Our first store was opened in 1954 in Effingham Street, Rotherham. It was the dream and ambition of John Thomas Pickford to establish a Plumbing and Homecare retail outlet with the ethos of offering quality products, affordable prices and service with a smile. John was the driving force at the centre of our business up until his sad passing in 2022.
Throughout his working life, John would happily share his work ethic, business knowledge and customer service skills with all members of his family and staff within the business. For this grounding and guidance, we are eternally grateful as it has played a substantial part of our growth over the years. Over 60 years on from our opening, we still retain the simple principal of offering Quality Goods, Low Prices & Exceptional Customer Support regardless of order value.
1954 - 2023: We’ve seen it all
The Pickfords family has sold thousands of bathroom products, in a multitude of styles and observed first hand, developments in manufacturing processes that have changed trends in customer needs.
When bathrooms were first introduced into the average home, they looked much different than they do today. The design was very basic and the general look of older bathrooms was white, simple and only included essentials. This was mainly just a toilet and a sink in many properties, with larger spaces having the luxury of a white enamelled bath installed too.
Yes, the introduction of Coloured Bathrooms Suites in the 70’s and 80’s set the scene. We all either had colours like these, or knew someone that did. Most of us look back in horror at the garish colours used. As with 70’s and 80’s clothing styles, these are well and truly gone for good.
As a business we kept our offering to more traditional ranges, predominantly selling white sinks and baths, and our "nod" to this era manifested itself more in the fittings with trends of Wooden bath panels, Toilet seats, and Accessories being at the forefront - Remember Pine everywhere?
