Integrity the key to 70 years of business success

Sophie Winch talks to John Lawson of Lawsons builders merchants

John Lawson of Lawsons builders merchants

An award-winning Barnet business owner says operating with integrity has been keen to the long term success of his company.

Last month, John Lawson was named Family Business United’s 2026 National Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, after working for over 70 years at Whetstone building merchants Lawsons.

John took over the business in 1952, following the death of his father nine years earlier. Lawsons, which had been established in 1921 by his grandfather, was a group of fencing contractors and timber merchants.

During the war, Lawsons saw a decline,“living by the skin of its teeth”, and, of its ten to twelve employees, only two or three remained.

At twenty, John was fresh out of national service and living in digs, both his parents were dead. He took over the company, he tells The Post, as “a lad that knows nothing, but the owner”. Learning from the manager, and the staff who had stayed throughout the war, John began to find his feet in the company.

As the years passed, the demands on Lawsons changed. With the expansion of London, housing moved further out of the city, with shifting lifestyles, there was less call for garden sheds, and, while they were still erecting fences locally, Lawsons had to grow with the times. John led the company from its depleted post-war rebirth to its status as a nation-wide building merchants.

Its success was not entirely linear; in 1993, they were persuaded to build a new office block, and, as interest rates had risen to 17% that year, they nearly went bust.

John credits Lawson’s survival to the company ethos: integrity. “There are countless opportunities for integrity”, he says. “Because we were honest, we were able to take out loans”.

John Lawson plans to leave the High Road-based business to his son Simon, who aims to sustain his father’s principle – “business is people”. On winning the award, John thanked his company, the people who had worked alongside him, and their families: “Lawsons has never been about one person”.

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

ACT NOW!

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.