Silentnight is one of the best known brands in the country and has a long and rich history dating back to just after the end of the Second World War.
Headquartered in Lancashire, the manufacturer has had its fair share of ups and downs over the last 70 or so years.
The business recently hit the headlines regarding its acquisition by a US private equity firm in 2011.
But how much do you know about Silentnight?
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History
The company was established by Tom and Joan Clarke in 1946 in the North Yorkshire town of Skipton and was then known as Clarke's Mattresses Ltd'.
Its operations relocated to Barnoldswick in Lancashire in 1949 while its name changed in 1951 to Silentnight.
The business moved to its current premises ten years later and it extended its showroom in Salterforth in 1979.
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For 18 months between 1985 and 1987, Silentnight faced the longest strike action against one company in Britain, which took place over 616 days.
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Workers from two of the Silentnight factories at the time Barnoldswick and Sutton-in-Craven, went on strike due to an increased demand by management upon production scales.
Eight weeks later, 52 members of staff were made redundant and a total of 346 workers were sacked as a result of the strike.
Founder Tom Clarke was the company's chief executive at the time of the strike and was a supporter of the Conservative Party and friend of Margaret Thatcher, who gave him the nickname of 'Mr Wonderful'.
Silentnight refreshed its branding in the 1990s and 2000s including contemporary illustrations of its Hippo and Duck mascots.
The company was acquired out of administration by US private equity firm HIG Europe in May 2011.
Ownership
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Silentnight floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1973 but smaller shareholders were bought out by the Clarke family and taken private in 2003.
The business collapsed under the weight of its pension commitments and went into administration before its rescue by HIG Europe in 2011.
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HIG Europe spent £19m to acquire the company but shelved some of the pension scheme rights for retired and current workers.
The pensions regulator served notice in 2013 that it would start legal proceedings to reverse this process and force HIG to re-invest £17.2m back into the company's pension pot.
Silentnight's current operations
The company's current brands include:
- Silentnight
- Rest Assured
- Studio by Silentnight
- Layezee
- Pocket Spring Bed Company
It also has three locations across the North West of England with its headquarters at Long Ing Business Park in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, and a digital office in Quay Street, Manchester.
The group's Sealy 海角视频 is also based in Aspatria, Cumbria.
The boardroom
Silentnight's current chief executive is Neil Anderson who has been in the post since June 2019.
He joined the company from his role as chief commercial office at Barrow & Ball in Dorset.
Alex Cran is the group's finance director, having first been hired in January 2014.
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Carl Sandberg serves on the board as a representative of owner HIG Capital.
The company's chairman Adrian Fawcett resigned from his position at end of April 2021.