GIBBONS - Key Persons

But when he did, Albert spent several years working at Glebe pit before deciding to set up a business on his own, which is when he opened his first butcher's shop in Coronation Street later moving to 70 High Street East both in Sunderland's East End. Ian continues: "Due to the busy nature of the port, butchers would also supply meat for the ships' crew, and many became known as ‘shipping butchers'. This is where the marine connection began for Gibbons International. My father was born in 1922. He went to sea as a galley boy at the age of 15, first joining the vessel "Reynolds" in Sunderland bound for Australia in the late 1930s." "My father recounted some nights he would wait all night long at the docks, with other competitors, to be the first to meet the captain of the vessel early in the morning when he awoke," says Ian. "This determination would pay off as by the end of the 1970s the competition on a local level, at least, had all but gone." Meanwhile, Ian's grandfather had become a prominent councillor in Sunderland and was deputy mayor for a time in the 1960s. When he closed the 70 High Street East shop to concentrate on 138 High Street West, he arranged a treat for his loyal customers and their families by chartering several coaches for a daytrip to Redcar, reported to acclaim in the local press.

Job Titles:

• Director and Grandson of the Man Who Established Gibbons International, Says

Ian Gibbons, Director and grandson of the man who established Gibbons International, says: "Over the last 100 years we have enjoyed fantastic success for a small, family-run business and have built up a loyal clientele including major offshore, renewable, oil and gas, bulk, container passenger ferry and cruise line operators. We also send goods to the Falkland Islands." The story of how Gibbons International was formed and grew to become one of the country's leading ship suppliers is an interesting one. Once a corner shop business in Sunderland, its now an International Company supplying vessels throughout the UK, Europe and beyond.