About Robinsons Home Removals:Always on the move
For well over a century, Robinsons International has been a leading name in house and home removals. Long enough to know the business inside out, and to have come across and dealt with just about every eventuality.
We're proud of our tradition, of course - it's quite an achievement for any business to survive and prosper for that long - but we wouldn't have done it without being highly innovative, flexible and resourceful all the way through – right up to today.
Robinsons has built high profile credentials worldwide by keeping moving - at home in the UK, in Europe and further abroad - and by adapting to a changing world and the changing needs of our many different customers.
With Corporate and International divisions based in Oxfordshire, we have a nationwide network of 8 fully operational branches and a fleet of over 80 modern vehicles, as well as a highly skilled workforce of over 205 dedicated employees. We're committed to the regular training and ongoing development of every one of them, and keep them up to date with the very latest techniques and developments.
As founder members of the internationally recognised industry associations OMNI and FIDI, we work together with our overseas members to ensure you get the same high quality of service across all continents and cultures.
Quality is something we take very seriously. With FAIMISO and ISO 9001 accreditations, we put those high standards into practice across every sector of our business and every service we provide.
More about our accreditations and associations »
Where we came from – a family affair!
It took a lot of history to reach where we are today – over a century of it!
Robinsons Removals was founded in Manchester in 1895 – by the current Chairman's grandfather, Alfred Robinson. It has remained a family-owned removals and storage business ever since.
During the first half-century, all four of the founder's sons became working Directors. Today, a third and fourth generation of the family are still with the business - the current Chairman is Peter Robinson, with son Anthony as Managing Director and daughter Philippa Director of the International and Corporate Moving Services Divisions.
The first London branch of Robinsons opened in 1911, followed shortly after the First World War by a Birmingham office. Revolutionary at the time, Robinsons built state-of-the-art multi-storey warehouses, each with vehicle lifts capable of carrying a loaded van up to any level. We boasted the largest vehicle lift in Europe, and were one of the first removal companies to offer a regular road service between London and the North of England. However, the company's real strength lay in its vast storage capacity. A strong reputation for quality quickly grew.
Robinsons at war
With the serious risk of bombing during World War II, each warehouse had 6 inches of sand spread throughout the attics. Without doubt this saved the Birmingham property – even 9 incendiary bombs that came through the roof failed to set the building on fire!
The postwar period
1n 1948 Robinsons opened a new branch in Hotwells Road, Bristol. Although we're no longer in the building, the “Robinsons” name can still be seen today as white tiles on the façade.
During the late 1960s, Robinsons diversified into new activities like computerised moving and migration services. At that time, people in Britain were encouraged to start a new life in the Commonwealth - emigrating to Australia by sea could cost as little as £10! As demand for overseas removals grew, Robinsons was there to meet it.
Where we are today
More recently, we've built new purpose-built warehouses in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Basingstoke and Darlington. March 2006 saw the launch of a new state of the art facility in Manchester which more than doubled our storage capacity in the area and we will continue to look for expansion opportunities.
As for the future, Robinsons will continue providing a professional, efficient, cost effective and reliable home removal service to both the corporate and private markets.
We've been one of the leading providers of quality UK, European and international moving services for a long time - and that's one thing we don't expect to change!
