John Timpson (businessman)

The best British example of repair as a proper business. John Timpson led a buyback of the family firm in 1983, sold off its shoe shops a few years later and bet the company on cobbling, key cutting, then watch, phone and jewellery repair in small kiosks. Branch staff are trusted to price and fix customers' complaints themselves, and the firm is known for hiring people leaving prison. His son James ran it day to day from 2002 until he became a government minister in 2024.