10 years in Business

2008- 2018

By Fay Williams

It wasn’t really the plan to run the restoration business. But when Gwyn’s boss John died from cancer we were given the opportunity to buy the business. It was a daunting prospect at first, but Gwyn had been restoring furniture with John for 18 years by that point and couldn’t think of anything else he would rather do. At the time I had a full time job, so running the business was mainly done in the evening and at weekends. It was a huge learning curve, but we got there with help from a few computer and business courses.

Gwyn carried on working in the same premises, renting from John’s wife. The business went from strength to strength with lots of repeat work and new customers, but it was hard work.

In 2009, only a year after taking over the business our daughter was born. This added another dimension to running the business and having a young family.

We carried on with the restoration work as the main stay of the business, but started to hold bi-annual exhibitions and to develop the showroom and sales. But it was still a slow burn due to time constraints and running the business in the evenings.

In 2014, John’s widow decided to sell the premises we worked in, which meant we needed to find another place for the workshop. In the September we moved from Chawston, 3 miles down the road to the village of Colmworth.

 

By this point I had started to work for the business on a regular basis between nursery and school pick ups!. This was a big change for us and it meant for the first time the business could be pushed to grow and expand.

The restoration side of the business goes from strength to strength and we are now trying to expand the sales side of the business. We still hold our summer and winter exhibitions, we have our own website and we also sell on other antique websites.

What we do best….

We provide an excellent and unique service. There are very few restorers in the area (or country), so Gwyns’ expertise are very sought after.

We are a small family run business, so our reputation is key and we will always give our full attention to every job that comes through the door.

Here’s to the next 10 years!!