A Sustainable Legacy for Anthony Paul Jewellery

Anthony Paul has been synonymous with fine jewellery in the UK for over four decades. Their journey began in 1982 with goldsmith Anthony Jackson in Farnham Common, and today, they are proud to have branches in Windsor, Henley, Maidenhead, and Marlow. With a strong focus on quality, sustainability, and customer service, the team feels privileged to have handcrafted bespoke pieces that commemorate important life events for their customers. The business also specialises in antique jewellery, allowing its customers to write a new chapter for classic pieces that transcend momentary fashion trends.

After spending their childhoods in the business, it only seemed natural that Anthony's sons, George and Joe, became part of it in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Over the following decade, the trio ran the company with business partner Corina to ensure that Anthony Paul Jewellery would meet the needs of a new generation.

Over the years, George and Joe have taken a turn at working in every part of the business, from design to goldsmithing in their own on-site workshop and managing the team, finances and strategy. When Anthony and Corina handed over the keys to George and Joe in 2016, they were well and truly settled into their roles with a clear vision. On working as a sibling duo, Joe says, "Luckily, my brother and I have a great working relationship, and we just bounce off each other. He's great with sales and customer service; my strengths are in the back end of the business."

A new era of eco-conscious jewellery

After retiring in 2016, Anthony set his sights on an unexpected project: building a micro hydropower station. Yes, you read that right. Anthony Paul Jewellery has proactively carbon neutralised its business by building a small power station in the Welsh mountains.

Utilising two streams on their remote farm, the hydropower station generates enough energy to power over 100 homes.

"With 72 litres of water flowing through per second, the turbine produces an average of 350,000 kWh annually, which goes back into the national grid."

The Anthony Paul website tells the story of how they created the power station, but don't be fooled by the simplicity of their five-step process; the project took over three years to complete with some advisors, on-site trial and error, and a lot of self-teaching.

Now that his power station is up and running, Anthony has set his sights on maximising conservation over the rest of their 300-acre property. He is now working with the local community to restore native plant and animal life on the farmland. He aims to plant a quarter of a million trees to revive a belt of Celtic rainforest that crosses through it and restore a peat bog to help revive the habitat.

Although Anthony is only ever a phone call away, he has left the future of Anthony Paul Jewellery in the capable hands of his sons, who have modernised the business. Since taking over, George and Joe have maintained four beautiful stores and added e-commerce and captivating social media content. Their Instagram gives you a backstage pass to the Anthony Paul workshop, showcasing how their stunning creations come to life and giving a unique insight into the work of goldsmithing.

They sound like the dream team to us.

Moving leave management from stickers to smartphones

With a growing team over four stores, management and workshop staff, Joe was tasked with finding a scalable leave management solution that moved them towards paperless operations. Prior to finding Leave Dates in 2020, each store had a calendar on the wall with coloured stickers, and as Joe describes, "It always caused a nightmare. Mainly because someone would sneak a sticker up and say it had always been there, and shops weren't communicating to see where everyone was. So I thought there must be an easier way."

Without the need for an entire HR system that included features the team would not use, Joe looked for a 'more techy' solution that would streamline their leave calendar and resolve communication issues.

When deciding which system suited the Anthony Paul team best, Joe recalls, 

"Four years ago, I was having a good look around and Leave Dates had everything we needed. We were able to get our heads around it very easily. We had to tweak our processes slightly to get up and running. Once that was done, I passed it over to George and the team, and it's been working really well ever since." 

The biggest task is getting the team trained and using any new system. Still, Joe and George have found that even their least tech-native team members have successfully used Leave Dates on mobile to manage their time off.

Since the paper calendar and sticker system has been retired at Anthony Paul, using Leave Dates means that staff in every location can book anytime, anywhere. Joe finds that most requests come through after hours when their people plan with family and friends. Management can see request clashes instantly, keep a time-stamped record of communication, and coordinate their rosters without sneaky stickers appearing from nowhere.

As for Joe's day-to-day, he couldn't be happier with their leave management system, "It had made our days easier because George and I are not constantly calling each other about leave, we're not coordinating four different physical calendars, sending Whatsapp photos of them, trying to make sense of untraceable communication."

Naturally, we had to ask Joe who he would recommend Leave Dates to. As a big advocate for small and medium-sized businesses, he believes Leave Dates is perfect for them. He recalls looking at HR software first and feeling overwhelmed by factors of cost, inflexibility, and onboarding requirements, ultimately feeling unsure that it met his business's needs. He felt that Leave Dates was transparent, fairly priced, and offered all of the features that solved a big admin issue for them.

From Farnham Common to the Future

Anthony Paul Jewellery has evolved over four decades, and its future is as bright (and green) as ever. Beginning with their single Farnham Common store, the Jackson family have turned it into a thriving business with a reputation for exquisite jewellery, exceptional service, and a commitment to sustainability.

Focusing on the new generations of Anthony Paul customers, George and Joe have adopted the necessary tech to future-proof their family business while remaining true to many of the traditions that have driven their industry over time. While in retirement, Anthony has set his sights on doing what he can to future-proof the environment through clean energy and conservation.

The work of the Jackson family and their dream team is a testament to their commitment to making a positive impact and being a business that genuinely cares for its customers, team, and the planet.

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