Company History

Dennis Horton & Son Ltd were established in Washingborough, near Lincoln by Mr Dennis Horton and his wife, Mary in 1954.  Now on the third generation of the family to be in charge, Oliver Horton (Dennis’s grandson) is the General Manager whilst Steve & Sue Horton (Oliver’s parents) are both directors of the company and are still actively involved in the business. 

The company started off by selling petrol and carrying out servicing and repairs to a wide variety of vehicles.  As Dennis quickly gained a reputation in the local area for his first class workmanship, space became a premium and in 1960 the company moved across the road to new premises with a showroom, workshops and petrol forecourt. In 1963, Dennis was offered the chance to become the local dealer for a relatively new to the market quirky German brand, BMW!  But by 1967, Dennis and Steve had become tired of the weekly trek to Portsmouth for spares and the poor manufacturer back-up and relinquished the franchise. 

The business continued to grow throughout the 1970s and 1980s and in early 1990 Steve Horton happened to see a feature on ‘Top Gear’ about the new Škoda Favorit.  Only a few days later the phone rang and Steve was offered the chance to take the Škoda franchise for the Lincoln area.  As the number one Škoda joke teller in Lincoln at the time he was naturally cautious, but after road-testing the Favorit and giving a thorough inspection, he was sold and the rest as they say is history….. 

As the overall quality and reliability rocketed throughout the 1990s the business became busier and busier, so much so that in Oct 2004, the dealership moved again, this time to Kingsley Road, just off the A46 bypass and Doddington Road.

The company have continuued to expand and with this expansion has come success as in 2006 Dennis Horton & Son were voted 'Skoda Retailer of the Year 2006' out of 140 dealers nationwide.