SWINDON is set to welcome its next distribution firm to the town with haulage business Hacklings expanding to the Groundwell Industrial Estate next month.

The warehousing company, which has its headquarters at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, is taking its next commercial step and hopes to attract a wide customer base by growing into Swindon.

Kevin Field, operations director at the family-run business, said: “We’re a storage and distribution company, which means we do for pallets what companies like TNT do for parcels.

“We serve the SN, GL, and OX postal codes, which meant when it came to expanding, we were either going to choose a new site in Oxford or in Swindon.

“We chose Swindon because we already serve the area and it has great transport links through to London and the south east with the M4.

“We already have a lot of customers in the Swindon area, and we’ve noticed that after announcing that we’re going to have an office there we’re already getting more people coming forward to use our services.”

The business was first established in 1968 by John Hackling, and was one of the founding members of the Palletline and the ADR Hazchem Network.

It’s main headquarters have always been in the heart of the Cotswolds, and over the years has become a major employer in Bourton-on-the-Water.

Now, the company hopes to take on five new drivers and five new warehouse operatives at its new site in Swindon.

Kevin said: “It got to the point where we needed to decide whether we were going to grow or whether we were going to stay the same, and risk becoming too big for our existing premises.

“We employ a lot of people locally and many people stayed with us for all their careers.

Hacklings is also the owner-landlord for much of the Bourton-on-the-Water Industrial Estate, so we’re a very big part of the town.”

The company will be officially also operating out of the Groundwell from March 2.

For more information about the firm, visit: www.hacklings.co.uk