John Fitton, MD, Office Supplies Now

John Fitton always planned to start his own business – and said Rochdale was the obvious location.

Born and bred in Rochdale, Fitton is the managing director of Office Supplies Now and his earliest memory of Rochdale was as a four-year-old walking in The Strand when his parents ran Kirkholt Post Office.

“I went to school in Rochdale before going to Rochdale College, which is now Hopwood Hall College,” he said. “I remember I did a BTEC National in business and finance and one of our projects was the planning of setting up our own business. I eventually got round to putting it into practice at 34 years of age!”

Fitton lives in the foothills of Norden and said: “What I love about Rochdale is the familiarity of the place and in the people, the long-term friendships I have in life and business then seeing changes and improvements.”

He said the vision of Rochdale Borough Council combined with the improvements to the town centre have been transformational.

“10 years ago it seemed more negative,” said Fitton. “Now we’re making a tourist feature of Rochdale Town Hall and developing a square around it. There’s also the development going on around the Rochdale rail corridor. People are proud of the town.

“Rochdale has a strong community that has become closer during Covid-19 and I hope we can enhance that and look for opportunities for each other to help keep it local when it comes to business. One Rochdale business that I particularly admire is Marsh Finance, which has really grown and developed.”