A BUSINESS making bespoke kitchens, furniture and interiors is celebrating 36 years operating from the same site in South Craven.

Originally Eastburn Pine, then Eastburn Country Furniture, and now just 'Eastburn', the business has always had its home at the same site in Eastburn Mills, off Mill Road, between Eastburn and Cross Hills.

Piles of old pine furniture, a stripping tank, to remove paint and varnish from the wood, and long days on the ground floor of the mill site is how it all began, for founder Simon Byrne.

Today, Eastburn has grown to include a broad team of talented craftsmen and designers, with a showroom and offices now taking up all three floors of the mill. Together the team creates beautifully designed, practical, bespoke handmade cabinetry for any room in the house, and 'built to last a lifetime, with traditional cabinet making at its core'.

Following many years of continued growth, Simon and Sarah Byrne organised a take-over of shares through a management buyout with long term employee Andrew Starkey.

In April, last year, with the change of ownership completed, Andrew was appointed as the company’s managing director, supported by colleagues Matt Harris as technical director, and Sam Waddington as creative director, each owning shares in the business. Simon continues to work for the company on a part-time basis.

Now with a young management team made up of existing employees, the company’s aim is to expand its manufacturing capacity, creating more jobs and growing its apprentice scheme with the area's colleges. It currently employs 35 people, most living within only two miles of their workshops.

From purpose-built workshops, a two-minute walk from the showroom, Eastburn has full control from the initial designs to the final installations, offering full project management from start to finish. It works across the country, installing bespoke fitted cabinetry, as well as working alongside architects and interior designers on large-scale projects, always continuing to use quality sustainable materials, and always solid timber.

Managing director, Andrew Starkey, said: “We’re continuing to build on Eastburn’s well established reputation for good design and quality manufacturing. We’re a young team, using local people and our local manufacturing to work on projects all over the country. It’s a great story, it’s hugely sustainable, and something we’re very proud of.”

Meanwhile, the company still offers a paint stripping service, using the same original tank when the business was founded.