Bed and Mattress Makers since 1979  

Not all beds are made in the same way! Creaky headboards and unsteady bases are not usually covered by the maker’s guarantee. The methods we used to eliminate these problems are described on our Guarantee Page.

Julian and Mel were independent furniture makers plying their trade in the early days of Covent Garden’s Craft Market. Increasingly aware of the growing absence of affordable, locally produced furniture, they placed an advertisement in  Time Out magazine depicting an elephant standing on a sturdy wooden bed and proclaiming:

‘JUMBO’ 5 ft Pine Beds - direct from the maker -  only £59 !

Soon they were busy making and supplying their beds from a small Clerkenwell workshop, together with traditional natural filled handmade mattresses from Don Gilbert’s nearby factory.

Thirty years on, in a changed world of Internet sales and Far Eastern imports, we still aim to offer the same value, quality and service as an antidote to the bland uniformity of the British High Street.

Julian Litvinoff and Mel Fawcett started making beds in 1979

First ...  ‘bed and breakfast’

Our first showroom was a single story Grade 2 listed building in Clerkenwell.

It was too large for our needs, as we were only making one bed at the time, the basic but still popular ‘Custom’.

To help pay the rent we opened a wholefood vegetarian café at the back.

The food proved to be extremely popular and when it got busy our customers would resort to sitting on the beds to eat their meals.

Due to this unexpected success we moved our showroom to Camden Town.

The café continued to flourish for nine more years, before eventually changing back into a showroom for a further six.

Camden Lock

By 1984 we had opened a showroom in  a prime location directly opposite Camden Lock. Mel had moved on to devote more time to travel and writing.  

Sales increased and we introduced our still unrivalled 'Lifetime Structural Guarantee’ on all bed frames.

By starting our own Mattress Production, we were able to offer far better value, a more efficient service and greater quality control.

By 1997 this showroom had become too small to display the large range of beds and mattresses we were by then producing.

The ‘Victorian’ shop front that we left behind was in fact designed and made in our workshops by Julian. The building was demolished in 2008, after the Camden Market fire.

Shoreditch

In 1995 we opened our current Shoreditch showrooms.

There we display at least twenty beds and nine different mattresses.

We also carry a wide range of furniture, handicrafts and accessories .

Our workshops are close by, and there is ample off street parking for all of our customers.

For those wishing to travel to us by public transport, the newly opened Hoxton Station is just a few minutes walk away.

As one of the few remaining manufacturers in the area, we are proud to still be working in a 200 year old local industry,  supplying high quality affordable furniture direct from the workbench to the customer.

238 Grays Inn Road, Clerkenwell (1982)

Times have changed. Internet sites and superstores offer standardised, less durable furniture and most production has moved abroad. These factors have virtually brought an end to a universally respected industry - now commemorated in the nearby Geffrye Museum.

Nonetheless, Shoreditch has since regenerated to become one of the most vibrant districts in London, with lively street markets, art galleries, loft apartments, bars and restaurants. It has attracted many new cutting edge enterprises, especially in the media and I.T.

We welcome this trend, but shall continue to offer a more traditional service - that of making durable handmade beds and mattresses, and supplying them direct to the public at ‘East End’ prices.

And like our predecessors, we are proud to have customers with the confidence to take them to homes throughout the world because they cannot find their equal elsewhere.

Continuing a fine a local tradition

Hackney Road in Shoreditch was until recently the centre of a flourishing cabinet making industry famed for fine furniture produced in scores of local workshops and factories and exported throughout the world.

As recently as ten years ago, the public would flock there to snap up the bargains piled high on the pavements at ‘East End’ rather than ‘West End’ prices.

281 Hackney Road, Shoreditch  (today)