The Man for Land Rovers was founded, from scratch, by proprietor Neil Digby-Clarke in 1987. A development that Neil fondly refers to as his ‘mid-life crisis’ which saw him resign, on a matter of principle, from an extremely high powered job in the City. The very next morning his dream of dealing in all things Land Rover and putting a smile onto customers’ faces began to become reality.

The rental of premises – a beautiful old Sussex Barn on a farm in Lower Dicker – was secured; three weeks later a telephone line was installed, to join the desk and chair already settled in a corner of an already impressively tidied hay store. Derek Scott joined the fledgling business on a temporary basis from another independent Land Rover specialist in Sussex, and ended up staying 17 years!

Land Rover sales in those early days were nearly all Series SWB and LWB vehicles. After all the 90 and 110 models were still very new. And Neil’s insistence on ensuring that everybody received the most meaningful help and advice plus the very best deal imaginable saw those customer smiles begin to inexorably widen. A couple of years on, the local milkman perhaps summed it up best by commenting that he simply could not believe, from his daily visits, just how fast the stock seemed to be turning around!

So the dice was cast, and the business grew prudently stronger; 1992 saw the definitive move to the wonderfully quaint but excellently equipped Thatched Garage at Park Corner on the A22 near East Hoathly, our home to the present day. By then 90 and 110 models were commonplace on the forecourt, along with the older Series LRs and the newly introduced Discovery models too.

Sons Stuart, Andrew and Ben had all joined the business, of their own volition and not through paternal persuasion; indeed by then we had assembled a strong, experienced and happy team. The Parts / Accessories and Workshop departments burgeoned massively from this new ‘on-road’ presence. Sales continued apace too.

And so, a dream was realised, a business born; the emphasis on great service, helpful advice, good value remain core ideals to this day. We just love seeing those wide smiles on our customers’ faces!