THERE just isn't enough parking in Winchester, says Brian Orange. The MD of Orange Chemicals, of Staple Gardens, says the main reason he doesn't get many visitors is that it can easily take 40 minutes to find a space.

But that hasn't stopped the family-owned chemical distribution firm's steady upward march.

The business celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and Mr Orange, 60, who lives at King's Somborne, intends to mark the milestone by slipping down a gear.

"I will work only four days a week from January 1," he said.

Mr Orange was brought up in Surrey, but he has known Winchester since boyhood. "Mr grandmother lived in Beaufort Road. When I was younger, I used to spend a week down here every August."

He went to Pilgrims' School, alongside the cathedral, and then to Winchester College, before gaining a degree in Chemical Engineering at Birmingham University.

"The only useful thing I learnt there was that I didn't want to be a chemical engineer all my life."

Although he found the science dull, he joined a chemical company and made his niche in its distribution department: "I enjoyed the cut and thrust of selling and making a profit." he explained.

With no prospect of promotion, he handed in his notice in 1973 and immediately landed a job as assistant to the boss of a tiny chemical distribution company in London.

The firm, Allan Douglas Ltd, was destined to become Orange Chemicals. The change of job was an immediate success. "We did fantastically well. It was the 1973 oil shortage. Prices went up. You could buy on Monday and sell on Friday for a profit."

But, by 1976, trading had become tough. The owner left and Mr Orange took over. He transferred the business to Winchester and started with just one other member of staff above what is now the Mr So Chinese restaurant in Jewry Street.

He outgrew those premises after 11 years and moved to St Thomas Street.

Orange Chemicals, which has an annual turnover of £9m, now has a staff of eight and stocks and distributes about 150 products, which are all needed to make surface coatings, mainly paint, printing ink and glue.

Although it owns no warehouses or lorries, the company arranges transport and storage. It has about £m tied up in stock held at a handful of warehouses.

Outside work, Mr Orange said he "fell into" becoming commander of St John Ambulance in Hampshire from 1985 to 1996. He led a popular, but doomed, campaign to save the Wyke Mark old people's home from demolition.

In King's Somborne, he has been chairman of the Scouts, the village hall "and virtually every committee". He ran a church appeal and helps to ring the church bells.

He loves showing business contacts around Winchester. "Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to have lunch at the Wykeham Arms. Then I walk them round the bottom of Wharf Hill, along the river to the City Mill and up the High Street."

He says he finds it sad that, during his 30 years in business in the city, nearly all its individual shops have closed, to be replaced by chain stores. "But, undoubtedly, the worst change is the lack of parking," he added.

He says he is particularly opposed to plans to reduce staff parking at Hampshire County Council, which would increase demand for public spaces. He would like to see new car parks built over the railway cutting near the station and on 10 acres at Barton Farm, alongside Andover Road.