Our story
Barchester Green Investment has been in operation for over 25 years. Over that time our sector has changed a great deal and our company structure has evolved to move with these changes. Jonathon Clark – and one of the main architects of our current business structure – gives an overview of our development from micro-business to the present time.
Barchester Green Investment was founded in Salisbury in 1985 by Geoff Griffiths. His intention was to provide independent financial advice, principally to members of the clergy whom he had advised as an agent of Ecclesiastical Insurance for twenty years.
Four year later, a meeting with Giles Chitty, one of the leading figures of the nascent ethical investment industry, resulted in the business moving from sole trader to partnership due to the perceived connection between members of the clergy and a demand for ethically screened investments.
Barchester Green Investment has grown considerably since those early days, with a current staff totalling 19, with several office locations around the south of England.
After Geoff Griffiths retired in 2008, the company explored a variety of different ownership models. The solution chosen was a limited company owned by a limited liability partnership (LLP). The principal reason for this was to ensure the integrity and continuity of specialist advice in the ethical investment market that Barchester provides. All 16 advisers and support staff not only share profits from the business, but also the decision-making.
The full text of our history can be viewed here (PDF).
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