Mum's the word at Bowen Opticians

When I was younger people would always say to me are you going to grow up and be an optician like your mum and I’d shout “no” at them, I was so averse to it.’ It’s a different story now for Steph Swire, who runs independent practice Bowen Opticians in Weston-super-Mare alongside her mother Fiona Bromfield.

Bowen Opticians started out as a small domiciliary service around Weston-super-Mare in 1993. It soon became a bricks and mortar practice, when optometrist Bromfield set up a business partnership with her now ex-husband.

She says: ‘Very originally we did home visits only, then a year later we opened up shop in the town centre in a building which we rented and after about five years down the line we bought the practice we’re in now. Eventually we closed the city centre one down and amalgamated it all into one practice.’