In 1946, Tate & Lyle, a sugar company, went to Kerry in Ireland to employ 350 men to work for their company, which was based in Bury St Edmonds, England. Patrick Costello and his four cousins were among the chosen men to work for the company with the intention of working in England for 18 months before emigrating to Australia.

During his employment with Tate & Lyle, Patrick met Eileen Cullen, whom he married and settled down with while his cousins went to Australia. In 1951, Patrick decided to change careers and was employed by Grove Fencing in Esher, Surrey. In 1958, he set up a business called “Fencing & Walls” with a gentleman named Les Mould. However, after two years, both men went their separate ways, with Les starting “Dale Fencing” in Cheam and Patrick starting “Tolworth Fencing.”

Tolworth Fencing was run from a flat in Largewood Avenue Tolworth, Surrey, where Patrick’s wife Eileen ran the office side of things. Patrick’s eldest son, Joe, started helping his father with fencing at the age of 12 during weekends and school holidays.

The business appeared to be thriving. However, Joe chose not to follow in his father’s footsteps and went on to train as a mechanic for FWD Motors for one year. He then tried his hand at becoming a butcher for two years before moving on to work for a construction company doing ground work. In 1971, Joe married Diane Church.

After an accident one month after their marriage, Joe’s father broke his ankle, and Joe made the decision to go into partnership with him to keep the business going. They were approached by some of the main house builders of that time, including John Laings, Higgs and Hills & Algreys Developments, to do commercial work. Patrick was hesitant at first, but Joe saw the potential of getting into the commercial side, which led to great success as they became the main fencing contractor for some of the largest housing developments in the south east.

Patrick passed away in February 1993 at the age of 68. Despite some of the original developers going into liquidation or being taken over, Joe continued to take the business forward. He was then approached to do work for companies such as Carla, Persimmons, Byrnes Brothers & Devine Homes.

Sadly, Joe suffered the loss of his mother, Eileen, in 2002, at the age of 73. His wife, Diane, became a director of the company, and in 2002, Joe decided to take the business in a new direction and looked for premises to have a retail yard. However, there were no premises available in Tolworth, so they had to relocate to Morden. Joe, together with his eldest daughter, Donna, and his grandson, Sean, who joined the team in recent years, now sells fencing to both trade and domestic customers.

It is remarkable that even after 65 years and with four generations of the Costello family, Tolworth Fencing is still thriving today.