Transforming A Georgian House

A New Life In Liverpool
Restoring Period Features

Business partners and housemates, Richard Skelton and Dick Mawdsley, have transformed an unloved townhouse into a superb home and showcase for their interiors store.

Moving To Liverpool

In 1999, a small premises became available and in November of that year they successfully opened Utility - a store selling design-led homeware specialising in independent UK-based, Swedish and Danish designers. 'We really opened Utility on a hunch,' laughs Dick. 'We didn't research it as much as Coffee Union, but I felt there was a need to provide people with somewhere to buy stylish, contemporary homeware in Liverpool. This was before the internet and it wasn't easy to find furniture and accessories outside the larger cities.'

Once again it worked. The customers at Coffee Union became clients at Utility and, as the interiors business developed and became more successful, the friends decided to sell Coffee Union. Now Utility has grown from one small shop into a homeware store, an interior design service and a website specialising in contemporary furniture, furnishings, accessories and gifts, all of which are now showcased in their spectacular home.

After living and working in London as surveyors for 13 years, old friends, Richard, Dick and Katie wanted a life change. So, they decided to quit their jobs, become business partners and relocate to Liverpool.

'I'm originally from Liverpool, but that had very little to do with us starting our business here,' says Dick. 'At the time, we felt that Liverpool had been off the radar as far as companies and investment were concerned.

Everyone was talking about Manchester and Glasgow but we saw the potential in Liverpool with its buoyant local business market, big music industry, design and media companies and two large universities. We felt that there was a huge market that wasn't being catered for, and also less competition for a newly fledged business.'

This wasn't a decision that was taken lightly. Richard, Dick and Katie had never even worked together let alone run a business before, and so the move was a leap of faith that everything would work out. Luckily, it did. That was some years ago and they haven't looked back.

Georgian designers certainly knew how to create a grand entrance. Grandiose furniture, such as this reproduction gilt mirror and table, add to the drama. The runner is from Hill & Co.

On arriving in Liverpool, their initial commercial venture was the Coffee Union, a gourmet coffee store for Liverpool, long before anyone had even heard of Starbucks. Katie and Richard quit their jobs six months before Dick, to research the business and come up with the concept. As a team, they tapped into the market at just the right time and Coffee Union became a huge hit, while the architect who worked with them won a RIBA award for the design of their first store.

While the trio settled into life in Liverpool, Dick, a hoarder of information on design products and cuttings from interiors magazines, gradually became aware that there was nowhere to buy contemporary interiors products in Liverpool. It frustrated him and he recognised there was a huge gap in the market that needed to be filled.