The Good Deal House

Friday, Jul 3, 2009

For full address, opening hours, telephone number and website (if they have one) of all the shops listed here, visit www.gooddealdirectory.co.ukand just type in the name of the shop in Bargain Finder.

Three years ago, I bought a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house with the intention of furnishing it totally from factory shops and architectural salvage yards and putting it on a website so that everyone could save money, too. I visited factory shops from Gateshead to Barnstaple, Liverpool to Pontyclun, Meopham to Kidderminster and bought a kitchen, two bathroom suites, flooring for the entire house, furniture for the living room, study and 3 bedrooms and all the smaller pieces that make a house a home from lamps to vases, crockery to cutlery. I saved £17,106 by choosing to buy at factory shops rather than the high street – with 14 days spent shopping, that’s £1,225 saved each day.

I’m Noelle Walsh, former Editor of Good Housekeeping magazine and, for the past 14 years, an expert on factory shopping. For the past 12 years, I have researched and written a detailed directory of 3,500 factory shops in the UK, which is now available on the internet at http://www.gooddealdirectory.co.uk and also in a biannual book, The Good Deal Directory. You can buy a copy of this Bible to bargain shopping by phoning 01367 860016 or send a cheque for £9.99 plus £2.50 p&p to PO Box 75, Rochester, Kent ME2 2 DB.

While the internet is a brilliant place to do research, sometimes you just need to look at a piece of paper, if only to make notes and scribble ideas down. Which is why I’ve produced this updated factsheet of all the items in my original good deal house from the soap dish to the granite worktop, the china cups to the whirlpool bath. I’ve plotted it room by room, except when it comes to the smaller items such as bedlinen, lighting, rugs which are in their own section. All the contact details for each shop are at the end of each section.

Kitchen
Most of us fit a new kitchen probably only once or twice times in our lives, so we have very little experience to fall back on. Imagining what a finished kitchen will look like from one base unit is beyond most of us, so make sure you choose a shop where you can see your chosen kitchen laid out. Tecaz, whose kitchen is featured at the BBC Good Homes Show and on the website here and whose cream distressed units with tongue and groove sides I chose for my original good deal house, has about 50 kitchens on display in its North Shields branch, while other kitchens can be seen in their other branches in Darlington and in Stockton on Tees. Whether you like contemporary or traditional, they have a range to suit most tastes at very reasonable prices. They offer a flat pack kitchen for just £1,999 including 90cm range cooker, 90cm chimney hood, undermounted single bowl sink and single lever tap and granite worktop (not including fitting). Called Reflections, the 10-unit kitchen consists of a white flatpack carcass and is available in four colours: cream shaker (pictured), beech shaker, gullwing maple and gullwing calvados. You can adjust design and scale up or down accordingly, though there will be an extra cost for this

Architectural salvage yards are also good sources of freestanding kitchens. Most of those I’ve visited have had good-looking, sturdy wooden kitchens available at un-designery prices in a choice of finishes from plain wood to painted or distressed. I can recommend Wells Reclamation and Bridgwater Reclamation as well as Showhome Warehouse in Rushden, Northamptonshire and The Old Creamery in Yeovil, Somerset, hailed as ‘the largest pine warehouse in the southwest’, a goldmine of good-looking freestanding kitchen buys when you get past the sea of pine at the front.

To give the kitchen a ‘designer’ look, perhaps choose different handles – buying black twisted steel handles from Turnstyle Designs’ factory shop in Barnstaple, Devon, for instance. They make really unusual door and bathroom accessories, ends of lines of which can be bought online at the bargain clearance part of their website: www.knobs2you.com.

