{"id":31720,"date":"2026-06-22T16:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T15:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=31720"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:15:23","slug":"ashley-cooks-up-business-success-after-kitchen-chat-seals-ovenu-chichester-deal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/ashley-cooks-up-business-success-after-kitchen-chat-seals-ovenu-chichester-deal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom makes new career connection with launch of Ovenu Tilehurst"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

A former broadband engineer has launched oven valeting business Ovenu Tilehurst after a routine clean of his own cooker inspired an unexpected career change.<\/p>\n

Having accepted redundancy from his office-based role, Tom Trethewey was searching for a business opportunity that would allow him to return to the face-to-face customer interaction he had enjoyed for much of his career.<\/p>\n

\"Ovenu
PHOTO BY STEWART TURKINGTON
www.stphotos.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 39-year-old, who lives in Tilehurst, had spent more than 20 years installing broadband in customers\u2019 homes before moving into a largely desk-based planning role.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019ve always found fulfilment in practical work, so moving to an office role made me realise just how much I missed being out and about and interacting with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was offered redundancy and saw it as a chance to start my own business. I was looking for inspiration when I happened to clean my own oven at home, which was surprisingly satisfying. It got me thinking that I could do it professionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m doing what I enjoy most – providing a service that makes a difference. It may be a completely different industry, but it\u2019s still all about people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having long harboured ambitions of running his own business, Tom was drawn to Ovenu\u2019s franchise model due the extensive training, guidance and ongoing support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019d have had the confidence to start from scratch,\u201d he added. \u201cA franchise gives you a proven business model to work from, which removes a lot of the uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovenu Tilehurst was established following the reorganisation of the Ovenu Reading territory, operated by Gareth Turner. The new territory reflects growing demand for Ovenu\u2019s services and will allow franchisees to provide a more responsive service.<\/p>\n

\"Ovenu
PHOTO BY STEWART TURKINGTON
www.stphotos.co.uk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tom, who is married and also has a cat called Maggie, added: \u201cMy long-term goal is to grow the business to the point where I can employ another oven cleaning technician within the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovenu Tilehurst covers the RG30 and RG31 postcodes, including Tilehurst, Southcote, Calcot, and Burghfield.<\/p>\n

Rik Hellewell, founder and managing director of the Ovenu franchise, said: \u201cTom\u2019s combination of practical experience, customer service skills and entrepreneurial drive makes him an excellent addition to the network.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving spent many years working in customers\u2019 homes, he understands the importance of professionalism, reliability and earning trust – qualities that are invaluable in our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovenu\u2019s specialist cleaning process involves dismantling key oven components and restoring them using safe, non-caustic and biodegradable products. The service also covers hobs, extractor hoods, microwaves and range cookers, leaving appliances in near-showroom condition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former broadband engineer has launched oven valeting business Ovenu Tilehurst after a routine clean of his own cooker inspired an unexpected career change. Having accepted redundancy from his office-based role, Tom Trethewey was searching for a business opportunity that would allow him to return to the face-to-face customer interaction he had enjoyed for much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":31751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ovenu","category-cleaning-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ovenu-Tilehurst-12.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31747,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31720\/revisions\/31747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}