Despite more than 20 years, selling products to big retailers such as Tesco, John Lewis and Argos, the Peterborough man has always wanted to run his own show.

He said: "My big chance came along in 2000 in a chance meeting with a businessman called Freddie Rayner, who was running a domestic cleaning businesses and was looking for someone to test a domestic cleaning agency concept."

And from there IT makes Time for You was launched in 2002 as a ful-blown franchise and Mr Newby embarked on a progamme of rapid expansion and within six years it had grown to 114 offices across the UK, cleaning more than 15,000 households each week.

He said: "IT makes Time for You is one of the largest domestic cleaning companies in the UK."

Its success has brought a lot of media recognition.

II makes Time for You has featured on BBC2 Working Lunch, Channel 4 House Swap and BBC1 Look East.

And the expansion of the business has continued. In the last four years, Time for You has added two other franchises to its portfolio, an oven cleaning operation, Oven Wizards, and carpet cleaners Bone Dry.