Buckingham Palace on a summer’s afternoon is something else. The immaculate gardens stretching out behind the palace. Guests dressed in their finest — morning suits, elegant dresses, elaborate hats. The quiet hum of conversation between people who have each, in their own way, done something worth recognising. Last year, our Managing Director Andy Tree was among them — personally invited to a Garden Party by His Majesty The King.

We have been meaning to write this piece for a while. Not to show off — though we are, honestly, incredibly proud of Andy — but because his story says something important about who Mint Formations is and why we exist. The photo says it all: two people standing on the lawns of Buckingham Palace, genuinely delighted to be there, surrounded by the kind of occasion that reminds you what public service is actually for.

“I was delighted to be invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party by His Majesty The King, in my role as a councillor. I try to make a positive difference in local government and support community interest companies and charities, who make a real difference to society.”

— Andy Tree, Managing Director, Mint Formations

Andy, the independent who keeps winning

Most politicians need a party behind them. A machine. A brand. Decades of voter loyalty baked into a rosette colour. Andy has never had any of that — and he keeps winning anyway.

Standing as an independent in Whitehill, Bordon, and Lindford, Andy has taken on the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and even the new Reform bandwagon — all at the same time — and defeated them all, election after election, by significant margins. No party funding. No national campaign. Just genuine trust built one conversation, one doorstep, one community issue at a time.

Walk down the street with Andy and you will see exactly why. He does not just know his constituents — he knows their names, their families, their frustrations. They stop him, not the other way around. That kind of connection cannot be manufactured. It is earned, slowly, by actually showing up.

From the palace gardens to your local high street

Andy currently serves as Cabinet Member at Hampshire County Council — representing around 1.4 million people at the highest level of local authority — as well as Deputy Leader of East Hampshire District Council and Leader of Whitehill Town Council. He is overseeing multi-million pound infrastructure projects and is at the very centre of Local Government Reorganisation: a once-in-a-generation reform that will reshape how every community in the UK is governed for decades to come.

At the local level, his focus has always been intensely practical. Championing local policing. Fighting to retain community amenities. Funding youth projects. Supporting post-16 education. These are not abstract policy positions — they are the things that determine whether a community thrives or quietly falls apart.

For local business owners, Andy is a rare resource. He understands the realities of running a small business from the inside — the late nights, the cashflow pressures, the grants that exist but nobody tells you about, the networks that can open doors if only you know where to knock. He has spent years connecting businesses to funding, support, and opportunities that would otherwise have slipped through the cracks entirely.

Andy’s roles in public life

  • Cabinet Member, Hampshire County Council — serving approximately 1.4 million residents
  • Deputy Leader, East Hampshire District Council
  • Leader, Whitehill Town Council
  • Elected repeatedly as an independent, defeating all major parties by significant margins
  • Overseeing multi-million pound infrastructure projects across Hampshire
  • Central role in UK-wide Local Government Reorganisation

Why Mint exists

Mint Formations was not started to process company registrations. It was started because we had seen too many new businesses left to figure everything out alone — registered, invoiced, and forgotten by the platform that signed them up.

From day one, our purpose has been the same: help businesses get started properly, give them the tools and knowledge to grow, and stay with them long after the paperwork is done. Every service we offer — from company formation and confirmation statements to director changes, company restoration, and GDPR compliance — exists because founders need reliable, knowledgeable people in their corner. Not just a checkout page.

We measure our success by yours. That is not a marketing line — it is genuinely how we think about this business. When a founder we registered two years ago calls us to say they have just taken on their first member of staff, that matters to us. When a client needs to restore a dissolved company and we get them back on the register, that matters. We are in it for the long run — because that is the only way to build something worth building.

We are not a platform. We are people.

There are plenty of ways to register a company in the UK. Formation agencies like 1st Formations, Your Company Formations, and Companies Made Simple will process your application quickly. Banks like Tide and Anna will open you a business account. These are useful tools — but when you need more than a tool, they have very little to offer.

Mint is different because the people behind it are different. Our MD was invited to Buckingham Palace not because he built a slick product, but because he has spent years genuinely improving the lives of people around him. That is the culture Mint operates from — and it is what you get when you work with us.

When you register your company with Mint, you are not feeding a faceless machine. You are working with real people who are rooting for you — people who will pick up the phone, who know your name, and who measure their own success by how well your business does.