The company was founded in 1910 by Mr. Ernest Hawley, the grandfather of the present Chairman, and is now the oldest tyre retail and wholesale business in the British Isles, still under the control of the same founding family.
Mr. Ernest Hawley was a person who always had an interest in motorcars, and was one of the few who pioneered motoring in its early days. An engineer by profession, he was foreman engineer at Oughtibridge Silica Works, until he started a motor taxi service from outside a shop that the family owned in Wadsley Lane, in the Owlerton district of Sheffield. The taxi side of the business thrived and Mr. Hawley became known for doing a lot of his own repairs. This include the mending of punctures, which were numerous in the early days, and the fitting of his own new tyres that he obtained, Gradually, other owners of cars came to him for help, when they had punctures, and even brought tyres that they had bought elsewhere to him for fitting. Never one to pass up an opportunity, he began to stock a few tyres to sell to others, and so the tyre business began.
Suitable premises were opened eventually in Gibraltar Street, on a main road position, near to the centre of Sheffield. As trade increased, agencies for numerous makes of tyres were taken on and a period of expansion took place, with the opening of other depots in Lincoln, Grimsby and the Isle of Wight. The depression and general strike and uncertain times caused trade to slump and brought Mr. Hawley to near bankruptcy, however he was able to keep hold of the Sheffield premises and to concentrate his efforts on that. He had been joined during this period by his son Reginald Hawley, who managed the shop in Lincoln, before coming back to join his father in Sheffield.
Mr. Ernest Hawley had always been a man who invented things and took out many patents, becoming a member of the Institute of Patentees. Among his patents were a method of glazing photographs (an interest that almost became another business), and a patent for an inflatable life-buoy, which also had a patent, non-return, inflation valve. This was marketed under the name of the Hawley Buoy, as an aid to learning to swim, it consisted of an inflated tube, which fitted around the body, above the waist, and was held in place by two rubber shoulder straps. The product was made for Hawleys by the then North British Rubber Co. of Edinburgh, and was quite successful. A derivative of this idea was enclosed in a gabardine type of material for use as a motorcycle pillion seat, as an aid to comfort.
During this period the company was known by the name of the Sheffield Tyre Depot and traded from various addresses in Sheffield until the 1939- 45 World war. At this time the company became heavily involved in the tyre reclamation side of the war effort and operated several stores of worn tyres in such places as became available due to bombing of buildings. Here the tyres were sorted into useable, remouldable, regroovable, or scrap. These were sent elsewhere for processing, as no retail business of tyres existed during this time, petrol being virtually unobtainable. A few second-hand tyres were sold to keep that side of the business going, but things didn't start to go forward until several years after the war, and new tyres began to become available for sale to the general public.
In 1947, Mr. Ernest Hawley decided to retire. Mr. Reginald Hawley took over the running of the firm and around this time the company was named Hawleys Tyre Maintenance Service.
In 1950, the present Chairman of the company, Mr. David Hawley, joined his father Reginald, at the Sylvester Street premises, which was to serve until new premises were purchased in Bridge Street and a new Limited Company to be known as Hawleys (Tyre Services) Limited was registered, with Reginald Hawley as managing director and David Hawley and Les Black as fellow directors.
The present Bridge Street premises became the head office. Other depots were opened in London Road and Langsett Road in Sheffield, and a depot in Canklow Road, Rotherham.
The present managing director Mr. Martin Hawley joined the company in 1967 and became company secretary, running the office side of the firm, whilst Mr. David Hawley concentrated on the sales and service side of a rapidly growing outfit.
Mr. Reginald Hawley retired in 1974 and Mr. David Hawley became managing director. The main concentration at this time was on the retailing of tyres and their servicing.
In 1984, Mr. Simon Hawley, and in 1989 Mr. Tim Hawley, the sons of Martin and David joined the firm, and are now fellow directors. The company gradually took on other aspects of the retail side, such as exhausts, but the main expansion has been in the wholesale supply of tyres to other tyre companies in an area 50 miles around Sheffield.
The retail side of the business has not been neglected and several other companies have been bought and unified under the one parent company, trading under the title of Hawleys Tyres & Exhausts.
