Pimlico Plumbers is a London-based plumbing firm established in 1979. With revenues of £20m as of 2015, it is London's largest independent plumbing company.

Establishment

Pimlico Plumbers was established in 1979 by its current managing director

Charlie Mullins Sidney Charles Mullins (born 28 October 1952) is a British businessman. He is the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, London's largest independent plumbing company, which he sold in 2021. Early life Mullins is the son of a factory worker father and ...

(born December 1952), who left school at 15 with no qualifications and began work as a

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

Publicity

It is known for its effective publicity, handled by Recognition PR. It was previously handled by

Max Clifford Maxwell Frank Clifford (6 April 1943 – 10 December 2017) was an English publicist who was particularly associated with promoting " kiss and tell" stories in tabloid newspapers. In December 2012, as part of Operation Yewtree, Clifford was arr ...

. The company owns more than 100 plumbing-related number plates, fitted to its fleet of vehicles, such as LO 02 OLD (Loo too old), BOG1, DRA1N, W4TER and others. It gained considerable publicity through its employment of Buster Martin, who claimed to be Britain's oldest worker, cleaning vans part-time until his death in 2011. The firm's boss presented

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

show ''Britain's Best Young Plumber'' and has appeared on ''

Secret Millionaire Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

''.

Legal issues

In 2009, the firm was involved in a legal dispute with Steve Cosser, an Australian TV executive accused of

industrial espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governmen ...

in stealing Pimlico's client list after establishing a rival firm, Service Corps, using ex-Pimlico staff. Services Corps collapsed in January 2010 with debts of £100,000 before the case was settled. The company also had a dispute with rival firm Aspect over

Trustpilot Trustpilot Group plc, is a Danish consumer business operating a review website founded in Denmark in 2007 which hosts reviews of businesses worldwide. Nearly 1 million new reviews are posted each month. The site offers freemium services to busin ...

ratings. On 10 February 2017, in the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, a plumber who had initiated an

Employment Tribunal Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, red ...

case against the company in 2011 was found to have "worker" status for the purposes of various employment protection rights, notwithstanding that he had been engaged as a self-employed individual. Pimlico Plumbers argued the plumber was an

independent contractor Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

but the Court of Appeal determined he was a worker with some employment rights. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom subsequently granted Pimlico permission to appeal, which, following a hearing on 20 and 21 February 2018, was unanimously dismissed.

Community involvement and Brexit stance

The firm has been involved in a scheme in aid of the big society with the renovation of the Streatham Youth Centre. This was organised along with

Wickes Wickes is a home improvement retailer and garden centre, based in the United Kingdom with more than 230 stores throughout the country. Its main business is the sale of supplies and materials, for homeowners and the building trade. It is listed ...

A4e A4e (''Action for Employment'') was a for-profit, welfare-to-work company based in the United Kingdom. The company began in Sheffield in 1991 with the objective to provide redundant steelworkers with the training required to obtain new jobs. Th ...

, and the Co-Sponsorship Agency. In 2018, the company was criticised for erecting a large "

Bollocks to Brexit "Bollocks to Brexit" is a meme and grassroots campaign slogan used by people Opposition to Brexit in the United Kingdom, opposing Brexit, following the result of Brexit Referendum, a 2016 referendum. The slogan received media coverage and legal ...

" sign on top of their premises in Waterloo. Mullins defended the use of the sign, referring to the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

' 1977 album ''

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols ''Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols'' is the only studio album by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released on 28 October 1977 by Virgin Records in the UK and on 11 November 1977 by Warner Bros. Records in the US. The album ...

'' as precedent for being able to legally display the word in public.

Financials

In November 2010, Mullins reported that he was considering floating the firm, with a £50m valuation, in order to fund a nationwide expansion. The firm's turnover was £18.2 million in 2013, with profits of more than £1,000,000.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.pimlicoplumbers.com/ Companies based in the London Borough of Lambeth Plumbing Companies established in 1979