An Introduction to A & B Glassworks

In November 2020 at 75 years old and after 40 years at A&B Glassworks, my father, Brian, finally decided to retire from running the business full time.  I have been working in court security since 2008; my career has taken some unusual turns since I left working for A&B in 1997.  After working in the glass industry for a number of years I found myself in Doha doing stadia condition surveys for the Qatari Olympic Committee and then in Dubai as a finishing foreman in high-value apartments on the Palm Jumeirah.  A year in the Middle East was enough for me and I couldn’t wait to get home, on my return I set up a plumbing business based in northwest London subcontracting bathroom installation work from Harrow Council until the age of austerity cut off government grants to council housing.

I decided I needed to ride out the economic downturn in employment so found myself working in soft services for the City of London Corporation at The Old Bailey, somehow later I became Head of Security there overseeing a team of sixty-five officers managing eighteen courtrooms dealing mainly with murder and the most heinous of crimes- it was truly a conveyor belt of human misery but did teach me the importance of remaining calm under pressure and providing a high level of customer service at all times.   I left in 2019 with the intent of doing something easier on my blood pressure but found myself lured back to managing courts in 2020. (Pop in to see the original judge’s chair in the shop rescued from a skip in the car park of The Old Bailey if you are interested!)