The story
Founded by Frederick Rushbrooke in 1892.1
Halfords was founded by Frederick Rushbrooke, in Birmingham in 1892, as a wholesale ironmongery. The company takes its name from Halford Street, named after the physician, Henry Halford, in Leicester, where Rushbrooke opened a store in 1902 and started selling cycling goods.
Halfords opened its two hundredth store in 1931, and purchased the Birmingham Bicycle Company in 1945. The company then opened a new head office at 1 Lancaster Circus, Birmingham in 1958.
The company became a part of Burmah Oil in 1965, following a takeover battle between Burmah and Smiths Industries. It opened its three hundredth store in 1968.
The company relocated from Birmingham to a new headquarters in Redditch in 1971. It was acquired by the Ward White Group in 1983 and in 1989 the Boots Group acquired it from them. Halfords was later demerged from the Boots Group in 2002.
Halfords was taken over by CVC Capital Partners in July 2003 and, in June 2004, it was floated on the London Stock Exchange.
Halfords rebranded in February 2003, to the black and orange logo it has today.
Halfords entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Autobacs Seven Co. on 11 July 2005, a Japan based car accessory retailer with chains of stores all over the world and is best known for being the title sponsor of Super GT and D1 Grand Prix.
Autobacs acquired 5% (11,400,000 shares) of the company on 13 December 2005, at approximately ¥7.5 billion.
Read the full text
Halfords opened its first shop in Central Europe in June 2007, in a village near Prague. In the next two years, it opened five more stores in the Czech Republic and one in Poland (Wrocław, 2008). Expansion into Central Europe was seen as an opportunity, because their cars tend to be slightly older, so people are more adept at car maintenance.
In March 2010, Halfords ceased its international expansion to refocus on the domestic market.
In February 2010, the company announced its expansion into autocare and that it was acquiring the chain Nationwide Autocentre MOT from private equity firm Phoenix. As of October 2026, there are over 250 garages branded Halfords Autocentre, providing MOTs, car repairs and servicing.
In June 2014, Halfords acquired the British bicycle manufacturer Boardman Bikes Ltd. (founded by the professional cyclist Chris Boardman, Sarah Mooney and Alan Ingarfield) for an undisclosed sum.
Halfords acquired Swansea based Tredz Bikes, an online retailer of premium bikes and cycling accessories, and Wheelies, the largest provider of bicycle replacement for insurance companies in the United Kingdom, for £18.4m, from founders Keith and Michael Jones, on 24 May 2016.
In 2019, CEO Graham Stapleton announced he was placing greater focus on growing Halford's motoring services business. In November 2019, Halfords acquired McConechy’s garages in Scotland and Tyres on the Drive mobile tyre fitting service. In March 2021, the business acquired Universal Tyres and Garages.
In December 2021, Halfords acquired rival tyres and auto-care chain National Tyres and Autocare for £62m.
In October 2022, Halfords announced it had acquired the UK commercial tyre business, Lodge Tyre Company for £37.2m.
In April 2025, Halfords announced that Graham Stapleton (CEO) was leaving and would be replaced by former Very Group boss, Henry Birch.
From Wikipedia’s article on Halfords, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4