators for buying watches and jewelry are many, many multiple facets.
And I think what has changed in the industry is that both particularly watches and jewelry
to a greater extent have gone emotional and sentimental and luxurious as well.
jewelry has come into the watch industry a lot, lot more.
And I think, you know, perhaps that lower end watch purchase has been superseded by the
mobile phone.
But people now like to treat themselves to an item of fine, beautiful engineering and
manufacturing and value it for that and enjoy it for that reason.
Is it still Swiss watches, which are the best made?
If you ask for Swiss, of course, they'll tell you that.
There are some emerging markets at the moment.
And it has got a little bit of an acorn of a British manufacturing of fine quality watches.
And in fact, the Far East is now bringing out some very fine quality mechanical watches.
But there is no doubt.
And there is no question that the Swiss remain absolutely masters of their trade.
And yeah, they are amazing at what they do.
And I've been fortunate enough in my time to visit some of these manufacturing sites
and meet the people that make these watches.
Their discipline, their skills, their expertise, their focus, their passion is like no other.
And you only find that in Switzerland.
And consequently, they're the only people, the only nation that really delivers the goods
to that high level of horology.
Because it goes back for generations and generations, doesn't it?
Absolutely.
Probably families and families that have done it for years and years.
It is.
And I think it's probably fair to say it's actually developed in Switzerland, a people
type that has been crafted and influenced by that industry over generations.
And they're an incredibly skilled and talented group of people that make these things.
And it's not just watches as well.
We see the same in jewelry.
Jewelry made in certain geographic locations around the world where expertise has grown
over the years and become a center of excellence.
And that itself just breeds this culture and this society.
Of course, we've got in the UK, we've got the Birmingham Jewelry Quarter and to a lesser
degree, perhaps these days, Hattengarten in London.
But one of our best fine jewelry manufacturers is in a small town in Germany called Ida
Oberstein.
And that company name is Cree Fine Jewelry.
And they're there because of historic origins in the geology of the area where generations
and generations ago, a very small cottage industry started due to the facts that they
have some natural onyxes in the ground, which allowed them to create beautiful objects of
art.
And that slowly manifested itself into a cutting and polishing industry, which has now transitioned
into Germany's finest center for handmade fine jewelry.
So history plays a big part in this cultural manufacturing hubs around the world.
You also sell some brands as well, don't you?
You do Pandora, you do Swarovski crystals and the Welsh, I can never say it.
That's beautiful gold, isn't it?
Amazing.
Yeah.
I mean, fashion jewelry probably wasn't such a strong feature pre the start of the millennium.
And gradually and slowly, as brand became more important to the consumer, the consumer
started to look for jewelry that fell underneath a brand label.
I certainly know in my time and my dad's time here in the business, mum and dad's time,
you know, people would come to us, I think, entirely and exclusively because it was a piece
of fine jewelry from John Pass.
We were the brand.
I believe it's important we keep our identity and we still are the brand, but it is also
right that we sell branded jewelry under our umbrella of the brand.
So we're very careful and strict which brands we let into our business, but when they represent
something that we believe the customer want, like you mentioned with Pandora, Swarovski,
Klugai, phenomenal branded jewelry that people can empathize with, they understand the DNA
of the brand and they connect with that brand.
That's been the single biggest growth area in our business in the last 20 years.
And it's been quite fascinating to watch how customers like branded jewelry.
So 75 years, you've got a very special year planned.
You are doing 75 moments of kindness this year, aren't you?
So if you want to just tell me about how that came about and the plans.
Yeah, of course.
It's, gosh, again, I won't take you fully around the houses, but I'd love to speak to
you at the latest stage about our corporate social responsibilities, which is a big word,
but that was born on the back of the dreadful pandemic that was.
But it started us thinking in a certain way and I think it's a really healthy way and
a really important way.
And when it came to our 75th birthday this year, we thought, naturally, your thoughts
go to, I'll just throw a great big party.
You know, let's have a knees up, let's have fun.
And indeed, we might do that, but I don't think that's enough.
What are we actually celebrating?
We're celebrating 75 successful years of a business and without the community around
us, we simply wouldn't have that business.
So we decided that the main thrust of our 75th party celebrations should be giving something
back and we've created an idea that in this current year, we're going to do 75 acts of
kindness.
And now our corporate social responsibilities charter breaks into three areas.
It's climate, it's charity and it's community.
So for one of these acts of kindness to be relevant, we need to check that it improves
our climate, our charity or our community.
And we've said to the team, if it takes one of those three boxes, two of them or three,
it doesn't matter.
That is a moment of kindness and we will support our team.
We have about 25 members of the team to go out and do that thing, whatever it is, so
long as it makes a difference, a positive difference to our charity, our community or
our climate.
And I would like to just say now it is a charity out there or a community project out there
or an environmental project out there that people want to help with whilst we've only
launched this initiative last Friday.
And already we've got by next Sunday, we'll have three moments of kindness behind us.
We're not sure what our idea is.
We would welcome anybody to approach us to say if we need some help to do anything to
make something happen.
So we're going to give back these 75 moments and some of them will be big, some of them
won't be as big, some of them will be teams, some of them will be individual, but we think
it's the right thing to do.
And of course it will be reflected through in Stoke-on-Trent as well because we have
our shop in Newcastle and the line.
So it's really the crew Nantwich area and then the Staffordshire area as well, North
Staffs as well.
So you see yourself ever moving from Nantwich Road because I just think you're like, when
you think of Nantwich Road, I always think of you.
Yeah, it's nice people do that.
And my granddad had a phrase, if you're any good, they'll find you down a country lane.
I passionately believe that I think people travel, if you look at the hospitality and
catering industry, you'll travel sometimes 10 or 12 miles just to go out for your dinner
at night because it's good.
Very often it's down a country lane.
I think if you're good and the offer that you give is good and it's all the things the
consumer wants, we have become a destination stop.
And that's a wonderful thing to be.
Of course with the free parking on Nantwich Road and in the surrounding areas, it's very
convenient for customers.
I passionately believe actually we could put anything in our windows because if you watch
a customer journey when they arrive on Nantwich Road, they are focused.
They know they've come to John Pass on Nantwich Road.
They walk past our windows without actually giving it very many second glances.
They know they've come to see us and it's through that word of mouth that people then
send other people and then the journey just carries on.
So in answer, no, I don't think we'll ever leave Nantwich Road.
Obviously for people in North Staths, if they don't want to come to Nantwich Road, we've
got the other alternative in Newcastle and the Lone.
But I think rather like a comfy pair of slippers, people like to come back to us on Nantwich
Road.
They've been doing it for generations and we see the next generations coming in now and
it makes you feel very old sometimes when you're serving third and fourth generations.
Yeah, it's easy, it's convenient and that welcome over the generations has never changed.
Well thank you very much for taking some time out today to talk to me and here's the next
75 years.
Thanks very much indeed.
Thanks for taking time too.
Thank you for listening to the Arch Publications Business Insight podcast where I spoke to
Andrew Pass from John Pass, The Jewelers.
Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast.
I'll have another one coming up very soon where I'll speak to another local business
in Cheshire.
See you next time.