Our heritage



Named after the beautiful Cotswold hills in South West England, Cotswold Outdoor was founded by Tony Ingham and Charlie Barwell in 1974.
 Cotswold Camping 1974
Cotswold Camping, as it was originally called, sold a range of basic camping accessories, tent and bike spares from a small outbuilding near Cirencester.

The shop built up a great reputation with campers and outdoor enthusiasts alike, who valued not only the quality of outdoor gear, but also the invaluable expert advice and knowledge they received. Cotswold Camping became the main supplier of camping equipment in the South West within the first few years and customers from all of the world started to order specialist equipment from us for expeditions and adventures.

Heritage catalogue covers In 1984, the first mail order catalogue was printed which proved extremely popular with an ever-growing international customer base. By 1990, Cotswold Camping had also opened three new stores in London, Reading and Manchester in addition to the original site near Cirencester.

Since then, Cotswold Outdoor has become a leading highstreet brand in the UK, with over 60 stores across the British Isles, a successful mail order service and an award winning website offering our customers a unique online shopping experience.

We've grown a lot, but our strong company values still remain the same.





Click on the flags to follow our journey from 1974 to now...