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AW Lymn – The Family Funeral Service
Address: Robin Hood House, Robin Hood Street, Nottingham NG3 1GF
Phone: 0115 950 5875 Email: admin@lymn.co.uk Web: www.lymn.co.uk
Funeral Director/s: Lymns look after lots in Notts. Started in 1907 by a smart rag and bone man. When he realised he was buying furniture from people so that they could pay for funerals, he became an undertaker, too. Did 26 funerals in his first year; that’s how many they do in a busy day, now. The business remains resolutely a dynastic affair – ten family members in various posts and a family feel. Employees agree that this breeds “more than just a workplace loyalty; we are not numbers, we are individuals.” They also praise lack of business ruthlessness, and the way family members work alongside them. Lymns are specialist undertakers, now; you’ll have to find someone else to buy your furniture. 21 branches throughout Notts and south Derbyshire. Any chain like this is only as good as its FDs on the ground. Lymn's scores high.
Specific Gravity: Old school trad, yes, and that's what most people hereabouts want. They say: "for some it never seems quite right, even disrespectful, to make use of a firm which has not acquired the elusive patina of age, that indefinable degree of dignity which can only be gained through having been around for many years," which possibly makes it look barnacled and pompous, if unquestionably steeped in history and unjustly dismissive of the competition. Don't be misled. This is a highly customer focussed, forward looking business, anything but complacent and very well led.
What’s important? Very keen on transparency and accountability. Their writing paper has, on the reverse, the contact details of everyone of note in the firm. No one has an ex-directory number. Sometimes a nightmare? “Yes, but it’s important, and it goes with the territory.” Mad keen on training, everyone does courses, “it’s the way you demonstrate professionalism.”
What’s different? A remarkable commitment to doing what people want. Unusually responsive to unconventional, even eccentric, requests
Services: You will deal with the same FD throughout. Premises bright and contemporary. Happy to work with home funeralists. Lots of options on offer: “If only one in a thousand wants it, it’s worth putting in the brochure.” Own doves for hire, increasingly popular. All bodies laid out at central mortuary. Sanitary treatment (embalming) a standard service, so be sure to say no if you don't want it. Can put you in touch with excellent secular celebrant, Laura Read (07703 898441). Washing room for Moslems, Hindus and Sikhs, and a chapel of rest with a bed if you prefer that to a coffin. Want their own crematorium because it will enable them to do things better than the municipal ones. Biggest private fleet of Rolls Royces - silver - in the world, making Lymn's the favoured purveyor of last resting places to the city’s working class and, paradoxically, the undertaker of choice for Notts toffs, too. Used to price shoppers: “They normally come back to us.” One-stop shop for the bereaved: own florist and monumental masonry. Good website, excellent brochure.
Remarks: It's rare for any big chain to be able to offer a highly personal service, but you've got to hand it to Lymn's. For all its heritage and size this is a dynamic business which really cares about getting it right, making it a rare exception for this Guide.
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