Marlesford: The old mill building that’s going with the grain

But the departure of their younger child to university prompted them to re-think the way they ran their operation.

The home of their business, Marlesford Mill, is an impressive 10,000sq ft three-storey ex-grain mill beside the River Ore. It is one of a scattering of agricultural-industrial buildings and lies near to a highly successful farm cafe in an otherwise quiet (if you ignore the road) village on the A12.

“We don’t know exactly when it stopped being a mill but we think the 60s. There were grain stores which were only taken down in the late 60s,” says Lesley. “The river was diverted under there to turn the mill.”

It is, says John and Lesley, in the heart of a catchment which includes some very wealthy people who enjoy a low profile in this quiet part of Suffolk close to the coast.

The hard-working couple bought the 1900s building, which was being used for storage, in 1988, and initially set up a furniture making business there while they ran an antiques shop in Woodbridge.

The inside was dark, brown, and “cobwebby” when they moved in, Lesley recalls.

John started manufacturing at Marlesford in 1989. At one time, at the high point of their export sales to America, the couple had around a dozen employees working on the furniture making side. Now there are just two across the site.

Aftering marrying John, Lesley was given a baptism of fire into the industry. She was sent off to auction houses Christies and Sothebys and would sit through sales as she learnt the ropes.

The couple met in London. John, then aged 32, was a third generation antiques dealer from Westbourne Grove near Portobello Road.

Lesley was 30 and was working in a health club in Notting Hill, opposite John’s shop. They met by chance and hit it off. In 1988, they married, and shortly afterwards, decided to seek out a new life in the country.

John, aged 56, and Lesley, 55, have weathered many of the ups and downs of the antiques trade and the furniture business but, through the need to adapt, have now carved themselves a niche as a craft furnishings and antiques centre for the area.

In 1990, they had a son, Jonathan, and three years later the birth of their daughter, Sarah, coincided with the closure of the American airbase.

Its departure took its toll on many businesses in the areas, including theirs. Overnight, the Balls lost a large chunk of their trade. They decided to move the antiques business to Marlesford and consolidate. That was when they made the decision to open the mill up to the public and turn the furniture making side, which previously dealt with trade only, into a retail operation.

John, a keen sailor who has competed at a high level, decided to get into furniture-making after he was let down by a supplier over some furniture which he thought was being made exclusively for him.

“I thought the only thing to do is to manufacture it for myself. I had a sailing racing background so I analyse things so much. Furniture was just breaking things down, so I knew how to do that through my father,” he says.

“I think the problem with manufacturing is it’s very complicated. There are so many factors that come together to make it.”

He greatly admires the furniture makers of the eighteenth century and how they would follow through with grain and colour and patina. His knowledge of antiques combined with furniture making has given him a deep appreciation of their workmanship.

“I think tables should be magical and if they are, the client sells them easily,” he says.

“I buy the best quality I can and I will look at the yield I can get from that. Most other manufacturers will worry how much that timber is in its cubic form price. I know the price is important but it’s not really.

“That’s one of the problems we had earlier - we were not getting the yield. I followed what everyone told me to do and with so much timber flying out it’s hard to keep in control of your business.”

He learnt the hard way how to get the most of out the wood he had, but undoubtedly, says Lesley, they have wasted money over the years by not manufacturing in the optimum way.

The furniture-making business has shrunk from its high point in the 90s when business across Europe was booming. Around 1993, there was a big downturn on the Continent as the emergence of cheaper-made goods from countries like Rumania and China started to make an impact.

“If we go back 15 years, 80/90% was export. Now I doubt it’s 25%,” says John.

“I have manufactured myself in Rumania but unfortunately they move the posts when you are there,” he adds.

“I went to a factory and got them to make these tables that I was exporting to the States because of the price difference about eight years ago.”

He tried it out for about two years, but various problems with the quality of the workmanship caused him to reassess his decision, and he brought all his manufacturing back to the UK.

When their children grew up - they are now aged 22 and 18 - the couple decided to reassess the business.

Their antiques operation had spread over a large area of floor space in the mill, and they saw an opportunity to let other dealers in, all with their own distinct styles. John and Lesley would be their proxy, and in return, the tenants would pay a set rent. It was a simple formula which hit the right note.

As Sarah headed off to university, they put their plan into action.

“We felt it was time to change direction,” explains Lesley.

“We shut the door on our business on September 30, 2011. We brought Abbotts auctions in to have a no reserve sale. It was 450 lots. It was huge, and once the building was clear, we started cleaning it, painting it, doing some electricity work, making the roof sound and five weeks later, on December 3, we re-opened.

“At the end of the auction we didn’t know if anyone was going to take stands. Then suddenly in the interim between the auction and reopening, people were just queuing to go in. We gave them the last week in November to set their stands up and on Saturday, December 3, we reopened and it worked, which was pretty scary really.

Around fifty-six five litre cans of white paint and a lot of hard work later, they have been busy transforming the mill into an antiques retail centre floor by floor.

They now have about two dozen dealers, a diverse mix from artists to interior designers to retro furniture and their own bespoke stuff furniture.

“We have got more than enough. It’s nothing short of a miracle. Ever since we have been here everyone has wanted to come in. At first we didn’t want to do that - we were so busy with manufacturing,” says Lesley.

They still retain an area on the ground floor for their own antiques business, but the different traders’ styles appear to work well together.

“We are selling their goods and they just pay us rent. We don’t charge them commission which makes it very straightforward. They are a lovely bunch of people,” adds Lesley.

The furniture making operation, with John at the helm, continues. It makes tables, chests of drawers, cabinets, chairs and other items to order.

The business still exports, but the export market is much reduced from its heyday. Most of what is exported goes to America to customers they have worked with for many years.

The furniture is made from a variety of woods, mainly reclaimed pine, cherry and oak, and they can copy designs or make to order. Their work includes furniture for pub or restaurant refurbishments

They don’t have a catalogue but if customers give them a rough idea of what they want, they will tweak designs and adapt it to their requirements.

John still shows remarkable energy, painting the mill, and, in his spare time renovating an old cottage at the front of the site which the couple have bought and moved into.

The transformation of the mill has been a huge undertaking, and one which, at the height of their manufacturing, they never had time to look at.

Shifting the business and de-stocking has enabled them to reassess.

“There was never any time. The problem with manufacturing it eats your time,” says John.

“Now we can be more selective about what we buy.”

The business will soon have a resident upholsterer in the mill, helping to fulfil the couple’s dream of creating a furniture ‘one-stop shop’.

“It’s stabilised the cash flow. We know there’s a regular amount of money coming in from the rentals. Previously, we might get six or seven people a day.

“Now we might get 60, 80 or 100 people. a day and perhaps 30 of them might buy something,” says Lesley.

“The auction was a big, brave move, but it worked.”