This fleet required a depot and when new premises were needed they were constructed at Willow Street, Humberstone Road, Loughborough Road and in 1954 at Melton Road, Thurmaston, all in close proximity to Leicester city centre by property companies set up by Murphys specifically for that purpose. The Thurmaston headquarters building was centred in 25 acres of land, which was then developed into industrial and warehousing premises for commercial let. Charles Street Buildings (Leicester) Limited was incorporated in 1961, and became the principle Murphy property company. It was named after an office building developed by Hughie and Paddy at Charles Street, Leicester in 1956. It remains the principle CSB company and is wholly owned by the Murphy family.
In 1968, all Murphy Bros. businesses engaged in civil engineering, earthmoving, manufacturing and transport were sold to the British Electric Traction Company. From then on, the Murphys concentrated on property development and investment through CSB.
The major thrust of CSB’s growth over this period was through the design and build of prelet and speculative industrial and retail developments. The majority of these developments took place on industrial estates in Leicestershire but CSB expanded its portfolio and geographical reach with supermarket development and office investment across the country.
On 30th September 1991 Hughie passed away at the age of 82 and less than 5 years later his brother and co founder Paddy died on 25th March 1996 aged 84.
Since 1996 the Group has been led by Hugh, son of Paddy and nephew of Hughie, during which time the Group’s day to day activities have been focused on the expansion and redevelopment of the Group’s Leicestershire estates and the expansion of CSB’s investment portfolio.
