Storage History

Even in the 1950’s traffic congestion was becoming a problem in Bury St. Edmunds, as Glasswells expanded the more evident it became that servicing shops and customers from warehouses scattered around the town was highly labour intensive.  More important still was the fact that supplies from manufacturers needed to be ordered in quantity to qualify for a discount and, to maintain store displays, sold products needed to be replaced immediately from stock.

The answer to the problem was to build a central warehouse, large enough to take care of all the company’s distribution and storage needs.  It turned out that Jerry Glass owned a piece of building land near the Tollgate Inn in Fornham Road, Bury.  It has cost just £300 in 1951 and although originally intended for a house for Leslie (Jerry’s son) and his family. The 1.1 acre site was large enough for a big warehouse and was easily accessible.  The family decided unanimously, business must come first.

Following local objections, consent was eventually won for a 10,000 sq ft warehouse and work began in 1955.  However, the steady growth of business at the time is illustrated by the fact that within 18 months of completion, it became necessary to extend the warehouse by a further 5,000 sq ft.  In fact, further additions were made until the mid 1960’s when storage space reached a maximum 30,000 sq ft.

Leslie Glasswell recollects, “The Tollgate warehouse was the jewel in our crown.  We were able to store customer’s purchases until they needed them, as well as maintain good stocks of furniture ready for quicker delivery of orders.”

Glasswells were now thinking big.  Able to buy ever larger quantities, they could negotiate bigger discounts from manufacturers – savings that could be passed onto the customers, making the firm highly competitive.  The large centralised warehouse also meant that every inch of space in the shops could be used for retail sales.  The warehouse had indeed become the hub of operations and in charge of this nerve centre in the early years was Frank Glasswell, who had been associated with his brother Jerry since the first shop opened in 1946.

With the continued success of the Bury St. Edmunds World of Furniture which opened in 1992, and the new business generated by the newer Martlesham Heath World of Furniture, along with hour further high street stores in the region, by the late 1990’s the Tollgate Warehouse was bursting at the seams.

The decision was taken to build a new £1.5 million storage facility on a 4.5 acres site at the Suffolk Business Park at Moreton Hall in Bury St. Edmunds.  The 40,000 sq ft warehouse would have the potential to expand to over 60,000 sq ft.  It would replace the old Fornham Road warehouse.

The new building would enable Glasswells to maintain higher stock levels, so cutting delivery times.  Stock handling became more efficient with the purpose built facilities, and enabled the firm to further expand the removals department and offer greater storage facilities.  The location also had the benefit of easy access to the A14 from where they could service the whole East Anglia region.

Building work was completed by the autumn and the new warehouse facility was opened on 14th December 1999.  However, in the true traditional of Glasswells continual expansion, it was not long before an extension was added and a further 20,000 sq ft was opened in November 2002.

The extended warehouse has allows the expansion of the removals department which now offers a nationwide and overseas service.  A wide range of domestic household storage facilities are available including the popular ‘U-Store’ low cost easy access facility.

Business and commercial warehousing is also available with companies of all sizes making use of the highly secure premises.