When Jim Blythe started trading as Jay Bee Plant Sales Ltd in June 1991, his son Tim joined as an apprentice. Thirty-five years later, Tim leads the business alongside Nicky Blythe.

There’s a lot of our story in that journey from apprentice to director. But to tell it properly, we need to go back a little further than 1991 — and take a look at the depot we still call home in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Before the Jay Bee name

We have been trading from this depot since 1976, when the business operated as Freeway Plant. So while 2026 marks 35 years of Jay Bee, our connection to the site is older than the name.

The building has a story of its own. Long before it became our office and showroom, it had another working life. After a long period standing redundant, we sympathetically converted it and gave it a new purpose. That history is part of what makes this place ours.

The archive photograph on our website offers a glimpse of an earlier chapter in the building’s life.

An apprentice and a growing family business

June 1991 opened the Jay Bee chapter. Jim started the company, Tim joined as an apprentice, and the business grew around buying and selling used plant machinery.

We expanded our team and facilities, adding plant hire, repairs and spares. That growth meant more ways to help customers: finding a machine for sale, arranging a hire or getting equipment back to work through the workshop.

With Tim and Nicky now leading the company, we continue to invest in our staff and facilities. Tim’s role has changed considerably since his apprentice days. Jay Bee remains a family business.

From our local depot to customers further afield

Our work still starts here in Gloucestershire. We provide plant hire in and around the county, alongside workshop repairs, onsite call-outs and spares. For local customers, that can mean a machine for the next job or help with one they already own.

Plant sales take us across the UK and internationally. The machinery may travel a long way from Stroud, but it comes through the same family-run depot.

A shared story

If you’ve bought a machine from us, hired from the yard or brought something into the workshop, you have a place in these 35 years. Thank you to our customers, team and suppliers for helping us reach this point.

We’d love to hear the parts of the story you remember. Perhaps you knew the depot in the Freeway Plant days, have an old photograph or remember your first Jay Bee machine. Get in touch and tell us about it.

Thirty-five years in the making, with more chapters to come.