A family-run garden rooms company has opened a £500,000 showroom site on a former derelict farmyard on the Cheshire/North Wales border.
Rubicon Garden Rooms spent 18 months turning the old farm buildings on Old Hope Road, on the outskirts of Penyffordd, into its new headquarters. The site is a mile from Junction 36 of the A55.
Known as The Village, it has 10 fully furnished garden rooms showing the uses customers can choose, including home offices, gyms, entertainment spaces, music rooms and one or two-bedroom annexes.
The company reported a 25% rise in sales since moving from its former base at Deeside Enterprise Centre in Shotton.
Alyn and Deeside MP Sir Mark Tami and Fflint Wrecsam MS Ken Skates joined customers, suppliers and family members at the official opening.
Rubicon Garden Rooms was founded by former aircraft engineer John Lyon, who started out as a building contractor in 2006 before moving into the manufacture and installation of garden rooms in 2013. He now runs the business with his son, Rob, and a team of 25 staff serving customers across North Wales, Cheshire, Merseyside, the Wirral and Shropshire.
John said: “We are selling a lifestyle and the showroom means customers can come here, look at our range and imagine what one of our buildings will look like in their garden.”
He added: “You can look at garden rooms online and you will see a pretty picture, but unless you actually stand in it, walk around it, experience the quality of the buildings, it is very hard for people to visualise the end result.”
Rob said the celebration, where guests were treated to a pizza van, drinks and snacks, marked the completion of the former farmyard’s transformation.
He said: “Having the showroom makes such a big difference. Customers who have already been here have all been impressed by what they have seen and they particularly comment on the quality of the buildings we provide.”
Sir Mark, who had visited the company at Deeside Enterprise Centre, said: “I visited the business at its previous site, and this site is on a different scale.”
He added: “It is very important that companies like Rubicon Garden Rooms feel confident enough to invest in this area and create local jobs.”
Mr Skates, who visited the site in March while the showroom was being developed, said: “It is so important we see good companies like Rubicon grow and expand in North Wales.”
