Clothing firm Buxton Pickles Limited moves HQ to Ilkley (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Clothing firm Buxton Pickles Limited moves HQ to Ilkley

9:00am Thursday 31st May 2012 in Ilkley

A multi-million pound clothing firm supplying tailoring to big high street names is relocating from Salts Mill in Saltaire to new headquarters in Ilkley.

Buxton Pickles Limited, which designs and manufactures premium women’s clothes for retailers such as Next, Hobbs, French Connection, Whistles and Jaeger, will move to Bolling Road, Ben Rhydding, in mid-June.

Despite national concerns about a double-dip recession, the company is expecting to see a 30 per cent increase on 2011 and break the £10million mark.

Buxton Pickles’ design operation will be done from the premises, with manufacturing being done by partners elsewhere, including companies overseas.

The office will also be the headquarters for Norton & Townsend, the bespoke tailoring arm of the business – which counts Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay among its clients.

The company employs 37 people in total, ten of whom will be relocating from Salts Mill.

Business owner and Ilkley resident, Austen Pickles, said Ilkley was the “natural choice”.

He said: “I have loved our time at the mill, but we are much stronger now and need offices of our own. Ilkley was the natural choice for many reasons.

“Five of our team live in the town so it’s an easy commute for them. The rail and road network is less congested than the Aire Valley, which means it’s not hard for the rest of the team either. The building is better for our business too.”

Mr Pickles paid tribute to his staff for helping the business grow through tough economic conditions.

Buxton Pickles found trading difficult in 2008 to 2009, but avoided redundancies, with some staff reducing their hours and others taking a pay cut.

Norton & Townsend has a shop and showroom in Spitalfields, London, and tailors across the UK, but Yorkshire-born-and-bred Mr Pickles said the head office had to remain in Yorkshire, the heart of British textiles.