Corporate History:

The business was founded by John James Plato and his wife Peggy circa 1958 when they developed their first motor dealership with petrol station in Uxbridge, Middx. This dealership initially represented Standard Triumph and Austin Morris and later Peugeot, it was also a high volume petrol site.

Following further redevelopment in the mid 1970's, Vauxhall, Opel and Bedford light vans became the franchises. Phillip Plato joined the family business in 1977 when a second dealership was developed in Hertfordshire near Tring, representing Saab and Suzuki cars. They also developed a separate petrol filling station nearby. In 1982, this second dealership was the sole representative of the Saab franchise at the Earls Court Motorfair and was possibly the largest independent retailer of Saabs in the country at that time.

Between 1977 and 1983, the principal business activity was operating these two franchised dealerships. In 1979 a separate fuel retail and wholesale operation was formed (Plato Petroleum Ltd). This company supplied approximately 30 independent filling stations and heating oil to a considerable number of industrial and commercial consumers. In 1987 the fuel wholesale business was sold to a division of Petrofina.

From the late 1980's onwards, the main business interest became property investment and development and in 1994, Plato Enterprises was established to manage the property portfolio of the businesses, with the managing director, Phillip Plato, obtaining his professional qualification as a Chartered Surveyor shortly thereafter. Plato Enterprises was incorporated as a separate limited company to our other property holding corporations in 1997 and in 2007, the business was further restructured to provide a simpler business model and changed its name to Plato Estates in 2008. This resulted in a merger of some of the Plato businesses to form Plato Estates Ltd & Plato Property Investments LLP. The main activity continues to be the acquisition of commercial property for investment or development.