November will see Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd celebrating 10 years in business, so Irish Trucker caught up with the man himself to learn all about the thriving Co Kilkenny company.
These are busy times for Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd, with four vans on the road all over the south east, and the plan for Philip Ireland is to keep things that way as his company gets set to mark its 10th anniversary this November.
Based in Cillín Hill, Co Kilkenny, the company employs seven full-time staff and remains the number one supplier for BKT Agrimax Tyres in Kilkenny and the surrounding areas.
Part of the team at Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd are Philip’s wife Ann-Marie and his brother Andrew, and this year has been one of the busiest yet since first setting-up shop in 2009.
Philip added two new 191 Volkswagen vans to his fleet at the start of the year in order to keep up with the demand from customers, and he was good enough to take time from a recent hectic schedule to give Irish Trucker the lowdown on the state of business at the moment.
“Business has been very good lately. We’ve two more vans on the road and we’re looking at two more lads to start here soon, but they’re just not here at the moment,” Philip explained.
“We’re covering all over the south east now, from Kilkenny to Waterford, and moved into a brand new premises about a year-and-a-half ago which has worked out great for us.”
Since Day One, Philip Ireland Tyres has always been about a reliable and rapid service and Philip and the team have endeavoured over the past decade to ensure it.
The company’s fantastic premises in Cillín Hill is now open 20 months and consists of a car garage which offers four-wheel alignment for customers.
“It’s going strong for us,” Philip stated. “When we opened in 2017, it took off for us and the four wheel alignment has been a big draw for customers coming in.”
Cars, buses, tractors – you name it and Philip Ireland has a tyre for it.
In fact, many of Philip’s customers are immersed in the agricultural industry and that sees a busy trend developing each and every summer for him and his team.
“I suppose you could say that summer would be a busy time of year for us,” he enthused.
“A lot of our customers are general farmers and agricultural contractors and they depend on us for repairs, so we’re fairly busy at the moment around here.”
When you read down the list of customers that have come on board (and stayed) with Philip Ireland Tyres Repairs you tend to notice a common word throughout the names; ‘Agri’.
Despite some mixed weather this past summer, agricultural contractors and general farmers all throughout Ireland still needed their silage and grain cut and they are no different in and around Kilkenny.
More work for them means more work for Philip and his team in the long run, and he has had no complaints from some of the names below since they decided he’d be the man to look after the rubber on their machinery.
Noel Delaney Agri, Mattie Walton Agri, Kennedy Agri, Barry & Eoin Hoyne Agri, JJ Burke Agri, Brendan and John Hughes Agri, Hennessy Agri, Eamon Cottrell Agri, TFM Comerfords, Folkstown Feeds, W Byrne Transport, Tommy Cody Plant Hire, Brian Farrell Agri Hire and McGuire Haulage to name but a few, have either been with Philip since he started out on his own or recognised the quality of repair service and tyre he provides.
The unofficial motto for Philip, who buys the majority of his tyres from Agrigear & Premie Tyres, is: “Any tyre you need, we’ll sell it”.
That’s a very positive attitude indeed, and there’s no doubt that you need that kind of approach nowadays if you want to thrive in business.
Looking back on when he was first getting off the ground, times were tough in Ireland in 2009 and Philip says the bond of trust was first established then with many of the customers he still has today.
“There was a man – I won’t say his name – who was in trouble nine years ago when we first started out. When the recession hit he was cash-strapped and told me he’d pay every penny when he had it…he’s still with us nine years later,” he stated.
“Service is the key. We get the phone call and we’re there within an hour-and-a-half max and I think that’s the draw.
“That’s how I look at it. I have a good name for the work and people don’t mind paying for the service.”
Indeed all the signs are very positive and Philip is upbeat about the future, no matter what the demand is.
“Our opening hours are from Monday to Saturday, like everyone else. But, to be honest, we are really open 24 hours because we’re on call all the time whenever our customers need us,” he concluded.
Philip Ireland Tyres Ltd
Unit 07A,
Cillín Hill,
Kilkenny,
R95 RYC1
Tel: (056) 779 0857
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 7 No 7, December 2019/January 2020
