Homewares designer near Peterborough to grow with move to larger premises

A family run homewares business near Peterborough is about to expand with a move to larger premises.
Jem Allport and Sophie Allport.Jem Allport and Sophie Allport.
Jem Allport and Sophie Allport.

Sophie Allport is relocating from its existing warehousing and offices in King Street Industrial Estate, near Langtoft, to a larger site at Bourne.

The move comes as the family-run business, created by designer Sophie and her accountancy trained brother Jem in a spare bedroom in Battersea, London, celebrates its 10th anniversary.

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It is now a thriving business employing 50 people and with about 900 stockists across the UK ranging form a small gift shop in Cornwall to John Lewis.

It opened its first high street shop in Stamford a few months ago and it has a strong online business.

It has also created 15 seasonal jobs as its prepares to cope with a surge in demand during Christmas.

Mr Allport said: “We are in the midst of upgrading the site with a plan to move the warehousing and offices in early October.”

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The new home used to be a distribution centre for Carlsberg and has been dubbed The Old Brewery by the Sophie Allport team.

Mr Allport said: “The move to the 35,000 square foot Old Brewery will help us to be more efficient and also gives us space to continue to grow.

“It’s exciting times.

He added: “We have taken on an additional 15 members of staff to help us in the lead up to Christmas.”

Over the decade, the business, which is renown for its fine bone china and kitchen fabrics, has created 31 collections with more than 2,000 product lines. Its latest launch is a festive design called Night Owl.

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