Granite is still the worktop of the moment, but it’s not cheap. I found granite slabs measuring 1.2m x 0.6m for £198 at architectural salvage yards which, depending on the style of kitchen, could be fashioned by a skilled cutter (check out stone masons and memorial headstone companies). This is what I did. Or you could compromise and just instal a small slab of granite near the cooker in a wooden worktop. Recently, I found a company, Mansell & Wells, offering what I call ‘cheat’s granite’ which is about one quarter of the price of the real thing. Only 12.5mm thick (most worktops are 25mm or 30 mm thick), you back it with 25mm MDF and glue on a granite fascia so it looks like the real thing. There are other companies offering the same service called granite-lite – Sherwood Granite-Lite in Oxfordshire (tel: 0800 328 4096) and Granite Transformations in Bristol (www.granitetransformations.com).

Another website has also been recommended to me: www.diapol.co.uk.
You can also make great savings on electrical equipment. For washing machines, tumble dryers, ovens, hobs, hoods, range cookers, the cheapest factory shop I have found is Appliance City in Birmingham. Clearing for Comet and Currys, the shop labels are still on most of the items. Prices, which are reduced by at least half, make up for the bare concrete floors and unprepossessing neighbourhood. Note that they close at an unfashionable 4 in the afternoon. Ring them weekly if there is something in particular you are looking for and then ask them to save it for you when they get it. They sell the type of mid-market brands that you would expect from Comet and Currys – so don’t expect to get a Smeg pink fridge here. I bought a Hoover washing machine, Hoover tumble dryer, Leisure cooker with double oven and 4 ceramic hobs and a Leisure extractor hood for just £700 in total here. Showhome Warehouse in Rushden, Northamptonshire is also a cheap source of white goods – clearing stock from showhouses, they sell kitchen equipment that hasn’t been used but has been on display in show homes.

The china for the BBC Good Deal House came from Churchill China’s Outlet Superstore in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. This factory outlet superstore is the place to go for any products for your kitchen or dining room. As well as a vast array of current dinnerware ranges, all discounted by up to 50% off RRP, there is also a wide range of saucepans, oven to tableware, tabletop coordinates and cutlery, from companies such as Arthur Price and Pimpernel. There is also a huge range of James Sadles collectable teapots and giftware, as well as funky dinnerware patterns from designer Jeff Banks' Ports of Call range.

Villeroy & Boch also supplied china and glass for the house. They are the UK’s largest manufacturer of tableware and their Christmas Sale at the London factory shop is legendary. They have other factory shops countrywide at factory shopping village. The factory shops usually also sell cutlery and glassware and, at Christmas, decorations, decorative tableware, candles etc.

Another place to try for plain white bone china and earthenware crockery is Pot Luck in Columbia Road in the East End of London. They sell unbranded china – i.e. it may well be destined for one of the top china brand names but it hasn’t been stamped so you’re getting the quality without the name – or the price tag. (Only open on Firday 10-2 and Sunday 8-2.30.)

For travertine stone floors at a fantastic price, visit The Carpet Factory in Kidderminster (www.carpetfactory.co.uk). They also sell great bargains in carpets and wooden floors, supplying the carpet for the bedroom and the wooden flooring for the living room.
Other good sources are Beswick Stone, based on an airfield just outside Cirencester (www.beswickstone.co.uk) and Discount tiles in Stockton.(Discount Tiles is just down the road from Tecaz, the kitchen and bathroom supplier so visit both in one trip.) The commercial estate on which they are sited also houses Dunelm Mills (great for towels, bedlinen, duvets) and Frank’s Factory Flooring (very cheap carpets and laminates). You could spend a day just on one road!

The Minky Outlet shop in Rochdale, Lancashire (www.minky.co.uk) is a great source of kitchen staples such as cleaning materials as well as ironing boards, coffee makers, scales, induction cookers. You can buy on site at the factory shop or online.

Salton Europe in Manchester and Wolverhampton sell kettles, irons, steamers, deep fat fryers, toasters, fans, haircare, saucepan sets, slow cookers and mini ovens from top brands such as Haden, Salton, Russell Hobbs, George Forman and Tower at discount prices.

If you like Bodum equipment, you can buy it at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. They have a selection of kettles, cookware, salad ware, scales etc. all discounted. At Bicester, you can also find state-of-the-art televisions and stereos at BOSE; kitchenware at Bodum; Price’s candles; towels and duvets from another leading French brand, Descamps; cutlery from Oneida; china and crystal from Villeroy & Boch and Waterford Wedgwood; and fine linens and accessories for the home from The White Company.

