Markets / UPHOLSTERY / Jul.26

Silver pound backs Britain as firm bets on post-Olympic boom

Leeds next in line for showroom after Hedge End

Vale-Bridgecraft, the Yorkshire sofa manufacturer, says it will increase its consumer advertising output after a stellar uplift in sales since March.

Double-digit growth every month since a slow start to the year is proof Britain's more mature shoppers are backing the Buy British message, according to md Stuart Chadwick.

He has sanctioned a bigger above the line marketing push as soon as the Olympic Games are over, with full page adverts to feature in national newspapers and their associated supplements.

Its £400,000 investment takes its marketing spend to £5m since 1996, a figure that near equals its annual turnover.

Vale-Bridgecraft, which manufactures traditional style upholstery and excels in niche markets such as button-back sofas, supports its independent stockist network through its own showrooms, with orders processed via the nearest Vale stockist.

Its Hedge End showroom in Hampshire will open later this summer as a replacement for its former site in nearby Eastleigh.

Mr Chadwick confirmed the Leeds area is likely to be the location for its seventh showroom after the company identified suitable B1 non-retail property south west of the city in Birstall.