History
The Newards story starts in 1922 when Bob Ward started as an apprentice carpet fitter for Kendal Milne & Co on Deansgate in Manchester. At that time a whole floor of what is now prime retail space was given over to carpet planning and seeming. This was not unusual, Waring & Gillows a furniture store also on Deansgate had a dedicated carpet floor too. By the start of the 2nd World War in 1939, Bob Ward had worked his way to the head of the carpet department and was running both sales and fitting.
After the war in 1945 Kendals, Waring & Gillows and another furniture store all decided to reduce the size of their carpet departments by just doing sales and outsourcing most of the planning and fitting. Bob Ward seized the opportunity and went into Business with Harry Newlove, the carpet sales manager from Waring & Gillows. They combined their surnames to create the name Newards. Newards Limited was incorporated in December 1945 and they rented the top floor of a mill on Chorlton Street in Manchester.
