There's the feel of a former era as you drive into the car park of bespoke furniture specialist Peter Thompson of York. Once the headquarters for a Canadian World War Two bomber squadron, the single-storey unit was later converted into a transit camp for Polish refugees.

But over the last 20 years, through numerous add-ons, it's developed into an extensive showroom, complete with offices and a full manufacturing facility.

It's an unusual set-up, lending an outward appearance of three inter-connected holiday cabins, and it's a good 15-minute drive outside the city centre. But first impressions are deceptive and, once I'm inside, it's clear there's more to the place than customers might first appreciate.

"The layout just evolved in all honesty," explains md Chris Lewis. "We started with a wartime building and tried to open it up, expand it and get the maximum showroom area from the ground space. We introduced a portacabin, then stripped it out and re-fitted it. The idea was to make it as open as we could with a series of complete room sets."

The big focus for the business is handmade solid wood furniture, manufactured on-site. Lewis takes me on a quick tour of the workshop and shows me burr oak, American black walnut, maple, steamed beech and tulipwood. Although these kinds of materials lend themselves to a more traditional style, contemporary designs can also be catered for.

We buy more burr oak than any other furniture manufacturer in the UK," says Lewis. "We buy it in trees. We do everything here, nothing is brought in. We don't use any chipboard and we don't pre-make anything."

Tried and tested

Unlike some showrooms, Thompson's philosophy doesn't appear to centre on a desperate bid to keep up with latest trends or offer something wildly different. It's more about offering classic designs that date less quickly, if at all. If a customer wants high gloss lacquer they're politely sent elsewhere. "Yes, we can be contemporary, but there are limits," Lewis says. "There's a market here for what we do well. We've had one kitchen in the showroom for eight years, but we've painted it about six times. There's a regular changeover but it's not frequent. One is being changed every year, the others will probably have an average life of three to four years."

One drawback of refitting, he admits, is the cost. "A display at retail is £50-60,000. In the last year we're talking about a display cost of £70-£80,000 so it's a big thing for us to do an extensive display change."

As well as putting a big emphasis on the kbb market, Thompson's also takes on a wide variety of other work, including libraries, staircases, wall panelling and flooring. Normally these are independent 'whole house' projects rather than contract work, although the firm is currently working on an extensive refurbishment of the 'Betty's' chain of traditional tea rooms located throughout Yorkshire.

Though Lewis feels he's in direct competition with the likes of Mark Wilkinson, he's happy to recognise the quality of his work. "He has tremendous ability and I'm a great admirer," he says. "Their product is good, but the quality of our product is every bit as good as theirs and we believe better. They are less bespoke than we are because they're a bigger outfit. We also have the ability to go through the entire house, and our service is excellent."

Thompson's also has a close partnership with audio visual specialists Bang and Olufsen and displays a range of its products. Though this has apparently proved very popular with clients, there's no attempt to specialise in this side of the business; the company prefers to refer interested customers to a B&O store that sits alongside its other showroom in nearby Leeds.

Taking me back to the store entrance, Lewis admits customers tend to hesitate at the door, unaware that there's more to see beyond the first room, which has been tacked onto the original frontage. From a French-style reception you can either turn left to view a number of kitchen displays or right where a wet room display leads into the one bedroom area in the showroom.

"The French roomset was a real job to do," Lewis admits. "The workshop refused to make the legs for the hall dressing table until I'd drawn it, full size, on a piece of plywood board. They're really awkward."

Old heads

As my tour continues, it's clear Lewis is from the old school of design, preferring a drawing board to CAD. The "rough sketches" that he shows me actually show an advanced level of technical ability and you get the feeling he has the kind of authentic draughtsman's skills that the CAD brigade are often hard pushed to emulate.

"Sometimes I start with a sketch, sometimes a plan but the idea is to solve a problem," he says. "I start from a concept, and ask myself exactly what we're trying to achieve. Our philosophy is to offer a continuity of approach, and therefore a continuity of style and design."

Through a doorway we turn left into the store's impressive presentation area, which doubles as a study display. The units are in solid black walnut with a 30% sheen. Matching walnut skirting is teamed with light maple flooring. "We do the whole package on the decorative side too," Lewis says. "That includes coloured glass and paint from Farrow and Ball. We even do the light switches."

On the kitchen side, appliances come mainly from Neff, Gaggenau and Aga. "We also do Sub Zero and Wolf," he says," who are probably being hit hard by the new Gaggenau refrigeration. We've stayed with BSH but I'm also going to put Miele in as an alternative."
Although the company also offers bathrooms, there's just the one display. "We do them reluctantly," he admits. "It's an awkward environment, although the upside is that there's normally more than one."

To maximise the feeling of space in what is a fairly narrow area, the wet room display features a minimalist glass screen, meaning customers read the size of the room back to the walls and the enclosure itself doesn't impinge on their spatial awareness. The shower is from Aqualisa, the semi-recessed basin and WC from Sottini, and the handmade furniture is in pippy oak.

Average spend on the kitchen side is around £40,000 and the company aims to get 50 orders a year. It's never easy to get a reliable feel of how a retailer is coping with the market downturn but Lewis insists the company has been busy all year despite an unusually quiet Christmas. "We've had a really good five years and in the last three months we couldn't have done more work. But we realise some part of our market will be affected by the downturn."

A key to the company's success, Lewis says, is a real sense of teamwork among the staff, and procedures to ensure service levels are always maintained. "You need to make sure you get it right 99 times out of 100," he says. "You need to make the client understand what they're getting and the disruption having a new kitchen will cause.

"We also produce what we call an 'idiot's sheet' for the factory, listing  things like fitting, lacquer, mouldings, colours, brass hinges etc. The idea is that an idiot can make it. They don't have to ask what hinge is going on or whether the knobs should be fumed."
The company also takes clients to the granite factory to select individual pieces, and even fly them out to the quarry in Italy if required. Reputation is crucial and they're very much aware it can only take one bad job to damage it.

"There's a mafia out there," Lewis confides. "There's a spider's web of awareness at the top end. Our experience is that all these people know each other. It isn't a good idea to upset someone, and it's a good reason to make sure that even if it costs you something you leave the client happy."