[4] In the early-1960s, family member and graduate of the University of Nottingham John Timpson returned from a post-graduate management training scheme to join the family-owned business, becoming director responsible for buying in 1970.

[3] In 1973, after John's father Anthony was ousted as chairman by his uncle Geoffrey, the company was acquired for £28,600,000 by United Drapery Stores.

[2] To raise funds, £30,000,000 came from selling the freeholds of the firm's stores and leasing them back, the rest via debt financing from venture capitalists.

The business has since grown through a series of acquisitions,[6] with the notable purchases of Automagic and Mister Minit expanding the number of Timpson shops from 145 to 600 by 2003.

In June 2008, the Timpson Group acquired 40 Persil Service concessions located in Sainsbury's stores,[2] then bought Max Spielmann out of administration later that same year.

[15] The first high street shops were called “Merseyside Photographic”, before adopting the “Max Spielmann” name in the 1970s to focus on customers’ access to German cameras, which were considered the best on the market at the time.

Johnsons The Cleaners is a provider of specialist dry cleaning, textile repairs, photo printing, and key cutting, with more than 200 shops across the UK.

[9] The company has stores across 17 cities around the world, including New York, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Kuala Lumpur.

Born in September 1971, he studied Geography at Durham University and worked in the family retail business from 14 years of age, and joined full time in 1995 as an assistant area manager in London.

James Timpson was the first UK CEO to recruit ex-offenders,[29] with the aim of having 10% of the company with prison experience, and was the Chair of the Employers Forum for Reducing Re-offending (EFFRR) until 2016.

Timpson is Chair of the Prison Reform Trust[32] and appeared in the Sunday Times 500 Most Influential list in 2016,[33] gaining recognition for his recruitment of ex-offenders, and was then named Leader of the Year at the 2019 Lloyds Bank National Business Awards.

[41] It has a dedicated role called the Director of Happiness, who is tasked with ensuring employees are offered benefits such as access to holiday homes and weekly bonuses and lottery draws.

In 2007, Timpson launched the year-long "Dream Come True" programme, which spent £1 million paying for employees' eye surgeries, reuniting them with their families, and sending them on trips to Australia.

[44] This is part of its focus on recruiting marginalised groups within society,[45] and the business works with EFFRR to provide training and employment opportunities.

[46] Timpson is certified as an accredited Fair Tax Mark business[47] and was named as one of the UK's top 10 biggest taxpayers by The Times in 2023.

[48] The Timpson Group reported its total greenhouse gas emissions at 60,470 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e),[49] for the period from 1 January 2019 to 21 December 2019.