Design Brothers 2025 Roundup

In January 2025 we moved from our lovely office at Norwood Junction to central Croydon.

After seven years in Bromley, followed by 14 years at Norwood Junction, our team had become very settled there.

Our last office had served us very well over many years, seeing over 10 staff come and go, retire or move away. Over 200 businesses and clients visited with a total of over 1,000 meetings, not to mention lockdowns, some of the team's weddings and passings, and lots and lots of birthday parties and celebrations.

Unfortunately our building's lease had become due for renewal so we decided it was time for a re-fresh and move, rather than enter in to a further long lease. After months of viewing close to 100 premises and serviced offices all over South London, deciding which features we did and didn’t like, we all created a short-list of our top 10. And TBXH Sunley House rose to the top.

Anyone who’s ever lived anywhere for a long period of time will not be amazed at how much we had accumulated in the 7 + 14 years.

Over 21 years of “we’ll keep that in case we need it”, filing cabinets containing tonnes of paper had to be shredded and recycled, a server room full of IT equipment, a fully loaded kitchen and our beloved big desks were recycled.

John and Jonny spent a week moving some of our main equipment from storage to our new offices while dizzyingly exploring the new building.

Landing in TBXH Croydon, after a sentimental (tearful) goodbye to our old space with all of its memories, we was shocked that we had finally made the leap. So we started 2025 slightly on the back foot while immediately falling in love with the new office building. John give all of our visitors a tour, so much so that the FSB said he should be an ambassador for the building, and our team later awarded him a mock up certificate.

As part of our contract, we get some free weekly meeting room space, which comes in really useful for both client and team meetings. And on the ground floor there is a wonderful large open floor meeting space with booths, a snooker table and table tennis.

We were already updating our corporate stationery, so we took the opportunity of refreshing our brand and brochure, which some of you may have already seen.

Once a week John tries to get Louise and Boudicca to join in with the buildings Thursday socials. Occasionally, he’s lucky, but not always.

John is well known for his love of networking all over London and he’s in his element when all he has to do is go downstairs. The FSB Bootcamp in March, FSB networking event in May and Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) South London in September were all successfully held at TBXH.

We can’t believe how quickly 2025 has gone. Peter Davies, John’s partner in the business since 2006 and friend for three decades, decided early 2025 was his time to retire, and focus on his community in Deal Kent, running a kids football team and helping with festivals.

In February we said a very sad goodbye to our friend and colleague Jeremy Walker, owner of Degas Guruve web agency in Crystal Palace. Jeremy used to pop in every week or two, on his way to Norwood Junction. We worked with him for two decades and his loss remains a significant and sad one.

Over the course of 2025, a couple of our clients retired and a couple sold their business, along with their websites. We’ve been privileged to be part of our clients’ success and we wish them all the best for the future. One of us worked out that since 1995 we have worked with over 1,000 SME's and organisations.

As we finish the year and head into 2026, we are in the process of welcoming some new clients into the Design Brothers fold, Dave and Boudicca are starting SEO on three new websites, Louise is updating next year's financial forecast, and John… is at another a networking event!

However you’re celebrating the festive season, we wish you good time with your loved ones, laughter, joy and a sense of accomplishment at the year’s end.

Best wishes

John, Louise, Jonny, Dave, Boudicca and Jean.