Name: Keith Jones

Business: K. C. Jones Motor Repairs and K. C. Jones Car Sales

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30pm, Saturdays 9am to 5pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm

When did you start your business and why?

We OPENED in 2001 – May 1, 2001 exactly. We did around four or five years in Oak Street, in a small unit up there. We outgrew it very, very quickly and we needed a bigger space.

But we had to find a garage that still served the centre of town, which was difficult. We did know that this place was going to be available because it used to be a fast fit type place.

They didn’t have the work but we did, but we didn’t have the space and they did. One of the guys in here tipped me the wink, I approached the landlord and we’ve been here ever since.

I’ve worked in town all my life.

Why in this location?

We’re here because this is what was available. We were on the fringe of town but I needed a unit that could serve all the customers that I had built up over the years.

A lot of them were shop workers, or council workers, people who worked in town and I had my regulars as well, so it was about servicing them all really.

I’m from Oswestry – Maple Avenue – so it’s all local. This location is good because it serves the town, which is fantastic. It really is good.

Us being on the one-way system is more of an advantage than being a minor point towards us, especially when it’s busy on the island and people have to stop and they can look in on us.

Tell us about your business

The businesses are separate but I oversee both. The car sales we opened around 11 years ago. We always sold cars but never in a massive volume.

The landlord who owned this also owned next door and when it used to be Momentum Wines, I knew the manager well, so he also tipped us the wink about them leaving.

I approached the landlord and said I’ve got a project in mind and do you mind if we do something together. It worked really well and since then, it’s been fantastic.

On the repair side, we see anything from 20 to 30 cars a day repaired and then the car sales side of the business also adds to the volume of that.

I as a person like things to be right, and we try to buy vehicles where there’s not a million things wrong with them. We’ve sold thousands and we treat people right.

What is your proudest moment?

It’s a living, and I always put my best in. But my proudest moment, outside of my family, is achieving all this and working for myself – I’m my own boss, having run other peoples’ buildings.

It goes to show that people out there do like quality and they don’t mind coming to get it.

Any strange requests?

Retrieving a ‘rattle’ on a vehicle that turned out to be the son of the family had inadvertently found a hole in the carpet of the car and filled it up with Maltesers, which is the strangest without a doubt.