1980s
In 1989, at a time of intense change in the UK market, a small but ambitious leadership team staged a management buy-out with the aim of making Stoves Ltd “a world class player” in the arena of gas cooking. The team reinvested in the Rainhill factory and the company re-engineered and strengthened its range using the latest advanced market research techniques. The Stoves MD at the time said: “Back in the 1920s and 1930s, cookers were built to last. They were simple, sturdily built and reliable. They are the values we want to promote.”
Noughties The new millennium
saw Stoves achieve its eleventh year of record growth. Its success attracted the interest of electrical manufacturing giant, Glen Dimplex, which went on to acquire the brand before the end of 2000. Stoves remains part of the Glen Dimplex Home Appliances family to this day, alongside other leading brands Belling, New World, Britannia and Lec. Innovation continued apace under GDHA, with the
Today
While some brands come and go, Stoves has stood the test of time, remaining at the forefront of the domestic appliances market, at home and overseas. Stoves’ innovative, well-made products are sold across the world and recent investment in its UK manufacturing base will ensure that the brand remains a consumer favourite for years to come.
(Stoves ambassador, celebrity chef Brian Turner)
(The Rainhill factory in the 1980s) 1980s 1990s 1990s
In 1993 Stoves opened its own school to train engineering apprentices and re-train long term unemployed. Its innovative and beautifully designed products took pride of place in the UK’s leading department stores, including John Lewis and Selfridges, and the company began to export. While other brands were fl oundering and moving operations abroad, Stoves’ success lay in its innovative approach to manufacturing, marketing and working practices. It was described by Ray Taylor, then editor of ERT, as ‘quite radical’. A £10m investment in the Rainhill factory led to an innovative new system where employees worked in small groups on individual products, rather than batch production – an approach that continues today.
Flamboyant celebrity chef Keith Floyd (right) was made brand ambassador and regularly cooked and fi lmed on the factory fl oor.
At the end of the ’90s the unique, high-spec Rotostar collection of built-in gas ovens incorporating a breakthrough burner technology which spun rapidly inside a circulating fan, was introduced, winning acclaim as the only built-in oven of its type on the market. Stoves acquired New World in the late ‘90s,
renaming itself the Stoves Group, and continued to grow and innovate in the growing Range cooker sector. The Stoves 1200 Dfa range cooker was launched and quickly became the market leader, with HRH Prince Charles awarding it his personal Prince of Wales Medal for Industrial Design.
introduction of the ground-breaking Stoves Genus, which used a combination of fanned and microwave cooking technology to cook food four times faster. With the fi nancial backing of GDHA behind it, Stoves was able to return much of its manufacturing back to the UK and launched a successful nationwide campaign for a Made in Britain marque to help UK consumers identify British made products.
Noughties 2010s
2010s Stoves products now
included Range cookers, built-in ovens and hobs, freestanding cookers, hoods and splashbacks, as well as complementary
integrated appliances such as dishwashers and wine coolers. Always focused on improvement, parent company GDHA invested £1.5m into its newest, British-made Stoves range cookers, ensuring the introduction of new added-value features, including one-piece, tempered uni-cast steel frames on all range cookers; elevated pan supports; pro-trac double extension telescopic sliders; advanced touch-slide induction precision control knobs and one-piece hotplates made from catering-grade stainless steel. In addition, Stoves also lead the way in range cooker innovation once
again, introducing the fi rst range cooker with Bluetooth connectivity, adding the supersized ‘Titan’ oven with unrivalled 91 litre capacity to all 90cm models, and unveiling the Quad Oven and Profl ex Cavity Splitter, which converts the 90cm Stoves range cooker from three to four oven capacity.
The Mayor of Knowsley launches Centenary celebrations Today
Stoves cookery theatre at regional food festivals
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