Company profile: Ridgeway Furniture
Ridgeway’s latest golf installations following its expansion into a new state-of-the-art factory include Wentworth, Cathkin Braes, Cowglen, Coxmoor, La Moye and Richmond Golf Club.
The last year has been one of extraordinary growth for Ridgeway Furniture Manufacturing (FM), which has seen its lockers and furniture feature in some of the most prestigious golf club changing rooms in the UK.
It’s also a period that has coincided with Chris Drury being with the company.
Chris was a fully qualified PGA professional at West Hertfordshire Golf Club for 10 years – but he had to leave the profession due to an ongoing eye condition.
He has flourished in his new career.
Chris’ role is to maintain liaison with golf clubs and cooridnate with the Ridgeway design team to ensure it fully meets the expectations of both the club management and their members.
Chris maintains regular contact with clubs with longer term projects, providing the latest information on new designs, options for financing their lockers and updates on golf projects recently completed.
Another change for the company in the past year was this year’s move into a new state-of-the-art factory, which coincides with over 30 years of manufacturing of wooden lockers and ancillary furniture for golf and leisure installations throughout Europe.
Ridgeway is now the largest UK dedicated manufacturer of wooden lockers and its latest investment in the new factory will dramatically improve its ability to meet the growing demand for Ridgeway’s lockers and ancillary products.
Ridgeway finance
The introduction of a variety of options to enable golf clubs to pay for their new lockers from future members’ rentals has been warmly received by forward thinking clubs that wish to enhance their changing rooms to provide benefits to members and guests sooner rather than later. This can be done while still preserving capital reserves and / or making additional expenditure in improving the course to meet members’ ongoing requirements.
To help clubs identify their members’ future locker requirements Ridgeway will:
- Carry out a free survey to establish the space available
- Prepare initial designs to accommodate the perceived number and combination of lockers required
- Provide a detailed costing
- Provide an illustration of how the locker rentals will fully fund the lockers
- Provide sample lockers
- Draft suggested letter to members
- Provide a locker commitment form.
Once the exact numbers have been determined, the layout, costs and projections are amended to suit.
Invariably the new lockers can be provided utilising cash flow from the locker rentals, which means that only members who have a rental locker are contributing towards their cost.
Ridgeway philosophy
“Our corporate culture is based around being the best with a continual programme for developing new products. We have a highly motivated and experienced team which enables us to maintain high productivity and the best quality at all times.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve our products and manufacturing systems. Over the years we have manufactured tens of thousands of lockers that have been installed in golf and health clubs across the UK and abroad.”
Key clients
“Our installations have earned us a reputation for quality, reliability service and style. We are proud to show potential clients locker rooms completed years ago that still look great. By carefully designing each project, using two and three-dimensional drawings, Ridgeway removes the uncertainty and anxiety involved in making an investment that will stand the test of time for well over a quarter of a century.”
The wooden locker market
The UK wooden locker market is relatively small, segmented broadly into four main groups:
- Sales and marketing companies that buy lockers from third parties
- Locker companies that outsource their wooden locker production
- Importers of lockers from overseas
- UK wooden locker manufacturers, of which Ridgeway is now the largest.
Ridgeway manufacturing in the UK
“With Ridgeway controlling all aspects of the sales, design and production process, this enables us to react faster and be more flexible. This can be very important in meeting critical timescales, especially when new-build is involved as invariably these do not run to the original schedule.”
Testimonial
“We were impressed by Ridgeway’s attention to detail, the quality of their joinery and their proactive attitude to resolving design issues.”
Nick Ellis
Partner of Owen Ellis
Architect for Royal Birkdale
Testimonial
“Royal Liverpool Golf Club had an excellent relationship with Ridgeway Furniture who supplied our high quality new lockers.”
Chris Moore
Secretary, Royal Liverpool GC
Ridgeway golf installations include:
- Royal Birkdale
- Woburn
- Royal Porthcawl
- Royal Liverpool
- Gleneagles
- Wentworth
- Cathkin Braes Golf Club
- Richmond Golf Club
- Ingrebourne Links
- La Moye Golf Club
- Mitcham Golf Club
- Forest Hill Golf Club
- Ashford Manor Golf Club
- Coxmoor Golf Club
- Northenden Golf Club
To enhance your changing rooms, email: sales@ridgewayfm.com or tel: 01525 384298
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