History of CTS
This is the story of our journey, written in the words of our late founder, Mike Pearce. From establishing a workshop at home and building a thriving curtain and blind business, to working alongside his son Tom and eventually passing the business to the next generation, Mike’s account provides a personal look at how the business developed over the years.
As our three children were born between 1981 and 1987, with Tom in 1984, Barbara was spending more time working from home and with the short shop leases coming to an end, it seemed the right time to leave shopfront retail and set up a workshop and office in a newly built extension to our home. The curtain and blind trade flourished and the wallpaper trade fell by the wayside, giving us the flexibility of working from home and taking a fully equipped van on the road, in a move which was a great lifestyle choice for a young family.
Dealing with our own private customers, developed a realisation that even curtain retailers were struggling to find makers and the fitting side seemed to suffer from an identitiy crisis! In the early 80’s it seemed that men wielded the screws and rawlplugs but ladies dealt with the the ‘soft’ hanging and dressing of fabrics! I know its only 40 years ago but customers were often surprised that I would carry out both tasks!
So, our portfolio was built up to provide our service to contractors and shops and this work was mainly in and around the home counties. we had our occasional travels, such as 120 homes in Bourges, France when Boeing committed 120 engineers to the AWACS spyplane for the French government, 150 windows on an overnight ferryboat, berthed in the harbour in Gibraltar and two floors at the Dusseldorf Hilton. We specialised in anything curtain and blind related and if someone wanted something different, we were happy to do it. Like the time we made 10 metre tall curtains outside in Leicester Square, on scaffolding, to announce a blockbuster James Bond film at The Odeon Cinema.
Many contracts followed, including blind fitting for John Lewis, Oxford Street, complete fit outs for new build properties for builders like Wimpy and Persimmon, many hotels including Hilton Park Lane, not to mention uncountable hospitals and schools, theatres and offices, whilst still maintaining our own domestic market. Vans were dispatched to various destinations every day.
In 2005, Tom decided that he liked the idea of taking over the business, so he joined as a fitter, training with his dad and we had a great time working together. In 2007 I was lucky enough to be able to take early retirement and Tom’s two year ‘apprenticeship’ was just the start of his technical knowledge of our trade, but I feel that his skill, attention to detail and customer care is now second to none.I still enjoy my occasional venture back into the trade if Tom needs any help or advice and we still sometimes hear from a customer ‘from the old days.
Written by Mike Pearce
Late Founder of CTS London Ltd
