Stewart Messruther
From Fisherman’s Son to Five-Million-Pound Business Founder
Stewart Messruther’s story is a masterclass in resilience, grit and relentless determination. Raised in Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast, Stewart grew up in a hardworking fishing family where discipline, early mornings and earning your place in the world were simply part of everyday life.
Starting with just 34 pence in his pocket, Stewart entered the cleaning industry in the late 1990s with no financial backing, no investors and no safety net. What he did have was a fierce work ethic, an instinct for leadership and an uncompromising belief that service businesses could be built differently — with standards, accountability and people at the center.
Over the next two decades, Stewart transformed that belief into a nationally operating commercial cleaning business. Today, through his leadership at Premier Cleaning Contractors, the company delivers specialist cleaning services to pubs, hospitality venues and leisure businesses across the United Kingdom every single day.
Headquartered in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Premier Cleaning has grown from a local operation into a multi-million-pound business with turnover reaching approximately £5 million and a workforce approaching 300 people nationwide.
Stewart has spent his entire career inside the cleaning and facilities sector, beginning in 1997 and later founding Premier Cleaning in 2015. Under his leadership, the business became recognised as one of the UK’s leading specialist hospitality cleaning operators, working with some of the country’s largest pub and leisure groups. (premiercleaningcontractors.co.uk)
Known for his hands-on leadership style, Stewart built the company from the ground up — personally recruiting teams, training operatives, winning contracts and developing systems capable of supporting national deployment. Rather than outsourcing culture, he embedded it directly into the business through training, standards and internal progression.
A qualified B.I.C.S. assessor and trainer, Stewart has consistently championed professional standards within the cleaning industry and believes strongly in promoting from within. Many of Premier Cleaning’s management team began their careers as operatives before progressing through the organisation. (premiercleaningcontractors.co.uk)
What makes Stewart’s journey resonate with audiences is not simply the scale of the business he built, but the reality of how it was achieved. His story is one of setbacks, risk, pressure and persistence — growing a company through economic uncertainty, labor challenges and the demanding realities of operating a 24/7 national service business.
Today, Stewart speaks openly about entrepreneurship, leadership under pressure, scaling service businesses, building culture in blue-collar industries and creating opportunities for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things.
His keynote sessions combine practical business insight with real-world experience from the frontline of entrepreneurship, making him a compelling and authentic voice for founders, leaders and ambitious business owners alike.
Presenting at the following Great British Expos locations;