The tiles for behind the range came from Welbeck China Ltd, who design and manufacture decorative china and lamp bases, as well as a selection of wall tiles which are highly unusual and very covetable on a small-scale, batch basis. They have just moved to Penzance, Cornwall but when in their old premises used to run an annual, must-visit factory sale. They are planning to do the same in this new base. Watch their website for news of the sale which will probably take place in November.

Living/Dining Room
Trade Secret just outside Banbury, just a few miles up the M40 from the NEC, is housed in a huge building and chock full of sofas, dining furniture, coffee tables, consoles, wardrobes, beds, chairs, lamps and chests of drawers from top name companies such as Marks & Spencer, Laura Ashley and John Lewis, at half the original price. With most businesses now running online businesses, there is a huge amount of returns (up to 30-35%) and these cannot then be sold at brand new even though all that my hvae happened is that the packaging may have been unwrapped. So with warehouse space at a premium, these companies sell on returned and surplus stock to companies like Trade Secret to clear for them.
Showhome Warehouse in Rushden, Northamptonshire, sells ex-showhouse furniture as well as some items from Laura Ashley catalogues. Their selection ranges from modern to traditional and prices are at least half what you would pay in the high street.

Martin Barnett in the West End of London offers a contemporary look for the dining room, lounge and bedroom. You can furnish a two-bedroom flat in one week for £2,900 plus VAT, from a choice of modern classic or contemporary furniture and including a dining table and four chairs, one sofa and one easy chair, two beds, three bedside tables, a chest of drawers and one coffee table. The company claims that this package would normally cost anything up to £7,000. They also offer a service whereby they will deliver all the furniture and instal it in your flat/home and set it out. Great if you have a rental property and don’t live in London. The company also manufactures custom-made leather and fabric sofas and beds, as well as offering contemporary and classically modern imported Italian furniture at competitive prices. Other bargains can be found in the basement, where special offers include ex-film hire and ex-showhouse pieces which can be delivered immediately.

The lighting for this room and all the rooms in the house came from Litecraft, which has 6 factory shops countrywide, including one in Birmingham. One of Britain’s largest decorative light manufacturers, this megastore claims to house the biggest display of lighting in the country. The range includes halogen, garden and security lights as well as crystal fittings at savings of between 30% and 75% off high street prices.
There are scores of factory shops selling sofas at discount prices. This is because sofas are a fashion item and like any fashionable item, they go out of fashion! I bought my two white sofas for the original good deal house from Sofa Sofa, which sells mostly by mail order or internet but has two showrooms in Birmingham and Cardiff (the Birmingham branch is just down the road from Dunelm Mill – brilliant for towels, duvets, pillows, bedlinen – and Appliance City – see Kitchen above, who clear for Comet and Currys). They were a staggeringly low £299 each. They are generous two-seaters and I had the covers Scotchguarded for about another £45.

The brochure tells you all the sizes of the sofa – do make a paper template and put it down on your floor before you buy. You’ll be surprised how much room even a two seater can take up. Also check that the two seater you are buying has two cushions – I think a 2-seater with one cushion looks mean

The cushions and smaller decorative pieces come from the Burford Garden Company Clearance Shop on the Burford roundabout about 20 miles outside Oxford. This enormous, highly respected garden and interiors shop has a clearance section in the Country Clothing and Children’s Section. Here, they sell everything from faux flowers and table top games, to bathroom smellies, china, garden equipment and clocks.

The silver candlesticks are from Silver Editions, a mail order company which as well as offering good prices through their catalogue, have a factory shop at their base in Buckinghamshire.

Bedroom
Again, the bedroom furniture is from Trade Secret in Banbury, Oxfordshire. The pieces here originally came from Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Laura Ashley.

