Prior to moving into the leisure industry Leisure Plus Direct company owner Kevin Hunter was a Lloyds Insurance Broker commuting to the city of London on a daily basis lost in the every day hum drum of the commuting drone. It was a neighbour of his who introduced Kevin to Peter Doman, the owner of a very succcesful Motorhome dealership in South East London called Bromley Motor Caravans. From an in
itial meeting and a friendship Peter asked Kevin if he would like to come along to the then Caravan and Camping Show at London’s Earls Court . He worked and sold on the Autotrail stand and met some great characters in the motorhome industry. After attending a few of these shows Kevin permanently joined Bromley Motor Caravans in 1985 and became their Workshop/ After Sales Manager. Part of his role was running the shop at base and was tasked to run the small retail stand at Earls Court selling Fiamma products to the general public. This was Fiamma’s, first retail stand of any form or recognition at a show. The stand was around 18 square metres. It was purely a desk with a storage room for Fiamma brochures! As the popularity of motorhomes grew, the name Fiamma became more recognised in the industry and more customers wanted awnings, bike racks, roof racks, ladders etc etc on their motorhomes. With Bromley Motor Caravans Kevin set up a mobile fitting service, initially attending the Motor Caravan Jamboree. It was a huge success and from this show the “Fiamma Pit Stop “ was born. So Kevin and the Fiamma Pit Stop attended many other shows around the country as well as now having a huge stand at the London Caravan and Camping show in Earls Court. Kevin’s enthusiasm was recognised by the wholesale industry and he was head hunted to join the importer of Fiamma and after 3 years became Fiamma Manager for the UK. This meant that he was managing the products coming in to the UK as well as organising and promoting more shows around the country the caravan and camping shows that were now being booked at the Birmingham NEC with a 200 square metre stands. After 6 years working for Fiamma in 2003 Kevin decided to call it a day and moved from Fiamma to what was then the wholesale importer of Fiamma’s nearest rival Omnistor. They too manufactured awnings, bike racks and leisure items for both the caravan and motorhome industry. Four years after starting to sell the Omnistor products into the UK market, the company was bought by Thule (the car accessory group) The company name is now Thule RV
Early in 2015 Kevin decided that it was time again to move on from the wholesale side of the industry. As keen as he was to stay in the industry, running all over the country responding to customer’s needs and telephone calls was taking its toll. So when an opportunity came along Kevin decided to open his own business. So in June of 2015 Leisure Plus Direct was founded. Initially it all started and Kevin was looking to perhaps run an on line business with an option to attend the indoor outdoor shows. Everything seemed to fall into place and a retail shop was offered to him. So if you are in the Margate Ramsgate, Thanet region please call in and have a look at what he carries on his shelves, there are a couple of vans supplying to some local caravan and camping sites. We have a page and even a functioning shop on EBay. His page. Leisure Plus Direct is always very welcoming … His enthusiasm for the industry still seems to be growing be it in another sideways direction Kevin may have moved away from the wholesale side of the industry but his heart is still beating hard and fast here in a growing retail leisure side of the industry
