The Timpson Group has 966 shops in every corner of the UK trading under the Timpson and Max Spielmann brands.

A management maverick with a common sense approach to business, John Timpson’s acclaimed upside-down management style has earned him a raft of prestigious awards including a CBE for services to retail in 2004.

His uncompromising, fiercely candid, often controversial views on everything from HR best practice to EU guidelines, has created a legion of admirers amongst Shropshire’s small business owners as he fearlessly rails against the bureaucracy and red tape he believes is stifling entrepreneurship.

John Timpson will offer insights into how he turned around a family business that was in seemingly terminal decline three decades ago into a profitable £150m turnover business on the cusp of opening its 1,000th shop in 2013. The meeting is a sell-out with around 90 of Shropshire’s leading small business owners in attendance.

The retail guru is also expected to repeat his call for a freeze on business rates in 2013, which central government confirmed would rise by 5.6% from April, in a bid to avert more retail casualties that has seen the high street hemorrhaging jobs in recent weeks.

He also called upon Shropshire employers to offer meaningful work experience placements and paid internships to young people to help raise their workplace skills and future employability.