A car dealership founded in 1902 broke the £200 million sales barrier for the first time last year.

Barretts of Canterbury improved turnover by 13% thanks to “new models, growth in disposable income and the availability of finance”.

The milestone helped the company make pre-tax profits of £2 million, its latest accounts show.

This was treble the previous year’s figure, which was hampered by the write-off of £1.1 million of costs following the sale of its Canterbury-based audio-visual business Barretts Digital World to electrical retailer Stellisons in 2015.

Managing director Paul Barrett had “no complaints” about the company’s performance “on the back of a strong market and in particular the strong performance of Land Rover”.

However he warned this year had been more challenging because of a decline in the automotive market.

UK car sales fell for the third straight month in June according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, following five years of growth.

In July, the government announced it will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040 in a bid to improve air quality.

Mr Barrett said: “I don’t think there is any doubt there is some nervousness in the economy.

“There’s uncertainty after an election result which no one expected and has caused alarm.

“Also there is the issue around diesel engines and people wondering whether to buy a car or wait for an electric model.”

Barretts, which employs 380 people in east Kent, is going through a period of investment.

It is spending £9 million on a new Jaguar Land Rover dealership at Waterbrook Business Park in Ashford, due to open late next year or in early 2019.

It has just opened a £2 million body repair centre in Lakesview Business Park in Hersden.

"There is the issue around diesel engines and people wondering whether to buy a car or wait for an electric model..." - Paul Barrett, Barretts of Canterbury

Most dramatically, it is moving out of its dealership in St Peter’s Street in the centre of Canterbury, where it has been based since it was founded in 1902.

It will build a new £6 million Jaguar showroom and head office at its dealership in Broad Oak on the edge of the city.

It is developing 12 town houses on part of the old city-centre site and has sold the rest to developer Paul Roberts.

Mr Barrett expects to have left the site, where his great-grandfather George launched the business originally selling bicycles, in autumn next year.

He said: “It’s the right time to move and it is no longer appropriate to sell cars in the centre of a city. All businesses have to change.”