The English Sofa Company: Salford & Blackburn maker profile

In brief. The English Sofa Company is a trading name of Forest Sofa Ltd, making sofas by hand in purpose-built workshops at Ford Lane, Salford, and Furthergate, Blackburn; it says it has done so for more than 55 years. Frames are solid beech with a 15-year guarantee, cushions come in eight interiors from fibre to feather, and the range of more than a hundred sofas — Chesterfield, Art Deco, chaise, sofa bed, scatter-back and modular — is offered in over 150 fabrics and leathers, made to measure.

Making in the North West

55+ yearsthe company’s own figure

Workshops

Salford & Blackburnshowroom inside the Ford Lane factory

Frame

Solid beech15-year guarantee

Choice

150+ coverseight cushion interiors, made to measure

Trustpilot

4.61,056 reviews, seen 29 Oct 2026

Where the sofas are made

The English Sofa Company makes its furniture in two purpose-built workshops: at Newbury House on Ford Lane in Salford (M6 6PD), where its only showroom sits inside the production factory so that visitors can watch the upholsterers at work, and at Furthergate Industrial Park in Blackburn, Lancashire (BB1 3BY). The company says it has been crafting handmade sofas in the UK for more than 55 years, with its roots in Manchester and Lancashire, and that it sources materials from the UK where it can. It has its own design and development team. No founder or founding year is given on its site.

Like its sister brand, The English Sofa Company is a trading name of Forest Sofa Ltd, a private company incorporated on 5 July 2004, registered at Ford Lane and classified by Companies House as a furniture manufacturer. Forest Sofa is listed as a member of the British Furniture Manufacturers association.

How the sofas are built

Every frame is solid beech hardwood, and the company says the whole piece is handcrafted in its Manchester and Lancashire factories by experienced upholsterers. What distinguishes the English Sofa Company’s offer is the number of choices built into each design: eight cushion interiors — siliconised fibre as standard, double-wrap fibre, solo foam, domed foam, joined feather, feather-top, plain foam and hand-buttoned — explained on its site with their firmness and the plumping each needs; made-to-measure sizing; a choice of feet in several wood finishes; and more than 150 fabrics and leathers. On the Chesterfield designs the buttoning is done by hand, in the diamond pattern the Victorian page describes; the studded designs carry hand-applied studs on the arm fronts.

Leather is hand-cut from full hides, which the company says come from leading European tanneries; no tannery is named. The leather tiers are the same five the sister brand uses — Antique rub-off, the corrected full-grain Dune, and the Old Vintage, Premium and Timeless Aniline ranges — and the differences between them are explained on this site’s 2000s to today page.

The range, and what it descends from

This is the broader of the two ranges, and most of the forms traced on this site have a representative in it. There are more than a hundred sofas: hand-buttoned Chesterfields such as the St Dunstan; studded scroll-arm sofas in the Georgian line, such as the Arlington and Portland; a family of Art Deco club sofas, in leather and fabric, with matching corner and sofa-bed versions, which the Interwar page pairs with the 1930s originals; chaise longues that descend from the Regency Grecian couch; the Snowdon scatter-back, the heir of the 1980s pillow-back; the Newbury modular, sold by the module with bolt-on arms; and the Columbus on metal legs. Wing chairs, tub chairs, spoon-backs, dining chairs and footstools complete it. Bespoke work adapts the existing range — size, cover, feet, fillings — and the company will use a customer’s own fabric once it has checked it is suitable.

Guarantees, lead times and delivery

Frames are guaranteed for 15 years and covers for twelve months, with an optional five-year accidental-damage cover per seat. Made-to-order pieces are built in the Manchester workshop and delivered by the company’s own two-person team within ten working days of leaving production; stock items are delivered within fourteen days. UK mainland delivery is a flat charge, with extra charges for Scotland, Wales and offshore addresses; collection from the factory is possible. Non-bespoke items can be returned within fourteen days in as-new condition; bespoke pieces cannot be returned unless faulty.

What customers say

On Trustpilot the company holds a TrustScore of 4.6 (“Excellent”) from 1,056 reviews, 77 per cent five-star, on a profile claimed since 2014. Its Google listing shows 4.5 from 244 reviews, and Reviews.io shows 3.7 from 36 reviews. We found no named awards or independent press reviews; the claims about workshops, materials and years of trading above are the company’s own.