Richard Taylor, the founder and CEO of Robes n Rails, first started his career in the fitted furniture trade way back in 1980. At that time he was recruited by Acmetrack, the first company to introduce sliding door wardrobes into the British market from the United States. Acmetrack employed Richard as their Northern Sales Manager to set up small businesses in an area stretching from Northampton to Inverness. They each manufactured Acme wardrobes, under licence, for installation in their designated geographic areas.
Having set up getting on for 50 outlets in the North of England and Scotland, the original licence holder in Nottingham retired from the business. So Richard applied to Acmetrack to take on the licence for the East Midlands – the rest is history.
Richard began the business in his garage. Then in 1983 moved to a very small start-up unit, very close to Trent Bridge Cricket ground, in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Richard, together with his wife, Melanie and her sister Esther, began trading with a couple of small displays and a workshop. Richard looked after the sales and manufactured all of the doors, while the girls looked after the showroom and office. Their first fitter, Terry, took care of the installations. With all the extra work coming in the company had to look at extra staff to help with the manufacturing. Scott joined the company to fabricate the sliding doors – and is still with the company today.
The company expanded and moved to a factory unit in Wilford, Nottingham and to a high street showroom in the main shopping area of West Bridgford. They went from strength to strength and expanded their operations to include fully fitted bedroom furniture and became the Nottingham dealers for one of the major bedroom furniture manufacturers in the UK. At this time the company opened a second showroom, based in Grantham, which traded very successfully and broke all previous sales records for the opening of a new showroom.
Robes n Rails opened their first Lincoln showroom in the early 1990s when they put 2 displays into The Bed shop in North Hykeham. Unfortunately, the bed shop ceased trading about a year later, so Robes n Rails had to look for a new home, which they found in the Moorland Centre, Lincolnshire Cooperative’s department store. They traded very successfully there for 15 years until 2010 when the last recession happened.
Robes n Rails then decided to close their Nottingham, Grantham and Moorland Centre showrooms and moved to their current location on Whisby Road, North Hykeham, where they could get their manufacturing and showroom all under one roof. This made the entire business much easier to control. At around this time, Richard’s two sons James and Philip joined the business, both fully qualified joiners and cabinet makers. James manages all the furniture production and Philip does what his Dad did at the start of the business and makes all of the sliding wardrobes. Truly a family business, serving the people and builders of Lincolnshire for nearly 30 years.
Robes n Rails offers a full design, bespoke manufacture and installation service for fully fitted bedrooms, made to measure sliding wardrobes, bespoke lounge furniture and clever individually designed home office furniture. A recent addition to their portfolio of “Taylor-Made” furniture is under stairs storage with full depth drawers, shoe drawers and pull out cupboards, ensuring that no space is wasted. They even create space for your ironing board, vacuum cleaner, brushes & mops!
Robes n Rail’s furniture is all made and installed by fully qualified and fully employed joiners and cabinet makers – no subcontractors- all handmade locally in Lincoln.
We take great pride in the superior quality of everything we provide, and we hope you will too. But don’t take our word for it, hear from some of our happy customers.
We understand that furniture is a very individual choice, which is why our service is tailored to your specific needs and requirements. We work closely with you, from the initial enquiry through to the final installation, guaranteeing complete customer satisfaction every time.
So give the friendly team at Robes ‘n’ Rails a call today for more information. Or, alternatively, pop into our showroom in Lincoln for a look at some of our beautifully designed furniture.
We are a family business with over 30 years experience
With over 30 years of experience, we have amassed a wealth of technical ability and knowledge and our dedicated team of technicians work throughout Lincolnshire and the surrounding areas offering professional guidance when choosing your furniture. All the work we conduct is done to the highest possible standards, guaranteeing your new furniture provides you with years of reliable use.
Watch our video for an insight into what we offer and how we are able to help with your wardrobe & fitted furniture needs. Please contact us or visit our showroom for more information.
No matter what the size or shape of your room, our team of designers use specialised software to provide you with the most accurate and high quality sliding wardrobe to sit perfectly in your room. Get directions to our showroom today.