Business leaders from across Wiltshire have paid tribute to Mike Lloyd, who was one of Swindon’s top accountants for more than 30 years.
Mike passed away after a short illness aged just 65 on January 9. He retired last year from his role as managing partner at Haines Watts Swindon where he worked for over 30 years, working with some well known SMEs across Wiltshire and beyond.
His wife Pat said:
“Mike loved people and he really cared about everyone his clients and delighted in their success. Anyone who knew him will remember him as a decent, honest, trustworthy and overall brilliant man. We will remember him as the best husband, father, stepfather, and grandad that you could wish to have and it is my privilege to have called him my husband.”
Mike was born and brought up in Weston Super Mare where his Dad Graham, aged 98, still lives. He was not great at maths at school, always describing himself as average. However in his late teens, with long hair and his beloved leather jacket he went to sign on at the job centre and saw an advertisement for a trainee accountant. He decided he might as well go for it.
“The clerk on that day looked him up and down and said he’d have to take a maths test to be put forward,” Pat said. “He clearly thought someone who looked like Mike would never make the grade. Mike did the test and scored 100 per cent, the first time anyone had ever done so. He was put forward for the role and the rest is history.”
This led to Mike learning and becoming qualified ‘on the job’ through day release to college. He joined Haines Watts in Swindon and very quickly became a partner, going on to lead the team for many years. During his leadership, the team raised £1000s for charity, Mike was well known as a leader in business networking in Swindon and in supporting many local businesses.
One of those he worked with was John Davis, who is a partner and Head of Corporate at the law firm Thrings.
“ ‘John, I’ve got something interesting for you to look at’. Words which filled me with excitement and dread in equal measure when delivered by Mike. He often presented me with some of the most complicated problems yet they were always (well almost always) good fun,” John said.
“For 20 years Mike and I worked together with mutual clients. Restructuring companies, buying and selling businesses, providing a sounding board to owners and directors both home and abroad. Mike would always be suited and booted, prepared and professional, serious. What those clients didn’t see were the car journeys and meetings, often in a bar, where you’d find us laughing.
“He enjoyed ripping into me for being Welsh, a lawyer and ‘big boned’. He once had to take the roof off his car so I could get into it and he was never shy in reminding me of that. I gave it back comparing him to an extra on Spinal Tap and for driving a poseur’s car. We talked music, cars and of course motorbikes – he loved those things, but he really came alive when he spoke about his family.
“Mike was a professional, a trusted adviser and an essential part of the fabric of our business community. Yet I’m simply going to remember him as my pal.”
Author Lis McDermott was one of Mike’s business networking friends. She said:
“Whenever I think of Mike, I think of warmth and humour. Even though he towered above me, he was a gentle giant who was always smiling. He loved heavy metal bands and we often talked about the bands he loved. I don’t’ think he’d ever forgotten his own time as a youth playing in a band. He also loved speed and once took me for a very fast ride in his Porsche which was wonderful. I will miss him.”
Steve Munson, director of asf Creative, also knew Mike well.
“Mike was anything but a typical an accountant, he broke the mould of what you might expect. While many imagine accountants as quiet and conservative, Mike was a tattooed metal head. He had a deep passion for heavy metal music and would travel all over the country, and even around the world, to see bands that I never had heard of. I always found it wonderfully amusing that during the week he was calmly dealing with corporate finances, and at weekends he could be found happily head-banging in a mosh pit somewhere.
“We also shared a mutual love of speed. We bonded over racing and motorbikes, and I particularly remember his beloved Honda Blackbird. He didn’t get to ride it as often as he would have liked, but when he did, it was all about letting loose and blowing the cobwebs away.
“Beyond his interests and his humour, Mike was one of the first people who truly helped me navigate the world of self-employment. He had a gift for making the complex world of business feel understandable, and I will always be deeply grateful for that.”
At home Mike was a single parent to his daughters Charlotte and Georgia for several years. He later reconnected with Pat who was a friend from his teenage years and they married in November 2025. He was also a step-dad to Eleanor and Dylan and grandfather to Millie and Isaac.
His funeral for family, friends in business and life, will take place on Wednesday February 4 at 11am the North Wiltshire Crematorium followed by a gathering at Royal Wootton Bassett Rugby Club. The dress code is ‘no dress code’ and any donations in his memory will be divided between the Prospect Hospice and the British Liver Trust.
Article from Scott Media
