Furniture Components

Hampshire-based family-run business Ernest Smith has been trading for over 25 years making bespoke fitted and stand-alone furniture for bedrooms, living rooms, offices and more. Priding themselves on helping to make their customers’ dreams a reality, they offer complete consultation, design and installation services.

The company is named after the owner, Kevin’s, Grandfather, who’s traditional values were fundamental to the running of the family business, inspiring Kevin to take this career path. Ernest Smith aim to combine modern ideas with traditional values. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Ernest Smith, like many other businesses, has experienced challenging times, as owner Kevin confirms: “Due to the pandemic, we knew our manufacturing business would struggle as we could no longer enter customers’ houses to survey or fit the furniture. We had to think outside the box and adapt using the internet, and that’s when Pocket Plugs became important. My son Jason and I use Pocket Plugs on a daily basis to fill holes in the wood left by a pocket-hole jig. When we could no longer source them in the UK, my wife Helen went on a mission to find a way around this. “We are constantly trying to find local suppliers in the UK,” says Helen, “not just to reduce the shipment costs but also our carbon footprint. When we discovered we could only order a few colours and these were shipped from the US, I contacted our original supplier, who was no longer trading, and we were able to purchase the product mould from them. A business, literally next door, helped us to manufacture the plugs and that’s how the idea was born in the UK.”

Pocket Plugs

Pocket plugs are a regularly used item within the carpentry, caravan and conversion industries; they save time and give a clean and tidy finish to any project.

* Available in nine different colours
* Sold in quantities of 50-10,000
* Bespoke colour matching is available
* Available to purchase in bulk orders
* Shipped locally across the UK

Pocket Plugs UK launched in summer 2020 and has gained such momentum that Ernest Smith recruited Jason’s wife, Lizzie, to come on board and run the business, which she and Jason now do from home.

For more information on Pocket Plugs, see www.pocketplugs.co.uk, and to find out about Ernest Smith, visit www.fittedfurniturehampshire.co.uk.