Over One Hundred Years and Four Generations
The William Parker Story
The Parker Family’s direct involvement in Farming and Butchery started in 1904 when William “Billy” Parker walked into a butchers shop in Leicester and asked for a job. He started as a butchers boy working for a humble 5 shillings a week. By 1910 he owned the butchers shop in Leicester where he started the butchers W&J Parker with his brother Joseph Parker.
The family owned business has been going for over 100 years.
By 1945 Billy Parker now owned over 32,000 acres of farmland and had established butchers shops across Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk. His three sons William, Jim and Eric continued the business and founded two further companies Parkers of Leicester and Blankney Estates. William Parker “Jnr.” ran Parkers of Leicester and was Chairman of the butchery business W&J Parker, with Eric and Jim Parker running Blankney Estate and other interests between them.
How we’ve grown
In 1985 William Parker Jnr. died leaving his two daughters Dr Darien Lott and Lady Susan Ripley to run Parkers of Leicester Ltd and the two farming businesses.
In 2009 Adrian Lott became Managing Director of Parkers of Leicester Ltd and is supported by other close members of the family. The business currently farms over 12,000 acres across Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Kent and Essex.
Land Development
In 2016 Parker Strategic Land was founded.
For many years the family and business have been involved in land promotion and development; we’ve developed and promoted areas in and around Leicestershire including Aylestone, Braunstone, Thurnby, Thorpe Astley, Fosse Park, Frolesworth, Market Harborough and Loughborough, as well as in Essex including significant construction projects at Wallasea Island.
The family company owns and promotes a substantial number of sites throughout Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire, Norfolk, Essex, Derbyshire, Kent, Bedfordshire and Gloucestershire ranging from sites of 20 units to over 5000 units; the sites include proposed employment, retail centres, sports and leisure facilities and retirement homes.