THE commercial director of a family-run business has announced he is to retire officially at the end of the month.

Kevin Robson joined Thompsons of Prudhoe aged 20, in 1983, as a quantity surveyor and has given 38 years service to the demolition and asbestos company on Princess Way.

Appointed as commercial director in 2011, Kevin has also mentored Ben Harris (QS) for the past eight years.

“It’s been a great 38 years, I’ve been very lucky”, said Kevin. “I was asked for an interview by John Snr and I wasn’t sure how long I would be there! I’ve never looked back.”

Over the years, Kevin has played his part in the evolving company. He said: “It was so different back in the 80s to what it is now.

“When I first started, there was about 30 wagons, now there’s 70. There was probably 80 or 90 employees back then, now there is 300.It amazes me how time moves on.”

In his latter years, Kevin was responsible for all of the company’s commercial matters and was office-based but he wore a lot of hats in the early days, gaining hands on experience in a number of varied fields. “I took to that”, added Kevin. “I enjoyed the fluidity of the role.

“I’ve got along well with everyone at Thompsons. I’ve also lived in Prudhoe all my life, more or less, and being able to travel just down the road to the office has been amazing.”

Now, Kevin is looking forward to spending more time with his family, going on holiday and gardening.

“I’m sure I’m going to fill my time in absolutely no problem at all!”, he said. “Golf is my passion - I’ve played since I was 10-years-old and I’ve played for county."

A spokesperson for Thompsons said: “Kevin is an outstanding professional who turns up to work on time every single day, is one of the last to leave the office and religiously takes his lunch between 1pm-2pm. He always wore a shirt and tie fully fastened! Very ‘old school’ professional.”