Other places to buy beds include Showhome Warehouse, Martin Barnett (I bought the cherrywood sleighbed in the master bedroom of my original house there for just £600 including mattress) and Adrian Reynolds in Shropshire. His showroom in Coalbrookdale always has one-offs, samples, prototypes and the occasional ex-display at discounted prices. Adrian makes modern re-interpretations of classic designs in beds, dining room furniture, mirrors, umbrella stands, some lighting, cabinet knobs and valet stands which he wholesales to top interior design shops. Bucks Warehouse in London and National Brands in Liverpool sell ex M&S beds at about half price. The lights in all the bedrooms came from Litecraft.

Bathroom
Bathroom suites are as susceptible to fashion changes as clothes. The recent vogue for coloured glass basins, for example, meant there were a lot of them appearing in factory shops! (Most of the bathroom outlets below also sell taps, mixers etc.)

Tecaz, our kitchen supplier, also supplied the bathroom. They have huge displays of kitchens and bathrooms at their three outlets in the north-east or on their website (www.tecaz.com). There are always great offers here and they almost always beat in price all the well-known, high advertising bathroom superstores. Well worth a trip, even if you live in the south-east. You could save thousands on pounds on a kitchen and bathroom.

Total Bathrooms in Bath clears seconds for big bathroom name, Roper Rhodes, with mirrors, basins, towel rails, cabinet units, baths, showers, shower units, wcs and toilet seats on sale at discounted prices. Displays show full price and seconds price though you may have to wait for a second of your chosen item to be in stock

Dale Street Bathrooms in Manchester have now just moved so they are next door to Litecraft so you can buy your bathroom and your lighting in one trip. Whenever buying bathroom equipment, do ask if all the bits and pieces that your plumber will need to instal the equipment you are buying is included. I once bought a rolltop which didn’t include the waste trap and the builder spend a day trying to find one that fitted the bath which was thicker than normal baths. In the end, I had to browse the internet to find one. Do also check your box or goods before you leave or get your plumber to check them the minute you take them home – I had to go back a couple of times for parts that were missing when doing my original good deal house.

If you want just a plain, good quality low-priced bathroom suite, it’s difficult to beat Screwfix Direct, better-known as a mail order and internet provider of diy tools, but which also has a range of low-priced bathroom suites, starting from around £200 for a steel bath, basin, taps, wastes, wc and toilet seat. They offer next day delivery.

Wall tiles of a very high quality can be found at the Carpet Factory in Kidderminster while the largest manufacturer of wall and floor tiles in the UK, H&R Johnson, has a factory shop where ends of lines and seconds are cleared at discount prices. It’s a large warehouse with masses of choice in size, colour and style.

Fired Earth’s factory shop is also a good source of tiling. At the back of the beautiful full-price outlet near Banbury, this dusty warehouse houses end of line stock, whether tiles, rolltop baths, Aga cookware, paint or oddments from photographic shoots. Bring your measurements and see if you can find enough of the tiles you like to finish your bathroom. And don’t forget – Trade Secret, supplier of our living room, dining room and bedroom furniture, is on the same site so you can visit both at once.

Lighting and curtains
Lighting can make an enormous difference to a room. Litecraft has 6 factory shops and a great website offering the largest display of lighting in the UK. Suppliers to most of the high street department stores, here you can buy anything from garden lights to Swavorski crystal chandeliers at up to 70% off usual retail prices.

There are lots of discount fabric shops countrywide – the problem is the making up. You can buy fabric really cheaply and then pay a fortune having them made. I’m fortunate in having a very reasonable curtain maker in the same village. But if you don’t know of anyone like that, do consider the Curtain
Exchange, which as well as selling secondhand curtains, now also offers a very reasonable ready-made range. The huge secondhand range offers stunning curtains from a variety of sources such as show houses, people who have moved and found their curtains unsuitable, interior designers’ mistakes, etc. They also offer lined, read-made curtains designed exclusively for their stores, which come in lengths up to 305cm (120”). Their bespoke range includes a collection of their own fabrics with samples hanging in the shops that you can try in your own home. They make up in your own fabric or, if you prefer, in designers’ choice, such as Colefax & Fowler, Jane Churchill, Nina Campbell, Andrew Martin, Jab, Osborne & Little, Marvic, etc.

