A CULTURAL film icon of the 1980s was in Knutsford this week visiting a town-based business as it celebrated a milestone birthday.

Clients, business partners and staff of Clarion Wealth Planning Limited were transported 'Back to the Future' when a replica of the Delorean Car used in the 1985 film that launched the career of Michael J Fox arrived at a party held to celebrate the firm’s 30th anniversary.

Clients were able to pose for photographs with the car, which caused something of a stir with passers-by on King Street.

The firm of chartered financial planners was founded in April 1985 by its managing director, Ron Walker, who is a founder member of the Institute of Financial Planning and one of the pioneers of the profession.

The business began before the liberalisation of the London Stock Exchange in 1986 and the official introduction of regulated Independent Financial Advice in 1988.

More recent landmarks in its history include the launch of a discretionary investment management arm in 2005 and the successful incorporation of the requirements of the Government’s wide-ranging Retail Distribution Review (RDR) into its business model in 2013.

In 2013 the business, which was previously known as Clarion plc, divided its financial planning and investment management activities into two separate companies, Clarion Wealth Planning Limited and Clarion Investment Management Limited.

Ron Walker, founder and managing director of Clarion Wealth Planning Limited, said: "Just to have survived for 30 years is an achievement for any business but to be thriving, as we are, makes me feel very good indeed.

"Although the external environment has changed virtually beyond recognition over the past three decades I put Clarion’s continued success down to the fact that our top priority has always been to create a steady path for clients no matter what might be going on in the world around them.

"Fundamentally our job is about helping clients to get the best out of their lives. Nobody likes to pay more tax than they should, everybody wants their investments to perform well and people generally want to simplify their lives and enjoy the journey to the full.

"That doesn’t change, no matter what else might happen, and helping clients achieve these aims has been our guiding principle from day one. It will still be at the core of our business for the next 30 years and beyond."