West Sussex, UK - It is always handy to be fairly nimble in a recession especially if there is a shift from new flooring to reclaimed, and from maple strip to pine floorboards, which has been the personal experience in this recession of Nikki Ashcroft, of Ashcroft Reclaimed Flooring in West Sussex, who deals in both new and old wooden floors.

"Before the recession began," she said, "new flooring had taken off big time, probably because there were so many newbuilds and they tend to put in new flooring. Now the situation is reversed, and most customers seem to be renovating older properties using old pine floorboards. You have to keep on top of the trends - a few years ago maple was all the rage and our main seller, but now it's totally out of fashion.

"We have regular suppliers of original reclaimed boards, not resawn, so supply is not usually a problem although we can get caught short if a customer needs a very large batch of identical boards from the same source. We may then go hunting for a big supplier."

Ashcroft Reclaimed Flooring is a small family-run business, and Nikki is careful to provide good and friendly customer service, no matter how small the quantity. In the old days customers put up with a take it or leave attitude from dealers, but times have changed and now customers need looking after or they will vote with their feet.

Nikki Ashcroft is one of a small number of UK women involved in family-run salvage and reclaimed flooring businesses including the likes of George and Jeanine Tutt (father and daughter) of Essex, Stephanie and Scarlett Harris (mother and daughter) of Wales and Gloucestershire, Fiona and Nick Gordon of Lancashire, Sandra Spearing of Somerset, Vicki Bale of Shropshire, and Jean and Shaun Powell (mother and son) of Shropshire. No doubt there are others which have been left out - if so please add the details in the 'comments' section below.

Contact Nikki Ashcroft on 01243 554769.

Ashcroft Reclaimed Flooring

Story Type:  News

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