A BRADFORD carpeting and flooring business has been commissioned to work on some of England’s finest country home estates.

Family firm Winder Carpets has added the Chatsworth House Estate and Harewood House to its VIP client list.

Fitters working for the Five Lane Ends-based firm will also be starting work at the Michelin Star Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley in the New Year.

But director Paul Winder, who runs the family business with his cousin Leon Winder, says aristocrats and Joe Bloggs all get the same service sticking to straight forward Yorkshire service and values.

“Whether it’s a stately home or Mr and Mrs Smith’s family home, it’s all the same fitters and it’s the same straight forward Yorkshire service and values that everyone gets. After all, the money all goes in the same pot at the end of the day. The majority of our work is still the public,” he said.

Winder Carpets got the Harewood House contract on recommendation from the Chatsworth estate who own the Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey.

Fitters worked through the night to re-carpet some of the hotel’s public areas while guests slept - Paul organised the weaving of a custom design for the project, tweaking an original pattern to bring it more up-to-date.

More recently the firm has laid natural flooring in rooms at Harewood House used by workers for the Harewood House Trust.

It is hoped there will be more work to come soon, fitting floor coverings in some of the stately home’s private apartments away from public view.

“That came about because of our work for Chatsworth. It’s our reputation that gets us places. Business is good, we are doing very well. Whether we do a job for £25 or £25,000 it’s all the same to us. Whether its £5 a metre or £80, it’s the same fitters we get on the job.”

Winder employs about 16 stall full-time with an army of other fitters that can be called on from around the country depending on the job’s location.

Fitting out 32 apartments in Liverpool just opposite the Liver Building and another contract to fit a crescent of new homes in York also feature among its booming profile oput of the district.

Winder Carpets was started by Paul’s father John in 1963 in Idle Village back in the days when carpet only came in 275 inch widths only.

“The strips had to be sewn together to get the right fit and a lot of it was done by hand. My dad had about seven women working for him. I can remember it well,” said Paul who joined the business after leaving school in 1985 although many a previous school holiday was spent working alongside his dad.