Our History
Seven decades of family enterprise, rooted in the soil of Northern Ireland and grown into one of the UK and Ireland’s most trusted names in garden machinery.
The story of Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd is, at its heart, a story about a young man who left the family farm and had the courage to build something remarkable. From a small horticultural supplier in central Belfast to one of the largest distributors of garden machinery in the UK and Ireland, ours is a history shaped by hard work, family values, and an unrelenting commitment to the customer.
Today, from our ten-acre site on the Ballynahinch Road in Carryduff, we supply over 500 dealers across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Great Britain. But the values that guide us now are the same ones Cyril Johnston carried with him when he arrived in Belfast all those years ago.
The 1940s: From the Family Farm to Post-War Belfast
The origins of Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd can be traced to the late 1940s, when a young Cyril Johnston left the family farm in Co. Antrim to seek his fortune in post-war Belfast. The city was beginning to stir back to life after the hardships of the Second World War, and a young man with ambition and an instinct for hard work could still find opportunity.
Cyril found employment with a Belfast business specialising in the supply of horticultural equipment and consumables. He worked, he learned the trade, and he recognised the potential in what he was doing. It was an apprenticeship in business that would soon lead to something far greater.
1954: A Company is Born
In 1954, Cyril took the decisive step that would define his life’s work: he acquired his employer’s business. Cyril Johnston & Co., Ltd was formally incorporated on the 2nd of November 1954 and established in central Belfast. Thus began a story that continues to this very day.
From the outset, Cyril set about building a reputation for quality products and exceptional service — values that would remain the company’s hallmark across every generation to follow.
The 1950s: Consolidation & the Hayter Partnership
The 1950s were a successful period of consolidation. Northern Ireland was emerging from the aftermath of the war — consumer confidence was growing, purchase restrictions were easing, and continual product innovation was driving sales of horticultural machinery. Cyril signed distribution agreements with a number of leading manufacturers, building the foundations of a dealer network that would one day span two countries.
The most significant of these early partnerships was a distribution agreement with a young engineer named Douglas Hayter — the founder of Hayter Lawnmowers and a pioneer of the petrol-engined rotary mower in the UK. Hayter would go on to become one of Britain’s most respected lawnmower manufacturers, and Cyril Johnston would prove central to that success. It is a relationship that endures to this day, spanning more than seven decades.
The 1960s: Northern Ireland's Foremost Horticultural Distributor
By the 1960s, Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd had emerged as Northern Ireland’s foremost distributor of horticultural machinery, and the company’s reach was beginning to extend into the Republic of Ireland too. The success of the horticultural division had not gone unnoticed in adjacent industries.
New dealerships were secured for agricultural products, with distribution agreements struck with some of the biggest names in the industry — including Massey Ferguson and Ford. Tractors began to share showroom space alongside lawnmowers, brush cutters and hedge trimmers, and the company grew to serve both the domestic garden and the working farm.
The 1970s to the 80s: Moving to Carryduff & the Next Generation
Decades of growth had taken the company from a single central-Belfast premises to two separate showrooms on the Woodstock Road and Ormeau Road, on either side of the River Lagan. By the early 1980s, even these had been outgrown.
Cyril acquired a substantial plot of land on the Ballynahinch Road in Carryduff, Co. Down — just twenty minutes from Belfast — and brought both operations together on a single purpose-built site. New showrooms provided spacious retail and display areas for the company’s agricultural and horticultural divisions, while additional space was created to support the growing distribution operation.
This move also marked the beginning of the second generation’s leadership. Cyril’s eldest son, Dolway, was appointed Managing Director, while his younger son David became a Director. Both Dolway and David continue to serve as directors of the company to this day, carrying their father’s legacy forward with the same dedication and care.
The 1980s to the 90s: Diversification & the Launch of Cyril Johnston Hire
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the company continued to prosper and diversify. In 1988, Cyril Johnston Hire was established — a dedicated equipment and machinery rental service offering horticultural, agricultural, and industrial machinery and equipment to clients across Northern Ireland. Hire would grow into a stand-alone division with its own identity and loyal customer base, operating from the same Carryduff site.
The company also developed its Groundscare division during this period, supplying machinery and equipment to professional clients including parks, councils, golf clubs, cricket grounds, estate management firms, equestrian operations, and contractors. With more than forty years in the professional maintenance sector, this division served customers the length and breadth of Ireland. The company faced the arrival of the new millennium with confidence, well positioned in a changing market.
2006: Refocus: Selling the Agricultural Division
In 2006, the company took a strategic decision that would sharpen its focus and set the course for the decades ahead. The Agricultural Division — which had grown substantially since the 1960s — was divested and acquired by a local Massey Ferguson dealer.
With this chapter closed, Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd recommitted its energies entirely to the horticultural and leisure sector. Significant resources were allocated to developing the company’s own branded range of garden machinery — a move that would ultimately give birth to the Gardencare brand.
2006 – 2015: Building the Gardencare Brand
The development of the Gardencare range was a defining chapter in the company’s modern story. Designed and marketed specifically for independent machinery dealers, the Gardencare brand gave those dealers a compelling commercial proposition — allowing them to compete against larger “big box” retailers on quality and value without compromising on service. Huntsman also emerged as a trusted in-house brand under the company’s stewardship.
The company grew its distributor footprint significantly during this period, becoming the official distributor for market-leading brands including Atco, Hayter, Kaaz, Mountfield, and Toro – amongst others – across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Cyril Johnston also became Briggs & Stratton’s exclusive Northern Ireland distributor.
Recent Years & Today: New Leadership, Enduring Values
In more recent years, the company appointed Tom Black as Managing Director — a Queen’s University Belfast graduate who brought with him a background in accountancy and distribution. Under his leadership, Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd has continued to sharpen its focus on its core business: the wholesale distribution of garden machinery and genuine replacement parts. Investment in technology, people, and infrastructure has strengthened the business further, and the company’s culture — rooted in the values of its founder — was tested and proven during the challenges of the Covid trading period.
The company still operates today from its ten-acre Carryduff headquarters, continuing to carry Cyril’s original ethos: quality products, fairly priced, and backed by service that exceeds expectations.
Seventy Years Strong
Cyril Johnston & Co. Ltd is one of the largest suppliers and distributors of garden machinery and leisure goods in the UK and Ireland. From its purpose-built warehouse, contact centre, and distribution centre at Carryduff, the company supplies over 500 dealers in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Great Britain with a comprehensive range of horticultural machinery, replacement parts, and consumables.
Privately owned and independently managed, the company is led today by an experienced team that includes Dolway and David Johnston — sons of the founder — alongside professional management committed to growing the business their father began. The spirit Cyril brought from that Co. Antrim farm more than seventy years ago remains very much alive in everything we do.