Meet the boss of the historic Harry Hall brand who is helping thousands of horse owners to save money

These days, the Bradford-based firm’s clothes are more likely to be bought by the general public and the odd celebrity, including Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox, who was recently seen in a Harry Hall jacket. The company has also widened its focus to more than just fashion as it strives to make horse ownership more affordable for its customers.

Managing director Liz Hopper is the force behind the most recent changes. When she took over the company in 2016, Harry Hall was a business-to-business operation selling equestrian products to wholesalers.

Hopper saw a huge opportunity to serve equestrian consumers directly with affordable products and services digitally in a predominantly offline market.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post via video from her office in Bradford, she recalls: "It was a massive u-turn. I did a lot of research around the market before I presented it to my board colleagues and shareholders and thankfully they bought into the changing direction."

The profitable business now has a £6.8m turnover, up from £5.3m last year, and employs 32 staff. Over 50 per cent of employees are equestrians, which helps the brand relate to its customers.

There has been a steady decline in the number of horse-owning households over the last decade or so, from 451,000 in 2010 to 374,000 in 2019, according to The British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA).

However, BETA’s National Equestrian Survey 2019 also revealed an increase in horse riding over the past five years.

Cost remains a huge factor for horse owners and riders – something Hopper is trying to address at Harry Hall.

The demand from consumers for a bundle of equestrian products and services from one online specialist led to the launch of the Harry Hall One Club in 2017.

The club has attracted more than 41,000 members who have access to public liability and personal accident insurance, shopping discounts and free shipping on all orders from HarryHall.com.

In the last year , Harry Hall has launched a platinum membership, which includes public liability cover for members with up to 10 horses. New enhanced memberships also include additional rider fracture cover, which has proved to be extremely popular with One Club members.

The team is also launching a new Harry Hall app and is introducing a will writing service for One Club members after Harry Hall identified that 60 per cent of its members do not have a will or expression of wishes in place for the future care and welfare of their animals, if the worst happened.

"I want to continue our journey,” says Hopper. “Ten years ago I would never have dreamt of being in insurance and here we are regulated by the FCA. We’re constantly evolving and looking for new ideas and new solutions for our members.”

Hopper’s aim is to reach 50,000 members within the next 24 months, which looks like an achievable aim given that the club is acquiring around 1,000 new members every month.

"There’s no obvious channel from where they’re coming from. There are a number of equestrians that aren’t insured so maybe we’re picking up people who haven’t thought about having liability insurance previously,” she says.

Although half of her employees own a horse, Leeds-born Hopper’s own equestrian days remain in her childhood.

"I had two ponies – Queenie and Teddy – but I came out of riding when I was about 16,” she says.

“ People quite often go back to it but I never did. I had two boys – now age 23 and 21 – who didn’t like horses so it just never happened.

Hopper describes herself as passionate, driven and very ideas-focused. “It’s all about ideas and chatting to people,” she says. “That’s how we develop the business and our ideas.

Her career prior to Harry Hall was largely spent in marketing and commercial roles.

She moved to Harry Hall from Hallmark Cards in Bradford where she spent six years in a variety of jobs , latterly product director.

"The sectors are different but the principles are the same,” she says. “Know your customer, know what their pain points are, come up with solutions, and make sure the business is commercially stable.”

She adds: “For me it’s all about people as well. I think it’s important to say that we’ve not really changed the team in the last 10 years.

" We’ve retrained the team to flex with the changing business. It’s all about having a fantastic team around you and that’s been the same throughout my career.”

Harry Hall’s products, which range from riding tights to horse blankets, are designed by an in-house team in Bradford and then manufactured overseas. Its customer service team is also based at its Bradford headquarters.

"For me, it’s all about service,” Hopper says. “A lot of our members come through recommendation so for me it’s about offering the highest level of service and we get a lot of praise for our customer service team, which makes us quite unique.”

Hopper, who lives with her partner and their Lancashire Heeler in north Leeds, spends her free time camping in her VW campervan and particularly loves travelling to France.

"For me, being in the outdoors is where I relax and recharge,” she says. “It’s amazing that you can finish a really crazy week at work and ​​​​​​just pack up and go somewhere completely different.”