2025 has been the year of change for us at Design Brothers!
We had become very settled in our old office for the last 14 years, initially sharing the building with a bike shop on the ground floor.
After almost 10 years, the bike guys retired, and an art gallery rented our ground floor, and then Covid hit.
Scattered to the four winds of South Norwood (usually which all blow at the same time) during lockdowns, we plodded through and emerged slightly cross-eyed but thankfully, with the team alive, well and intact.
Some of our clients were not as lucky and we lost a few as 2021 and 2022 came to an end.
Our buildings lease had become due for renewal, so we decided it was time for to make a change to the business and after a year of viewing close to 100 premises around South London, establishing which features we did and didn’t like, we created a short-list of our top 10, with TBXH Sunley House rising to the top.
Anyone who’s ever lived anywhere for a long period of time will not be amazed at how much we had accumulated in 14 years at Station Road. We were however, as 14 years of paperwork was sorted, box after box after box was filled, 14 years of “we’ll keep that in case we need it” IT bits and kitchen equipment were recycled and our beloved big desks were donated to charity.
Landing in TBXH, after a sentimental goodbye to our old space, slightly shell-shocked that we had finally made the leap, we started 2025 slightly on the back foot. Immediately falling in love with the new building, John give all of our visiting clients tours, so much so that we made him a certificate a couple of months ago.
As we were updating our corporate stationery anyway, we took the opportunity of refreshing our look and brochure which some of you may have already seen.
John and Jonny spent a week moving equipment from storage to our new offices and dizzyingly exploring the new building.
As part of our contract, we get free meeting room space, which comes in really useful for both client and team meetings. There is also a wonderful space downstairs with meeting pods and a snooker table.
Once a week John tries to get Louise and Boudicca to join in the Thursday socials. Occasionally, he’s lucky but not always.
John is well known for his love of networking all over London and he’s in his element when all he has to do is go downstairs. The FSB Bootcamp in March, FSB networking event in May and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) South London in September were all successfully held at TBXH.
We can’t believe how quickly the year has gone. Peter, John’s partner in the business for many years, decided to retire when we moved.
In February we said a very sad goodbye to our friend, client and colleague Jeremy Walker. We worked with Jeremy for over a decade and his loss remains a significant and sad one.
Over the course of 2025 we have seen a couple of clients retire, along with their websites. We’ve been privileged to be part of our clients’ success and we wish them all the best for the future.
As we finish the year and head into 2026, we are welcoming new clients into the Design Brothers fold, Dave and Boudicca are working on three new websites, Louise is updating next years Cash Flow Forecast and John’s… at another a networking event.
However you’re celebrating the festive season, we wish you good time with your loved ones, laughter, joy and a sense of accomplishment at the year’s end.
Best wishes
John, Louise, Jonny, Dave, Boudicca and Jean.
