Directors: Ashley Horne & Keith Kirby
Location: Tarring Road, Worthing
Number of Employees: 9

When did the business start?

We started in 1957. Elvis was having his early hits, Queen Elizabeth II had been on the throne just 5 years and people were saving up for the latest thing that magically bought moving pictures into your home – a television.

The thing about TV though was it kept people in their living rooms and cold floors weren’t great for sitting on, so another product was also booming, fitted carpets. Back in Worthing, Cyril Wall was switched on to this new demand and decided to open a new shop on a thriving shopping street called Tarring Broadway – Wall Bros was launched!

How have you grown your business?

Fast forward to 2017 and Wall Bros remains in the same unit – although, over the years, Cyril Wall was so successful that he expanded into the two units next door to his original shop. Not only did the shop expand – but the product ranges have too.  Director, Ashley Horne, says, “So much has changed since 1957. Cyril Wall worked in the business until the 1980s when he retired. Paul Cook took over from him and I took the business on in the 1990s along with my partner Keith Kirby, who is based in our Storrington shop.

What Challenges have you faced?

Home design and flooring tastes have moved on a great deal. We now sell every type of flooring you can think of, carpets, cushioned vinyl (which used to be known as Lino) wood flooring and the latest flooring innovation, luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). We also stock rugs, and sell soft furnishings and curtains too so our customers can really get everything matching to suit and save time traipsing the shops or trawling the internet.

One thing that hasn’t changed though is that people still like to touch and feel the flooring, they like to really come and look at it and see samples in their homes. We keep records of every room we measure for every customer so, that if they want to change their flooring we can just get on with it – it also helps with any insurance claims they may have.

What are your plans for the year ahead?

Our 60th anniversary is obviously a huge milestone for the company. Not many retailers have been in Worthing for as long as we have. We decided to enter the Adur and Worthing Business Awards this year and were humbled that our customers entered us for three different categories too.  Find out if they won on page 14.