I have been involved in the bathroom industry for 20 years but, like many, I lost my job some 12 months ago and have since had lots of quality time to reflect and spend bringing up my now three-year-old twins. 

Recently I have started taking on small scale bathroom fitting jobs and have come to the realisation that I love working for myself and enjoy being able to specify any product I believe is appropriate to my client's needs, rather than being dependent on brands and best buying terms. 

This I believe will be the future for all independent bathroom retail/fitting companies as this is the only way to truly break free from the grip of the uninspiring multinationals and the price driven internet dealers.

I was recently asked by a small local builder to take on one of their customers for whom they didn't really have time. I was given an idea of the sort of value and spec for the job and that it was for a simple power shower installation. 

For part of the spec I was shown a Salamander pump that had been quoted for and, given the rather tight value, alarm bells started to ring, but I accepted the job and went to see the client.It turned out that a powerful Salamader 3 bar pump was wholly inappropriate so I suggested that actually a decent gravity-fed thermostatic bath and shower mixer was far more sensible. There is only one solution in this case - an Aqualisa Aquamixer! 

The Aquamixer must have been launched at least 15 years ago, it hasn't really been developed much since its conception, but it is still brilliant. Why when the Government, the media, and our pockets are all telling us to reduce water consumption must we the 'experts' insist on pushing pressurised water fittings on to our clients? 

Is it because nothing is made in Britain anymore and we must rely on using products originally designed for other countries with other systems?

Come on Britain's designers and manufacturers, design products for Britain. Put some design back into the products that the majority of this country still rely on.

Michael Kimball-Smith, Hightown, Merseyside