The Lancashire firm that insists staff have a day off

It puts its employees first – and it wants other firms to follow suit.

The family owned jewellers with a St Annes headquarters has never opened on Boxing Day for its entire trading history.

The company, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019, has always closed on Boxing Day, as it firmly believes that after the busy period running up to Christmas, all of its 940 employees deserve to be at home with their families.

The jewellers, which has ranked highly in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For, for 14 consecutive years, claims that closing on Boxing Day is just one of the many ways to recognise employees and show appreciation for the hard work they do.

Beaverbrooks’ chairman, Mark Adlestone said: “Our business is run on strong family values and closing on Boxing Day is an important part of our ethos, as it allows us to give back to our colleagues who work hard all year round and deserve to spend quality time with their loved ones.

“For this reason alone, we’ve always remained closed on the day, and we intend to continue doing so as we feel it is the right thing to do for our colleagues.

“Up until now, we’ve never really talked about our stance, but we hope that our unusual and (we believe) welcome approach, will inspire other businesses to follow.”

Lynne Wilkinson, retail sales consultant at Beaverbrooks Liverpool, who has worked at the jewellers for 44 years, said: “When we get new-starters they can never believe it when we say that we’re closed on one of the biggest trading days in the retail calendar.

“I’ve had some wonderful Christmases with my family and this wouldn’t have been possible if I had to work on Boxing Day.

“This heartfelt gesture really does go a long way.”