Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Hummer buggies take centre stage at world premiere
From Halle Berry and Colin Firth to Kylie Minogue and Channing Tatum – some of the biggest names in showbiz were at the premiere of the new Kingsman film this week.
The new blockbuster Kingsman: The Golden Circle was premiered in London on Monday with an array of A-listers in attendance.
But if it wasn’t for family-owned Bridgnorth company Fairway Wheels, the film’s star Sir Elton John might have struggled to get from one end of the red carpet to the other.
The business, which supplies specialist golf buggies based from their base near Claverley, turned two Hummer buggies into convertible electric taxis especially for the premiere. They were used to chauffeur the likes of Poppy Delevingne, director Matthew Vaughn and Sir Elton before the film started.
It is run by father and son Tim and Richard Pearson and together they were tasked by 20th Century Fox with transforming two standard Hummers and transporting them to London in just six days.
Richard, aged 61, who started the business eight years ago, said: “I had a phone call from the production manager asking if we stocked Hummers. I said ‘no’ but tell me what you want and we sourced two hard-tops.
“We had to take the tops off to make them convertibles, the doors off, put seats in them. We were at it night and day and only had six days to do it. We fitted taxi lights on them and then they wanted us on site on the day on Monday. We had to drive them round and do the test runs for them on the red carpet. They were delighted and said any other vehicles needed by 20th Century Fox in the UK and they’ll contact us.
“To be on the stage with these vehicles, the stress levels we suffered, you wouldn’t believe it. The one buggy wouldn’t work at all so I had to get that up and running.
“We had triple A passes so we could walk up and down with the stars on the red carpet. They gave us tickets to go and see the film and were very good to us.
“I spoke to Geoff Bridges – one of my favourite actors – and he was an absolute delight. He said to me ‘why are you so special with a triple A badge?’. I told him we’d supplied the buggies and he said ‘they’re absolutely amazing, well done!’.
But Fairway Wheels, which now supplies buggies to some of the richest people in the world, hasn’t always been in the spotlight.
The duo have struggled in the past and almost shut down, but now they insist things have never been better and are soon hoping to expand.
They could soon be doing business with Chelsea and Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas after he took an interest in the vehicles on the night.
Wolves fan Richard, 33, said: “They were really good with us, it was much better than expected. We thought we’d drop the buggies off and then that would be it, but it was great. The buggies were really the main theme of the evening. Fabregas stopped me after – it was brilliant. He said ‘excuse me, mate!’ I and just turned round and saw him.
“He went ‘how much for those? and said told him it would be about £12,000.
“His reaction looked as if he could afford it and he was interested. And I gave him my card.”
“From where we started it’s unbelievable where we are now. Three years ago we couldn’t even afford to eat, that’s how bad it was. There were times when we thought about calling it a day. We were always scrapping around.”
Some of the key scenes from the highly-anticipated sequel to the Kingsman were filmed on location in Birmingham with the support of Film Birmingham.
Filming took place in May 2016 in and around central Birmingham in locations including Colmore Row, Waterloo Street, Edmund Street, Margaret Street and Cornwall Street.
The film, which was released in cinemas yesterday, follows the plight of the Kingsman after their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage.
Members of the Kingsman, including unlikely spy Eggsy, find new allies when they discover a spy organization in the United States known as Statesman.
The father and son are now working with Warner Bros for an upcoming film – yet to be announced – and hope more movies will be on the cards in the future.
Tim added: “We also deal with a lot of Arab estates down in London, Geneva, Malta. Some of them are royalty, from Etihad Airways. We supply and service all of their flashy buggies.
“Last year wasn’t anything special but this year we’ve more than trebled our turnover. We do golf buggies, E-Z-Go’s, Hummers, Californian Roadsters. We try to keep to the niche side.
“We’ve worked with Disney on Ice. We are looking to expand and it won’t be until the Spring. The Kingsman was an experience you’ll never forget and hopefully it won’t be the last time.”
For more details on what Fairway Wheels does go to www.fairwaywheels.co.uk or call 01746 710800.
