Harrison Drury advises Bill Beaumont Textiles on new premises

Harrison Drury has advised former England rugby captain Bill Beaumont on his company’s lease of new commercial premises in Chorley and the sale of its historic former home.

Bill Beaumont Textiles Ltd has moved out of Park Mills in Deighton Road to a modern warehousing and distribution unit on Chorley North Business Park.

The company has secured Units 3 and 4 at Chorley North giving it over 3,200 Sq M (34,700 sq ft) of space.

The family business goes back five generations to 1888 when Joseph Blackledge set up a small weaving shed in Chorley to supply niche products to local cotton markets.

Today it specialises in supplying household textiles with a particular focus on high-end curtains and upholstery fabrics. Its customers include the retailer John Lewis.

The Park Mills site, built in the early 1900s, was no longer suited to the company’s requirements and it will benefit from modern facilities and improved transport links at Chorley North.

Bill Beaumont Textiles Ltd was advised on the sale of the Park Mills site and the leasing of the new units at Chorley North by the property team at Harrison Drury Solicitors.

John Chesworth, managing partner of Harrison Drury (pictured above with Bill), said: “This move sees a business of historical importance and economic significance staying in Chorley. The move will allow the company to grow the business further from modern premises with excellent access to the motorway network. The sale of the Park Mills site will also allow the area to benefit from new family homes.”

Bill Beaumont, managing director of Bill Beaumont Textiles Ltd, said: “It has been clear for some time now that to continue growing the business profitably, we would one day have to move from Park Mills. Having such long associations with Chorley it was important to us that jobs stayed in the town and so we are delighted with our move to Chorley North Business Park, which provides us with a property that will keep the business running efficiently.”

The 3.5 acre Park Mills site has been sold to Newfield Construction Ltd for an undisclosed sum. The site has planning permission for housing and the company intends to build 63 new homes there.

Bill Beaumont is the great-great grandson of Joseph Blackledge. He joined the firm, where his father was also sales director, straight from school.

Bill bought the business from the family in 1998 and, recognising the decline in UK and European clothing manufacturing, took the company in a different direction and established Bill Beaumont Textiles, devoting all its expertise to furnishing fabrics.

Bill’s wife Hilary now oversees the purchase and development of all of the firm’s fabric designs, while eldest son Daniel is involved in the day-to-day running of the business and is the sixth generation of the family to work in the firm. Bill’s middle son Sam, captain of Fylde Rugby Club, is also running a marquee hire business from the new site at Chorley North.