Couple quoted £3,400 for house move to Shropshire so launched a business instead
Knights of Shropshire is aiming to be the kind of business Charlotte Croft and Conor Madden wish they had dealt with when they relocated to Bridgnorth.
An unexpected house move in order to receive care for their sick daughter has proved to be the launchpad for a business venture for one Shropshire couple.
Charlotte Croft and her partner Conor Madden felt they had received such poor service when they started the process of relocating from her native Sussex to Bridgnorth in late 2024 that they decided to launch their own removal company.
The idea was to create exactly the kind of business they wished they had dealt with when they moved to Shropshire in order to be closer to Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Charlotte, 32, gave birth to twin daughters Thea and Heartleigh in September 2024 but Heartleigh was born with complex medical needs requiring a host of different treatments.
Their doctors in Sussex said she would need to be treated at either Alder Hey in Liverpool or Birmingham Children's Hospital so the pair decided to leave their corporate careers in regional sales and move back to Conor's home town of Bridgnorth where a ready-made support system was already in situ.
But Charlotte said that, when they were ready to relocate, a removal firm quoted them more than £3,000 plus a series of mysterious and dubious "add ons" including an extra charge if the staff had to work past 3pm.
She said it left her feeling frustrated so the couple ended up relocating without any help and the germ of the idea for Knights of Shropshire was born.
Charlotte said: "They told us we were going to be charged extra if we had to wait for our keys or other delays and then there was insurance and this waiver. They quoted us £3,400 and then told us there would be an unknown extra bill at the end of it.
"When we were thinking about coming out of corporate life and working for ourselves, that for us was the gap in the market. We did our research on the local companies and they had the same add ons.
"We thought ‘what if we could just set up a removals company where our main focus wasn't the money?’ Moving house is a stressful time in people's lives and everyone's situation is different.
"You never know what people are going through so what if we could offer that personalised removal with a no-extra-fee guarantee? If you have that human touch, people will relate to that and they will trust you and you will win business.
"Not necessarily for being the cheapest but because they want you to move their house."
The couple, who previously worked for household names such as Lucozade and Heineken, started out as the classic ‘man and a van' in April last year before registering the company as a legal entity a few weeks before Christmas.
The team in Bridgnorth now comprises around 12 staff including family members, friends and other connections from 35-year-old Conor's time growing up in the Shropshire town while the name is a nod to knights in shining armour helping people in need.
Charlotte works from home and looks after all the bookings, finances and marketing while Conor hits the road to prepare quotes and do the actual removals in one of their three vans.
The couple each have children of their own from previous relationships alongside the young twins, meaning it is a very busy family life alongside running the young company.
They have even made such rapid progress as a fledgling firm that earlier this year they won a Global Recognition Award and in June are a finalist in the consumer services category in the Midlands finals of the UK StartUp Awards 2026.
Charlotte said they were already planning their expansion as a business which could include having ‘Knights of…' brands in other UK cities and acquiring land to build a storage facility.
"At the moment, around 80 per cent of our journeys start or finish in Shropshire so the county is core to our business," she said.
"But if that split was to turn, I think it would be very important for us to look at opening those other branches. We don't want to be Knights of Shropshire and continually doing moves which aren't in Shropshire.
"We would also like to secure some land in order to be able to offer storage. We get a lot of customers asking if we provide storage and moving in and out of storage will help us increase our revenue.
"Having everything under that one umbrella, creating a trusted removals brand and storage, we want Knights of Shropshire to be that."
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