Jewson

A UK builders' merchant, with around 500 branches in Great Britain, selling building materials to tradespeople and builders; part of STARK Group.

About Jewson

Jewson supplies building materials to tradespeople, builders and developers from branches across Great Britain. Wikipedia says it has around 500 branches, and the owner's news pages say it is aiming to become the most trusted builders' merchant for UK tradespeople. It is a merchant: it stocks timber, bricks, insulation, plasterboard, roofing, tools and many other products and delivers them to site, so builders can get what they need at short notice.

George Jewson founded the business in 1836 by buying a trading business in Earith, in the Huntingdonshire Fens. The family later expanded to Norwich, and in 2011 Jewson took over the Build Center chain from Wolseley UK. Saint-Gobain owned Jewson from 2000 to 2023, and it is now part of the Danish STARK Group, which operates more than 1,150 branches across Europe and describes itself as Europe's largest distributor of heavy building materials. John Carter, chief executive of STARK Building Materials UK, said: "We're on a mission to become the most trusted builders' merchant for UK tradespeople." The mission is the owner's executive's statement, not a formal company values page.

Jewson's UK address on Wikipedia is Merchant House, Binley Business Park, Binley, Coventry. Its branches are spread across Great Britain, so most staff work in local branches. The owner's news releases describe a "Branch of the Future" concept first opened at Farnborough, and later Bridgwater and Woking: these branches carry roughly 20% more stock than a standard one and are designed for small and medium-sized tradespeople, with layouts built for supporting projects from start to finish. Bridgwater was a conversion of a former Jewson Civils Frazer site.

On culture, the sources we could read are mostly about branches and products, not people. The owner states that STARK Group employs more than 20,000 people in seven countries, but gives no UK-only figure, and we found no values statement for Jewson itself. For a feel of working life, the best step is to visit a local branch, or look at the company's own recruitment pages. We have not invented a culture statement.

A merchant needs branch staff who know products and talk to customers, drivers who deliver to site, yard and warehouse teams, sales and estimating staff who price jobs from plans, branch and area managers, and purchasing, finance, marketing and human resources teams at head office. If you like practical work, helping customers solve problems and seeing how a building comes together, merchant work is a good way to learn the trade side of construction.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Timber, bricks, insulation, roofing, plasterboard and other building materials from local branches.', 'title': "Builders' merchant supply"}
• {'desc': 'Delivery of materials to trade customers and building sites.', 'title': 'Delivery to site'}
• {'desc': 'Larger branches with more stock, designed for small and medium-sized tradespeople.', 'title': 'Branch of the Future concept'}

Key facts

• Founded 1836 by George Jewson at Earith, Huntingdonshire
• Around 500 branches across Great Britain
• Part of STARK Group (which owns it since 2023)
• STARK UK chief executive: "We're on a mission to become the most trusted builders' merchant for UK tradespeople"

Website: www.jewson.co.uk