Hucknall timber firm feels the pride as it celebrates 20th anniversary

Wood Lane Timber was based for a time on the town road that bears its name but is now based on Wigwam Lane.

And as it reaches 20 years in business, the sky is the limit for the company with demand as high as ever and plans to expand and grown further still at their current base.

Pat Kelly, managing director, said: “We set up in 2003 when I remortgaged my little terraced house and got a loan from the bank and we set up on Wood Lane before we moved from there to where we are now on Wigwam Lane in 2017.

"When we started off it was just me working for the company, we’ve now grown to a staff of 13.

"I’m very proud that we have reached 20 years in business and I’m very proud of the team I’ve got working for me now.”

"It was a simple business plan I had when I started which was quality product, competitive prices and courteous service to the customers.

“And it’s grown from there though word of mouth.

"Of course, we’ve got the website and everything now, but I put the continued success of our business down to simply doing the whole thing properly, looking after customers and suppliers and keeping it nice and simple and building our reputation."

That reputation means Wood Lane now has a wide range of customers, not just locally but wider afield too the clients including Ashfield Council, Nottingham City Council, schools and the public sector, as well as the public and local tradespeople that ensures it stays busy all year round.

One particularly memorable job Pat recalls was supplying wood for a stunning £2 million house in Beverley in Yorkshire – and the owner is still a customer today.

The business is continuing to expand with new lines coming in and plans to build a new warehouse at the current site to meet the increasing demand for their services.

Pat also feels pride in their continued success now because of the resilience the firm has shown in coming through three big challenges in its time – the credit crunch of 2007, which he admits nearly finished them – the owner of their former Wood Lane home allowing another rival timber yard to set up on the site when they moved to Wigwam Lane, and then the Covid pandemic.

Pat said: “Covid took everybody by surprise, we couldn’t source materials and when we came back, the phones didn’t stop ringing but we had nothing to sell – it was a very strange situation.

"But we came through it and now we’re established in our current site, we’re staying here and we’re looking to kick on with the next phase of developing the business.

"We’ve been going 20 years, we’ve developed a wider customer base and we’re looking forward to the next 20 years and long may it continue.”