More than just plumbing: Meeting the people behind Premier Gas Care in Pemberton
When you go to spend a few hours with a plumber, you have a fairly good idea what you’re going to be talking about.
Boilers. Bathrooms. Heating. Maybe air conditioning.
I wasn’t expecting soup, a parrot or a men’s mental health group. But that’s what I found when I went to Pemberton to meet Anthony and the team at Premier Gas Care.
Premier Gas Care has been a family-run business in Wigan for more than 30 years. It was started by Anthony’s uncle in the early 1990s, and he’s still involved today. “He still comes in,” Anthony laughed. “We can’t get rid of him, to be honest.”
But it didn’t take long for our conversation to move away from boilers.
During my visit, we went to see Barbara, one of Anthony’s elderly customers, and we didn’t arrive empty-handed. Anthony had brought her some homemade soup. Barbara is one of a number of long-standing customers he’s grown particularly fond of over the years, and the way Anthony talks about looking after older customers goes back to his own family.
His nan lived to the age of 102, and he told me he wouldn’t have wanted anybody going into her home and ripping her off. That’s why he tries to treat other people’s families in the same way he’d have wanted his own to be treated.
“A lot of our elderly customers are on their own,” he told me. “They might not see anybody. We might be the only person they see for weeks.”
So sometimes servicing a boiler also means making someone a cup of coffee and sitting down for a five-minute chat.
There’s another side to Anthony that I wasn’t expecting to discover either.
Next door is All Ears mental health support group, which mainly caters for young people, but Anthony set up a free men’s support group there. It meets every two weeks and gives men somewhere to come in, have a coffee, talk and, importantly, have a laugh.
Premier Gas Care also supports Wigan Warriors Women.
And then there’s the parrot.
Apparently, one customer has promised to leave Anthony their parrot in their will. Anthony’s response was fairly straightforward: if it bites him, he’s not having it.
I went to Premier Gas Care expecting to hear about boilers, bathrooms, air conditioning and all the usual things you’d associate with a plumbing and heating business.
I wasn’t expecting homemade soup, a parrot or a men’s mental health group. Sometimes the interesting bit about a local business isn’t just what they do. It’s the people you meet when you walk through the door.
Premier Gas Care is based at 434 Ormskirk Road, Pemberton, Wigan, WN5 9DF and can be contacted on 01942 221221.
More info on all their services here.
This feature was produced in partnership with Premier Gas Care, who supported what’s happening in Wigan to make the accompanying film.
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