Furniture suppliers battle for Manor Oak custom following demise of Olde Court

19th November 2009 | cabinet | Three different furniture suppliers are selling the Manor Oak furniture range to UK retail stockists - all of which say they have an exclusive agreement to supply the range from the Polish factory that makes it.

Two of them - Acourt Design and Bower House Design - are owned separately by the founding partners of Olde Court Furniture, the prior supplier of Manor Oak, while a third, Kristensen & Kristensen, is selling the same product but under a new brand - Mansion Oak.

Manor Oak is thought to have had about 200 retail stockists in the UK, one of which told the Furnishing Report that - 'he had lost the will to live with it all' - following the confusion of trying to understand which company was supplying what.

Olde Court Furniture was co-owned by Michael Courtney and Andrew Bower, who went their separate ways when the company ceased trading. Bower's new company, Bower House Design, is based in Hertfordshire while Acourt Design, owned by Michael Courtney, is based on the former Olde Court Furniture site in London.

Kristensen & Kristensen, a Danish company, is a preferred supplier to both of the two leading UK buying groups, Minerva and Associated Independent Stores.

The Furnishing Report has spoken at length with representatives from all three companies - all of whom say that the Polish furniture manufacturer has agreed to supply them exclusively. All conceded, however, that it was possible that the Polish firm was actually supplying all three.

Understandably, none would name the Polish furniture manufacturer.