Furniture Retailer Mulls Opening Large Store on High Road
Loaf draws up plans for unit recently abandoned by e-bike retailer
A visualisation of the planned new store from the planning application
January 28, 2024
A large vacant unit on Chiswick High Road could be getting a new tenant with a furniture retailer considering opening a branch there.
The former Sofa Workshop premises at 147 Chiswick High Road, next to the Packhorse and Talbot, is the subject of two related planning applications by Loaf.
Loaf is a small chain of furniture stores with branches in Leeds, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Battersea which it describes as ‘Loaf Shacks’. It manufactures its furniture in a factory in Derbyshire.
It was founded in 2008 by Charlie Marshall, originally as The Sleep Room with a focus on beds but eventually switched to primarily selling sofas and armchairs. In 2014 founder of Monsoon & Accessorize took a substantial stake in the company.
It is seeking permission to make alternations to the existing shopfront with new signs and install new double doors as well as put up illuminated signs. The applications include computer visualisations of what the new store would look like.
When we asked the company for comment, it indicated that the launch of the new store had yet to be finally decided. A spokesperson said, “This is one of many sites we've recently been looking at for a new location, but we haven't confirmed anything just yet. “
The 350.23 square metre unit was the long-time home of the Sofa Workshop. The company got into financial trouble in 2020 and closed briefly before being rebranded Sofa Workshop by Timothy Oulton after a takeover by the Halo group. However, by March 2022 all but one of the outlets in this group were closed including the Chiswick showroom.
147 Chiswick High Road as it is currently
The premises remained vacant for some time before being taken over by e-bike retailer Fully Charged in May 2023. A few months later it was opening weekends only and then announced closure saying it had always been the intention to operate the Chiswick branch as a ‘pop-up’.
At the time, the unit, which has a 61-foot frontage onto the High Road was being advertised for £150,000 per annum.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |