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main factory shop has stood on the Derwenthaugh site throughout
the last century. It's history spans the manufacture of ammunition
boxes for the Great War and decades as the Northern Bedding
Company.
After the Second World War it was taken over by Great Universal
Stores to make beds and suites for its Cavendish and Woodhouse
high street retail chains and the Derwenthaugh factory manufactured
the timber components, frames and springs for satellite factories
at North Shields, Team Valley and Blyth. This operation, in
it's heyday, employed 1000 people and produced 2000 three-piece
suites and 3000 beds every week for many years.
Great Universal Stores (GUS) withdrew from high street furniture
retailing during the 1990's and inevitably, from manufacturing
in 1998, proposing to close down the Derwenthaugh site.
From
Small Beginnings
UBU (1998) Ltd was formed by a small team of managers and
craftsmen unwilling to countenance the termination of a century
of local manufacturing and employment.
The very day that Great Universal Stores withdrew, UBU (1998)
began to manufacture and sell directly from the factory, a
range of domestic and contract sofas, suites, beds and mattresses
with contract clients growing fastest of all.
In six years the business has grown to employ 40 specialist
and experienced upholstery and bedding people capable of offering
a personal, friendly and comprehensive service to a growing
clientele of loyal and satisfied customers.
The Production
Process
It's a far cry from the early years of the last century when
the work was very heavy and handling methods old fashioned
to say the least but despite modern wood machining equipment
and cleaner materials and fillings, the manufacturing process
is still essentially hands on and craft based.
The end product is exactly as good as the materials and skill
that go into it.
We are every bit as proud of our products and our people as
we ever were and confident of our ability to offer, at every
price point, a level of value and service aimed at another
century of manufacturing on Tyneside.
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