Ideal Furniture Ltd was established in 1957 our founder Joe Spicer originally worked for a sprayers and painters.
Joe decided to go into business with a friend and his brother-in-law manufacturing furniture, their first location was Stanford Hill where they rented a basement in a tenant’s house as their workshop. Working 20 hour days until 2am in the morning to keep up with the orders, at which time they were selling table & chair sets for £3 a set. Due to late nights & long days the tenants gave Joe and his colleagues notice that they had to relocate. This was not a problem as they were receiving orders of 100 sets a week from just one large cabinet makers alone as well as their other clients . Relocating was a good idea as they required more space to keep up with the demand. That’s when they moved to Cable Street in Stepney where they continued their high volume of work. After 3 years Ideal Furniture then relocated again to The Highway, Stepney.
At this time Ideal Furniture had made their mark in the Furniture Industry, more and more orders were flying in at a fast pace. They then decided to relocate to a larger property in Rufus Street, business carried on as usual, demand was high and furniture was selling fast.
One Monday morning they set out to work for a normal day in Rufus Street when they arrived at the factory, there had been a fire, the Hardware Shop next door had caught on fire early hours that morning which destroyed Ideal’s factory, Ideal Furniture were then forced to move again, this time they relocated to the North of England, to County Durham, just north of Darlington where they expanded further by now renting 2 factory warehouses. Ideal Furniture were comfortable for the next 5 years, while based in County Durham, Ideal Furniture did their bit for the Community each day prisoners from the Darlington Prison would on day release work in Ideal’s factory. This was part of a scheme Darlington prison had created to get prisoners used to working for a better life when they had finished their sentences. Joe recalled, “The prisoners were hard workers; they used to enjoy working for us because we were firm but fair”. The governor from the prison actually got in contact with Joe to ask what their daily tasks were and whether the prisoners actually done any work as all the cons were requesting to work for Ideal Furniture every week. 
Joe insisted to the governor of the prison that they all worked very hard and how he was impressed with the hard work each of them put in every day.
Following the 5 exciting years in County Durham, Joe and his colleagues decided to move back down to London. They went back to Rufus Street for a few years until they found a suitable property for them to expand even further.
In 1975 they found the location at Hancock Road in Bow where Ideal Furniture still to this day produces quality, low budget furniture for retailers across London. Since being at Hancock Road Ideal Furniture has grown over the years, along with the stock.
From building bedroom furniture they now stock and sell, appliances, dining sets, beds, mattresses and occasional furniture such as TV stands, coffee tables and much more. Furniture is imported from all around the World to deliver their customers the right product for the right price.
A look at the old price list.
