When it comes to choosing a funeral director, does it make any difference whether you choose a firm that is family run and local? You’ll see the words dotted about liberally on websites and adverts by funeral directors – but why? We explain why being local and family run really does make a difference – and how to tell if the funeral directors you’re considering really are local and family run.
Of course, being a family run business and/or being a local business don’t necessarily mean excellent customer service and caring values. But they can be good indicators of many of the qualities that are necessary for providing excellent customer service for something as sensitive and important as arranging the funeral for either yourself or a loved one.
Nor do family run and local necessarily go hand-in-hand. However, family run businesses are more likely to be local – and the two together can be a winning combination when it comes to choosing a funeral director.
Organising a funeral is most often a family affair; more often than not, it’s something that you do for someone who was very close to you, typically an older relative. Of course, it’s also a time of great emotional stress, which can put strain on even the best of relationships. A family run funeral directors can offer a unique level of empathy and understanding, combined with experience of helping families navigate how to create a fitting tribute to their loved one when all the members are experiencing grief in their own ways.
In addition, family run funeral directors often span generations, meaning decades of experience in supporting families at this difficult time.
As family run funeral directors, at Welham Jones we seek to instil the values of family in all our staff and through everything we do. Our notion of family extends across all our staff, whom we expect to look after our clients as though they were looking after their own family. It’s a set of values that underpins us as a family-run business, and which positions us to offer a unique level of support and understanding to the families that come to us to arrange funerals.
Family run funeral directors of very often local, with both the family members whose name is above the door and their staff coming from and knowing the local area. Family run funeral directors have often served their local community for generations, and have a keen understanding of local traditions and expectations, and can help families create commemorations that honour and respect these.
Local, family run funeral directors often embrace a much wider role in supporting their communities. At Welham Jones, we collect coats for the homeless, and chocolates and toys for children in hospital and in need, as well as supporting a variety of other local causes.
Many funeral directors were started by local families, and may have been family run for more than one generation. However many that have a name known locally as a family run business have nowadays been sold to a much larger, corporate concern. With many continuing to trade under their established, locally recognised family name, it can be hard to identify whether a funeral directors’ is truly still a local, family run business.
The devil, as always, is in the detail; scroll to the bottom of the website and look at the small print in the footer. If the funeral directors’ has been bought by a bigger chain, in the footer it should say something along the lines of ‘Joe Bloggs Funeral Director is a trading name of XYZ Limited’. If you’re still not sure, you could ask if you can speak to the person whose name is above the door – if it’s a family run business, there shouldn’t be a problem putting you through.
Please get in touch if you’re looking for a family run funeral directors’ that is at the heart of the community on West Kent and Southeast London
We are thrilled to announce that Simon Welham, Managing Director and co-founder of Welham Jones Funeral Directors, has been named Businessperson of the Year 2026 at the Tonbridge Business Awards.
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