| The industrious life of Terry Dicken
As a schoolboy in the ‘40s, Terry Dicken received a shilling a week pocket money, but unlike most kids of that age he spent it not on sweets or toys, but - timber. Young Terry would scour the area for cheap wood offcuts then set about making and selling wooden clothes horses. His 5 (old) pence thus providing him with a handsome return of 15 shillings.
A stranger to fear or doubt, his boundless energy is stimulated by a desire simply to enjoy the challenge of transforming visionary plans into reality. As a boy he wanted nothing more than to prove himself a successful businessman and an opportunity arose earlier than he hoped when after leaving school in 1951 he went into his grandmother’s business in Stockton High Street.
At that time Alice Dicken’s well known hardware shop was a major supplier of tools to industrial giants like Dorman Long and Head
Wrightsons, and Terry, ever keen to learn, gleaned valuable experience by working in the store. This enabled him to move on with his elder brother Bob and his ailing father Harry, to open a shop in Mandale Road Thornaby “We took seven shillings and sixpence on the opening day” recalls Terry.
In 1958 Terry and Bob Dicken moved their activity to Norton Road and were joined by their younger brother Albert and became renowned for their impressive stock of ladders and steps which they displayed on a tiered frontage outside the shop. The post war ‘50s heralded a DIY boom and the Dicken brothers captured the spirit of expansion.
Larger premises were needed, and in 1963 they bought a site in Portack Lane Stockton. The expansion continued apace and in 1970 they purchased the present Dicken’s site and the company soon expanded its superstore concept into Washington. Then on Christmas Eve 1977, having been instrumental in developing the business, they decided to sell out.
“I needed a new challenge” he admits.” And at 44 I was too young to retire.”
His problem was solved one day in Stokesley High Street when he called into a hardware shop run for many years by Mr Ken
Raper. “I thought I could do something with this, and promptly made an offer which was accepted.” Terry ran it with his family and made a success of his new enterprise until the arrival of discount stores in the town.
It was time to move on again. He then bought the Station Yard (where Jewsons is today) and developed various companies on it.
His next business opportunity arrived when a “for sale” notice appeared on the Ministry of Defence site in Station Road Stokesley. “I knew there was a demand for small business units so I decided to buy the site.”
Today that site houses 50 units and a wide variety of businesses. One such is another Dicken enterprise, specialising in double glazing and conservatories, and two years ago this company expanded into manufacturing and fitting bespoke kitchens which are manufactured on the site.
Working as a family they have nurtured the park which employs 150, and they enjoy the friendly family atmosphere it engenders and Terry likes nothing better than cycling around the site chatting and talking to his tenants.
He is now developing a 2.2. acre site on Ellerbeck Way opposite the original site. This new development will provide 43,000 sq. ft of accommodation including warehouses and office space. And if this wasn’t enough to keep him going, Terry also operates a fleet of Rolls Royce cars which are hired out for weddings by his company “1A Roseberry Wedding Cars.” with special prices quoted for local weddings. Not bad for a man who freely confesses to not achieving good results at school.
This article originally appeared in the June 1999 issue of Now
& Then Magazine
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