BATH COMPANY TAPS INTO OBJECTIVE ONE FUNDING

David Lewis with Peter Casey, managing director of SWIG

A man who returned home to Cornwall last year is already seeing national success with his new bath making business, thanks to help from an Objective One fund.

The Public Bath Company was established by David Lewis and wife Karen when they returned to Cornwall intent on running their own company based on David’s skill as a bath designer and pattern maker.

Along with operations manager, John Thomas and Bob Williams, David makes baths based on traditional designs from a mixture of fibre glass and acrylic.

And already they have secured a large contract with a distributor, meaning their carefully crafted baths can now be seen in stores around the country.

The early success means that they have started developing their own range of baths – and expansion is on the cards already, along with the possibility that more local jobs will be created.

David, who has just returned to St Just with his wife Karen and son Jowan, said a turnaround in Cornwall’s fortunes and a returning pride in Cornwall had partly attracted them back from up country.

He continued: “I’ve always worked with fibre glass and previously worked with a company making free standing baths – and I brought the idea back down with me.”

Since setting up the business and much of the manufacturing machinery themselves the two men carry out the entire process from their unit on the Marsh Lane Industrial Estate in Hayle.

It’s also their intention to keep the operation as local as possible – and are keen to contribute to the regional economy by recruiting staff locally. The aim is to offer employees the chance to gain a trade for life by providing full training in all areas of the business.

“We’re going to try and make as many as we can handle – and we’re hoping to have a go with the European market,” says David, who is originally from the Midlands but moved to the county in the sixties, and worked as a fisherman and craftsman building surf canoes.

Mr Lewis recognises that setting up the business would not have been possible without Objective One finance through South West Investment Group. The Public Bath Company is just one of 150 Cornish businesses assisted by the Group since May 2001.

Peter Casey, Managing Director of South West Investment Group said: “Our funds are unusual in that we are able to judge a business on its merits rather than its collateral. We can therefore support proposals that fall outside the lending criteria of conventional institutions, which allows us to help small companies with sound prospects but limited, or no, track record. The successful launch of the Public Bath Company shows that the help needed by growing manufacturing businesses in the county is clearly available.”

The Public Bath Company can be contacted on 01736 754417.