Chris Brammall

He may have northern roots, but after more than forty years in the south, Chris Brammall is as much a part of the local fabric as the carpets he’s spent his life creating. He moved to the area on 2nd January 1984 to take up the role of regional sales manager for Wilton Royal having worked with carpets alongside his dad since he was just 11, and has been here ever since.

Over the years, while Chris ran the carpet factory, the wider site was operated by an external company. As management changed hands and priorities shifted, parts of the village gradually became tired, underused and in need of care. When the upkeep started to slip and the character of the place began to fade, he made the decision to re-acquire it. The past year has been about undoing years of slow wear-and-tear, rebuilding the foundations, and bringing the standard back up to where it should be.

“The biggest challenge I’ve faced over the past year has been keeping the site in order and ticking all the compliance boxes – running site surveys, looking after wildlife with things like bat boxes and making sure every bit of the site meets the right safety standards. The buildings are very old; even the smallest change means a mountain of paperwork!”

The thing that kept Chris going through the slow times was seeing the progress, and keeping his vision in mind. Welcoming new businesses here who share the same values and ideas as well as seeing visitors return to the village again has been the real motivation. For Chris, it’s never just been about “tidying up a site”. It’s been about breathing life back into a place with history, character and huge potential.

What most people don’t see is the sheer amount of himself he’s poured into Wilton Village. The early mornings, the late nights, the endless forms, the unexpected costs, the conversations that start with “I’ve had an idea…” and end with another week of problem-solving. Chris has invested not just time and money, but genuine heart. He wants Wilton Village to feel alive again — somewhere people want to spend an afternoon wandering, somewhere local businesses can thrive, somewhere the community can be proud of.

Chris will happily spend an hour talking through a shopfront sign or a lighting fixture if it means it makes the village look and feel that little bit better. He’s walked every inch of the site more times than we can count, noticing things nobody else would: a loose hinge here, a faded panel there, a corner that could do with softening. The stuff people assume “just happens” has almost always happened because Chris has rolled up his sleeves and made it so.

What’s been happening?

Over the past year, he’s been the quiet engine behind the revival — dealing with the heritage quirks of a centuries-old site, persuading trades to squeeze in another job, finding creative ways to solve problems that don’t have obvious answers. And when things have gone slowly (or sideways), he’s simply kept going. Because you don’t stick around for forty years unless you really care.

Now, as more shops open, more lights switch on, and more people visit, Chris is finally starting to see the village he imagined take shape. It’s still evolving — as all great places do — but Wilton Village is firmly moving forward, and that’s thanks in no small part to the man who’s been championing it from day one.

And now, as Wilton Village grows into its next chapter, we hope everyone will get behind Chris’s vision — and behind the village itself. With the support of the community and the people who love this place as much as we do, we can keep bringing life back to Wilton and make it somewhere truly special again.