Having said that, all through my last 3 homes, I have used Waltons Mill Shop in Harrogate – supplier of the fabulous cushions in the bedroom - to source fabric. They’ve got a fabulous range from cheap to very upmarket top names. Most of the stock is overmakes, bankrupt merchandise, bought from the US or imported from all over the world. They specialise in international designer fabrics with the emphasis on high class designs with a difference. They also stock a vast range of quality trimmings, cords, bullions, tassels, tie-backs, etc.

Loose Ends in Malmesbury is also a great place for fabric. Large, airy, lots and lots of choice. offers end of line, overstock and current fabric for curtains and upholstery, both classic and contemporary, from their large rural showroom. They buy from the top houses such as Andrew Martin, Chess, Swaffer, Titley and Marr, James Hare, Ramm Son & Crocker, Malabar, Warners, Monkwell, Voyage, Zoffany and many others. Large stocks, including 40m rolls, are available at amazing prices, some as low as one third of the normal retail price. Lots of parking outside.
Another two good sources are Just Fabrics at Inscape, Launceston in Cornwall, who have very helpful staff; and Just Fabrics at Burford roundabout in Oxfordshire. The Cornwall Just Fabrics offers a research service to find or match any soft furnishing item you may require. The website at http://www.justfab.co.uk gives further details. A worldwide delivery service is available. The showroom carries extensive stocks of designer fabrics plus all making-up accessories like linings, interlinings, heading tapes and accessories at unbeatable prices.

The Burford Just Fabrics always have a wide selection of everything from chintzes to tapestry fabric and offer a making up service which is very reasonable. You can take away immediately and don’t have to order from pattern books.
If you want instant curtains, take a look at what Dunelm Mill has to offer. There are about 80 branches countrywide offering a huge range of curtains, bedlinen, duvets, towels, kitchenware, cushions, fabric. They’re a bit like TK Maxx – you have to search carefully but there are some real gems. I bought cream linen curtains here for my own home for justg £21.99 a pair.

Rugs and Carpets
The carpets, travertine tiles and wooden flooring in the good deal house came from The Carpet Factory in Kidderminster, which offers really good prices. Scores of rolls of fabric as well as some wooden flooring, some of the former offcuts but lots of big rolls, too. They can organise fitting if you live reasonably near otherwise, you will need to find a fitter. If they fit, the fitter will bring the carpet with him. You can order underlay here too.

The rugs in the living room and bedroom came from S & M Hughes near Swindon. This family-run business will do the looking for you and bring a selection of rugs or carpets to your home so you can see them in situ and colour match them with your existing furnishings. They offer a wide selection from Persian, Turkish, Afghan, Pakistani, Indian and Chinese to contemporary styles in wool or leather. I talked to them first on the phone about what I was looking for, sizes, colours, styles etc.

Bedlinen
Discounted good quality bed linen is relatively easy to find. The Linen Press, which sells mostly by mail order, has a factory shop, called The Big Back Bedroom, in Cumbria selling soft chambray striped bed linen, muted natural and ivory bed linen, deep-pile linen trimmed towels in subtle pinks, duck egg blues and the stripesas well as cotton ticking ironing board covers, oven gloves, table cloths and more.
The White Company’s only factory shop is at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire. Here, they sell bedlinen and a few other items such as the mohair cushion covers you can see on the guest bed and on the window seat in that room.
Other places to find good bedlinen are Seymour’s of Darlington which operates a mail order ‘newspaper’ from which you order, and who also supplied the duvet and pillows for the good deal house bedroom, and Oswaldtwistle Mills Linen Collection. Products are sold exclusively in their retail outlets and can be delivered to your door if ordered from the Internet or from their mail order catalogue.

PO BOX 75, Rochester Kent ME2 2DB Credit Card Hotline 01367 860016 email: enquiry@gooddealhouse.co.uk Web design by IDM