TR Hayes, which has been in the heart of Bath for 110 years, offers inspiration within its extensive showrooms for creating beautiful interiors. Its rich history and family-run ethos spoil Bathonians with a curated selection of products to spark creativity and transform spaces. Emma Clegg meets the founder’s great grandson, Managing Director Richard Hayes.
TR Hayes in Walcot Street is a Bath institution. This extensive store specialising in sofas, beds, furniture, curtains and blinds is an invaluable resource for Bathonians, introducing them to a varied vocabulary of products to use for the creation of interior dreams. This longstanding local business arrived in Bath in 1915, 110 years ago, and has been run ever since by the Hayes family. That’s certainly cause for celebration. Managing Director Richard Hayes explains how it all came about.
“My great grandfather, Thomas Richard Hayes, started the business. From the 1850s our family were chair-makers in Bethnal Green, London and in 1915 the factory got bombed in a WW1 Zeppelin raid. We then decided to relocate the factory to Bath, initially in Widcombe, where one of the business’s principal customers, Bath Cabinet Makers, were based. As the craft of chair-making died away during the 1920s and 30s, the business evolved into a furniture shop.”
The business moved to the top of Walcot Street in 1927, originally occupying just one unit, which was formerly The Three Crowns public house. After the war, TR Hayes extended their services to include furniture removals. Over the years the Hayes family acquired neighbouring premises expanding the business sideways, upwards and backwards. The main store now features seven floors of furniture, a curtain and blind department and offices. As a result, the shopfronts don’t fully reveal the extensive showrooms inside, which always surprises and impresses first-time visitors. Opposite the main store is TR Hayes’ smart contemporary showroom. This building – which in the 1950s was the car showroom that launched the Mini in Bath – was re-built 10 years ago under the direction of Richard’s father Derek, and offers a further two floors of exceptional contemporary furniture.
We like to include plenty of variation, including quality mainstream choices as well as design classics and products with a colour presence
That’s a significant footprint and a substantial offering. Positioned on Walcot Street in the heart of Bath’s Artisan Quarter, the store is also surrounded by small, thriving independent businesses, ranging from Bath Aqua Glass to the Pencil Tree Gallery. “Walcot Street is a unique shopping area. It’s the polar opposite of SouthGate, which is populated with global brands. This area embraces the other, more intimate and charming side of Bath, with industrious, creative businesses providing a personal experience for its shoppers”, says Richard.
Other furniture stores come and go, but TR Hayes has been a constant and dynamic presence in the city, allowing residents to buy locally and conveniently. Notwithstanding its large space – or perhaps because of it – the offering at TR Hayes packs an independent punch just as much as its neighbours, with every aspect of the displays planned and presented with the utmost care. “As you walk around you will find many rooms of sofa displays with brands such as Parker Knoll, G Plan and Tetrad on display, along with ViSpring beds. Among these displays are all sorts of occasional pieces, which really help to finish a room. We are particularly proud to be key stockists of Ercol, an iconic British brand which needs no introduction, and can be found at the rear of the ground floor”, says Richard.
There is constant reinvestment in the building and in the displays, to help inspire customers with ideas for laying out pieces in their own homes. “We are not like other furniture shops that just line things up and put a price label on them. We want the price to be right, but we also want all our products to look good in the space and to give customers the opportunity to stand back and have a careful look. When you have a display crammed with products, there is so much to take in that you lose the impact. It’s not like commercial brands where the actual range of product is quite shallow. We like to put in dividers, and theme products within a certain room. We like to include plenty of variation, including quality mainstream choices as well as design classics and products with a colour presence, with layouts designed to help people imagine what it would be like to have individual pieces in their own room.”
TR Hayes has recently launched a new website, so the products are easily accessible online for viewing and for making price comparisons. Richard recognises that the business has to be competitive with the whole country, not just local retailers – although for the latter there are none with the substantial showrooms of TR Hayes. “Our prices have got to be competitive with everyone, including the online retailers, so we’re not expensive.”
Walking around the store with Richard, it is impressive how connected he is to the showrooms and to the comings and goings of both customers and staff. He picks up on a missing price label and engages constantly with the activities happening throughout the store “There are not many businesses of this size where the managing director will come and serve you, and has such a thorough product knowledge – it is very unique”, says Commercial Director Garry Preston.
TR Hayes has over 250 suppliers on their database, and every part of the store sees a constant shifting of products to keep them fresh and engaging. Richard and Garry attend various major furniture shows and the advantage of their experience means that there is a track record of sales to draw from when evaluating new choices. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no room for speculative choices. “One of the benefits of having a family business”, continues Garry, “is that we are able to experiment with modern, statement looks and pieces – these may or may not sell, but we want to extend the customer experience in store. Will we sell a lot of them? Will it earn its place? Well, sometimes that comes secondary to offering the customer that ‘Wow! I’ve never seen that anywhere else’ reaction.”
When it comes to service, the approach is solicitous but relaxed. “I’m always conscious of the need to engage with people, and give them an introduction. If they are looking for something specific we’ll show them, if they just want to browse we’ll give them an overview. But we are never pushy. The furniture industry has a very bad rap for sales teams being too pushy and that is not our ethos”, says Richard firmly.
Most of all, this local company has provided employment for locals throughout its time in Bath: “All the history of the last 110 years is here,” declares Richard. “We have employed up to 1000 people over the time we’ve been in business, and have got to know thousands of customers, many of whom have become personal friends.”
Every part of the store sees a constant shifting of products to keep them
fresh and engaging
It seems the future of the business may be inherited by a fifth generation because Richard has three boys. “My great grandfather came here with his family in his thirties and spent most of his working life here; my grandfather worked all his working life here; my father started working at 15 and clocked up 69 years. I have been here for for 32 years. With my three boys, there is a strong probability that the next generation will be ready to take this on.”
Richard is invested in the future and his business values continue to be based on offering something for everybody with fair prices and high-quality personal service. “We are here for the long haul – not to make a lot of money and disappear with bad reviews in three years time. We take it to heart if things go wrong and we have exceptionally good online reviews and that’s really important to us. We have a big, experiential store that you can walk around and browse at your leisure. And we will continue, as we always have, to reinvent the business.”
TR Hayes, 15-18 London Street, Walcot, Bath BA1 5BX
Tel: 01225 465757; trhayes.co.uk