How one family business, Bond International, has grown into the UK’s largest independent tire wholesaler
As the UK’s leading independent tire wholesaler, Bond International (Bond) has been supplying tires to the trade for over 55 years, selling an average of one tire every six seconds. Based at five distribution centers across the UK, Bond boasts more than five decades of experience, extensive knowledge of the wholesale market, and a team of passionate individuals, providing advice alongside high-quality products.
The business was established in 1966 by Reg Bond, who, after being awarded £350 compensation for an accident at work that resulted in the loss of sight in one eye, set up Bond and traded from a small building in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. Since its inception, the business has grown into an industry-leading supplier with an extensive range of tires. Yet despite this growth, Bond has remained a family business with a consistent mission to be the go-to tire wholesaler.
Continuing a family legacy
Following a management buyout (MBO) in 2019, Reg’s sons, Charlie and Greg, now own and manage the business, occupying the roles of CEO and CPO, respectively. The buyout was fully supported and signed off by Reg, who wanted to see the business he had built continue a strong growth plan. We sit down with Charlie to learn more about how Bond has become the UK’s largest independent tire wholesaler and his plans for continued growth.
“Bond is a somewhat simple business; we import tires and distribute them to the motor trade, dealing with customers from small independent garages to major UK chains, fleet companies, and online businesses,” Charlie begins. “We also store and distribute tires for manufacturers through our network of delivery vans. Using our fleet of 350 vehicles, we can supply 92 percent of UK garages on a same-day delivery basis and have an on-time, in-full (OTIF) delivery rate of 99.5 percent.
“As in you find in many family businesses, I started working here from a very young age. My first role was in the warehouse as an operative, and I have covered many roles over the years. This experience has been priceless, as it allows me to fully understand what is required, and what I can expect from the team.
“The business has grown significantly over the last 50 years, including in the last five following the MBO, which saw the creation of a new Board of Directors. I promoted internal employees to the board, as well as recruiting fresh talent I knew would fit the business and its model. Together, we quickly identified areas of expansion and established a plan to execute our ideas. We created a level of highly skilled senior management to sit under the Board, and this, coupled with a fantastic team of employees throughout the whole business, gave us the structure and strength that we needed to grow. In 2018, our turnover was £162 million, but in 2024, this figure grew to £417 million, highlighting that our plan was successful despite challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic and shipping delays.
“A large part of this growth and success was down to improving our service levels,” he notes. “This industry is service-driven, and same-day delivery has become fundamental for sales. After identifying areas of the country where we could gain by providing same-day service, we obtained depots in these regions and the increase in sales naturally followed. By securing high service levels, we’ve strengthened our reputation in the industry and been able to secure major contracts with large customers and manufacturers.”
The key to success
On the topic of opening new depots, we’re keen to understand more about what this process entails. “We have a method of understanding the effect of opening a depot in any area by calculating the market share gains and plotting that against the initial cost of the depot,” Charlie explains. “It’s important to be located near highly populated towns and cities as the gains are higher in these areas. Our new depot in St Helens, for instance, is midway between Manchester and Liverpool, while our Bathgate site is central to both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Both sites in St Helens and Bathgate provided us with the highest return on investment in the tests we ran and are proving successful in the market so far.”
As Charlie points out, customer service is key to Bond’s success, and by ensuring a seamless and positive experience, the business can secure repeat business. “The two most important points for our customers are availability of stock and delivery reliability,” he states. “We have over two million tires in stock at any time and our customers even comment that if Bond does not have the tire in stock, then nobody in the UK does. Our team of 45 customer service agents are based at our head office in Pocklington and do a fantastic job of looking after our customer base.”
Acquisitions have also played a key part in Bond’s recent expansion, enabling the business to build a stronger share of the UK wholesale tire market. “The first part of our expansion plan was to establish the supply network, and once we achieved UK same-day delivery coverage of 92 percent, we turned our attention to leveraging technology to create growth and increase market share,” Charlie elaborates. “We purchased 75 percent of Tyrescope Ltd and 100 percent of Tyresoft Ltd. Tyrescope is an incredible software platform that can measure tire tread depth from a mobile device and read tire information from a photo of the sidewall. Using a clever algorithm, Tyrescope can accurately predict when tires will need to be replaced, giving our customers a competitive advantage in the market. Tyrescope is also very popular among fleet companies from a compliance and vehicle check perspective.
“Tyresoft, on the other hand, is a software company providing a one-stop complete management system for the tire and automotive industry. As part of this
acquisition, the founder and owner of Tyresoft, Marcus Hathaway, has joined our board as Director of Systems Development. Marcus brings a wealth of skills to the board and will enable us to reduce cost base and improve sales through software development.”
As our conversation ends, Charlie reflects on some of the challenges Bond has faced in recent years, as well as sharing plans for the future. “2025 has been a challenging year for the tire industry with several changes impacting all types of businesses,” he comments. “The government’s increases in employers’ National Insurance contributions as well as the Living Wage, alongside Donald Trump’s tariffs, have meant businesses across the UK have had to readjust. Bond is no exception, but we like to view challenges as opportunities. The Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, saw us increase our UK market share, so we like to view and react to challenges in the most positive way possible.
“The Bond board is extremely active, and the business is constantly growing through projects and acquisitions,” Charlie concludes. “I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s safe to say we will be continuing our growth trajectory and have plans in place for how we would like to achieve this moving forward.”