In detail, Charco 2010 has bought six Colourwash showrooms - Wimbledon, Fulham, Notting Hill, Chiswick, Primrose Hill and Muswell Hill - as well as its contracts division. However, certain parts of the business, including the Ealing and Chamberlayne Road showrooms, will remain with the management but will not carry the Colourwash name.

Colourwash and C.P. Hart will be run as two separate companies. Charco co-founder Richard Reynolds (pictured right) will be chairman with partner Kevin Ohle (left) as Colourwash managing director.

"Colourwash brings us circa £8 million of additional sales; showrooms in parts of London that were top of C.P. Hart's list for new locations; and an established and very successful team of trained bathroom professionals including showroom sales staff as well as administration and operations teams in Wimbledon," said Reynolds. 

"We are convinced that the acquisition will enable more rapid expansion than either company could achieve on its own. It's an important step in our ambition to build a national presence for C.P. Hart."

Colourwash founder David Jones will stay on in a non-executive role while majority shareholder Gary Lake has sold all his interests apart from a shareholding in the Far East sourcing operation.

"It was a very difficult decision for me to sell the business," Lake said. "It has great people and a great reputation with its customers. However, when I first sat down with Kevin and Richard, it was obvious that a combined group with sales in excess of £25 million would be an exciting proposition and that Colourwash would benefit from being part of the enlarged group.

"I have retained a shareholding in the Far East sourcing operation, which will remain a major supplier to Colourwash. Through this I will be able to share the benefits of Colourwash's growth, but I am also going back to my roots as a supplier to the bathroom retail sector. I am delighted with that opportunity."

Charco is also pressing ahead with expansion plans for C.P. Hart. In July a new 3,00sq ft showroom will open in Tunbridge Wells, its first new showroom since 2000, and there are more, the company says, in the pipeline.

"[We] need to bed in Colourwash," Richard Reynolds said. "But we are actively seeking partners in cities and town where C.P. Hart does not have representation. We would rather add an established business to our family than start with fresh air."

Reynolds and Ohle as Charco acquired C.P. Hart in early 2008 from former owner Nobia.