headquarters talbot green website leekes.co.uk leekes is a welsh based retailer with seven stores based in south wales south west england and the midlands . the company was established by james henry leeke in the rhondda in 1897 . he started trading as a traditional builder s merchant selling ironmongery and hardware from the front room of the family home in a small terraced house in clydach vale . since then leekes has expanded with a home improvements centre based in tonypandy opening in the mid 1960s and department stores opening in talbot green 1977 cross hands 1984 melksham 1992 bedworth 2010 fenton 2010 bilston 2011 and coventry west midlands 2012 the company also owns the vale hotel golf and spa resort and hensol castle . contents 1 history 1.1 present 2 operations 3 other businesses 3.1 the vale resort 3.2 hensol castle 4 references 5 external links history edit james henry leeke established leekes as a blacksmith in tonypandy in the rhondda valley wales in 1897 . james leeke initially operated a smithy for sharpening tools at the rear of the house and then opened a small ironmongery business in the front room . the leekes business survived the following two decades intact and james son llewellyn took over the business from his father in 1933 at the age of 22 . in 1948 llewellyn bought a larger shop in dunraven street tonypandy which is still trading today . at this time the ironmonger and builders merchant was operated almost entirely by the family . in the late 60s llewellyn s son gerald joined the business full time and extended the range at dunraven street and established kitchen and bathrooms displays . they took over the shop next door for an additional showroom . in 1965 the company turnover had reached 38 000 and the old goods yard station in trelaw rhondda was acquired for expansion combining the retail premises and builders yard with some car parking . leekes bought a site in talbot green and opened a store in 1977 labelled as its first diy superstore . in 2007 eldest son of llewellyn david leeke wrote an account of the development of the welsh business from the boom in the coal industry through the depression and two world wars to the 21st century . 1 in 2009 leekes bought out midlands based cole s home furnishing thus creating 3 new stores in england . 2 in 2011 proposals have been made to have a new store built on the existing site in talbot green to coincide with the new town centre scheme which will be located on the current leekes and steadler factory sites . the development will also include a supermarket hotel and cinema as well as other facilities for residence . the leekes store if approved would be one of the first builds to be completed . 3 in september 2012 leekes introduced their new flagship store for the west midlands in coventry the store has a range of sections ranging from kitchens to bathrooms and an upstairs floor decitated to furniture and bedding . present edit in 2008 leekes remains a family business with many family members from the fourth generation . 4 they currently have seven large department stores situated in wales the south west and the midlands . additionally they have a small double glazing outlets in hereford swindon and thornbury . the store locations coventry junction 3 m6 coventry cv6 6pa view store llantrisant cowbridge road talbot green rhondda cynon taf cf72 8xu view store cross hands business park cross hands carmarthenshire sa14 6rb view store tonypandy trealaw road tonypandy rhondda cynon taff cf40 2nx view store melksham beanacre park melksham wiltshire sn12 8ag view store bilston great bridge road bilston wolverhampton west midlands wv14 8lb view store hereford wyevale garden centre kings acre road hereford hr14 ose view store swindon blooms garden centre hay lane near wroughton swindon sn14 9qn view store thornbury wyevale garden centre milberry heath wotton under edge bristol gl12 8qh view story operations edit each leekes department store is divided into the following departments cabinet furniture upholstery bedroom furniture kitchen furniture sound and vision kitchen appliances kitchen and tableware home accessories gifts fitted bathrooms bathroom accessories fitted kitchens conservatories interior design studio fire studio fitness equipment & leisure diy garden living building centre fitted carpets decorating and home textiles . other businesses edit the vale resort edit main article the vale resort in 1994 leekes retail and leisure group took ownership of a golf club in hensol in the vale of glamorgan . this marked the start of diversification of the business into the leisure industry . the company then built and developed the vale resort which comprises a luxury four star hotel state of the art leisure club wales largest spa 5 and two championship golf courses set in over 650 acres 2.6 km2 of beautiful parkland . hensol castle edit main article hensol castle in 2003 the company announced the purchase of the hensol castle estate that adjoins the vale resort . 6 the estate includes a 17th century stately home an historically important mid 18th century landscaped park a 15 acre 61 000 m2 lake and serpentine pond . the castle is currently being developed into a world class spa hotel . references edit leeke david 2007 . an iron monger s tale . llandysul gomer press . isbn 978 0 9556102 0 2 leeke david 2007 . an iron monger s tale . llandysul gomer press . isbn 978 0 9556102 0 2 . 1 http www.walesonline.co.uk business in wales business news 2011 06 21 200m talbot green development to create 1 900 jobs 91466 28910814 http www.walesonline.co.uk business in wales business news 2008 04 18 retailers leekes consider store expansion 91466 20781599 brown john murray 2012 06 17 . staycations breathe life into welsh leisure sectors . ft.com . the financial times limited . http news.bbc.co.uk 1 hi wales mid 3142182 . stm external links edit company website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title leekes & oldid 657359807 categories companies established in 1897retail companies of walesfurniture retailers of the united kingdom1897 establishments in walescompanies based in rhondda cynon taf navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 20 april 2015 at 18 07 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark 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