About Andy
Andy Lynch is a long-serving local councillor, self-employed businessman, and Horley resident who has spent over 25 years living and working in Dorking and Horley.
He left school at 16, built and managed local businesses, and understands first-hand the pressures facing small firms and working people. Grounded, straight-talking, and deeply local, Andy’s life has been shaped by responsibility, hard work, and commitment to the communities he serves.
Background
Andy’s background is rooted in work, resilience, and service. He left school at 16 and entered full-time employment, beginning a career that would span more than four decades as a tradesman and self-employed businessman. By his early twenties, he had founded his first flooring business, later going on to build, manage, and grow shops in Redhill and Horley after moving to Surrey in the late 1990s.
Like many local business owners, Andy experienced economic uncertainty first-hand. In the mid 1990s, he drove taxis in Dorking to keep his business afloat, gaining a clear understanding of the everyday pressures facing working people.
In 2019, he retired from the flooring trade and purchased the Half Moon pub in Charlwood. Taking on the business shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, he successfully kept it operating through an exceptionally difficult period for the hospitality industry, preserving it as a valued community hub. After steering the pub through the pandemic and recovery, he sold the business in 2025.
Alongside running businesses, Andy has spent more than twenty years in public service, representing residents at borough and county level. He has chaired regulatory and licensing committees, led local management groups, and remained closely involved in high-street and community issues across Dorking, Horley, and surrounding villages.
Values
Rewarding Work
Andy believes effort should be recognised and responsibility should matter. His own experience of building and managing businesses, and raising a family alone, shaped a straightforward outlook: those who work hard, play by the rules, and contribute to their communities deserve fairness and respect.
Backing Business
Having managed businesses through recessions, financial crises, and COVID, Andy understands the pressures facing small firms and employees alike. Local decisions should support high streets, reduce unnecessary burdens, and reflect the realities of running a business in tough conditions.
Ending Waste
Years in local government have shown how often money is spent inefficiently and problems are patched over rather than fixed properly. From roads to public services, Andy believes short-term fixes must give way to solutions that deliver lasting value.
Protecting Communities
Safe streets and strong communities are the foundation of everyday life. Rising antisocial behaviour, pressure on local services, and weak enforcement undermine that foundation. Public safety, accountability, and fairness must come first.
Empowering People
Local people should have a real say in decisions that affect them. Whether it is major development, housing pressure, or public spending, councils should listen, explain, and remain accountable to the communities they serve.
Purpose
Andy is standing because he believes local politics has lost touch with everyday life. After more than two decades in public service, he has seen how common sense is too often crowded out by complacency, waste, and decisions made far from the people they affect.
Communities are asked to absorb the consequences of poor planning, weak enforcement, and failing services, while accountability quietly disappears. Roads are patched instead of fixed properly. Public safety concerns are acknowledged but not acted upon.
Standing now is about restoring responsibility to local decision-making — standing up for families, businesses, and neighbourhoods — and ensuring Dorking and Horley are represented by someone who understands both how decisions are made and how they land in real life.
Contact Andy
Andy values hearing directly from local residents, businesses, and community groups. If you have a question, concern, or idea, you can get in touch below.
Andy Lynch 