Ryan Leighton

In my role as CEO of Leightons Opticians & Hearing Care, I look after the strategy for our 90-year-old family business and provide the vision for the future. I’m passionate about developing a unique business by drawing upon the strength of our heritage as a ‘real’ optician to provide a more authentic customer experience. At the same time it’s also about innovating the brand, elevating and integrating audiology services to meet current consumer needs and anticipate future demands. To do this we have built a multidisciplinary team to support our store network: professionally, clinically with optometrists, dispensing opticians and audiologists, but also in sales, marketing, finance and HR. As a team we try to create a rewarding and supportive working environment. Staff are given plenty of opportunity to contribute, and scope to advance their careers. We believe in working with the best people, who share our values and who can help us deliver on our purpose of making sure customers live life to the full. We are always interested to talk with business owners of independent opticians or hearing company owners who might be considering retirement, succession planning or joint ventures. Leightons Insight in Marlow, and Leightons Eye Windsor are recent examples of successful partnerships with independent opticians. Business owners looking for a succession plans, partnerships or other please make contact for an informal chat. We are also constantly seeking great people to work with us at Leightons. So if you are an Optometrist, Dispensing Optician, or Audiologist with ambition and a genuine commitment to care, if you seek a great place to work and develop - get in contact. We'd love to hear from you.

The Hearing Care Partnership (THCP) is the UK’s sole “optician only” hearing care company connecting market-leading audiology and independent optometry with a “FOR LIFE” philosophy. THCP Partners’ get access to an unfair advantage in the provision of clinical audiology within their optometry practices, derived from over 90 years experience at Leightons Opticians & Hearing Care. We tailor our proven system to the individual practice requirements with a dedicated training, marketing and business development programme.

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We started Leightons HearingCare in 2006, with a process that started several months earlier, where we carefully considered the private hearing marketing in the UK. We developed a strong market understanding and created a comprehensive business plan, enabling us to successfully launch and market our new hearing care business. Over the years since start-up we have steadily grown the business by recruiting and training the best audiologists and hearing aid dispensers. Together we have helped deliver a caring customer experience, helping people to better hearing, living more active and engaging lives. HearingCare is now a core component of the Leightons offering and value proposition.