1940s

It all started in 1946. Close friends George Dennis and Robbie Robinson left the RAF and combined their demobilisation money to set up a new company, Dennison Manufacturing Company. They changed to Dennis & Robinson Ltd. when they registered as a limited company in 1948.

With Robbie being a talented woodworker and George with a head for business, they set up making wooden toys and clock cases. Building and manufacturing supplies were scarce, post war, so these small projects met the demand at the time.

1950s

Business was booming by now and the pair landed a major contract making clock cases for Smiths Industries, a large UK-based manufacturer. Smiths then bought Dennis & Robinson Ltd where Robbie and George remained working.

1960s

The entrepreneurial pair spotted a need in the burgeoning economy for fitted kitchens and cabinetry and set up as Smiths Industries Furniture Division in the UK in 1960-61. A shop-floor competition resulted in the new name Manhattan Furniture, inspired by the clean lines, modern aesthetic and diverse appeal of New York.

The company had factories throughout Sussex in Portslade Village, Mile Oak Southwick and Shoreham, but needed larger premises to accommodate their growing business. Manhattan Furniture moved into a 12,000-square meter building in Lancing in 1965,  previously occupied by British Railway. They offered jobs to many of the railway’s skilled carriage workers, carpenters, cabinet makers, veneer preparers and sprayers who would otherwise have been made unemployed.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old David Robson from Sussex started his first enterprise straight out of college, making plant troughs in his garage and selling them to local garden centres. A structural engineer with a City & Guilds in carpentry and joinery, he decided to try and make a living out of woodwork. Friends soon asked him to make kitchens for them and in 1964 David registered his business with the name Kingfisher Wood Products Ltd.

His big break came when he showcased his laminate-faced chipboard kitchen units to Billy Butlin. Impressed by the way Kingfisher’s units were bolted together for quick construction and easy maintenance, and how they could be effortlessly wiped clean, Billy awarded David the contract to build kitchens for Butlin’s holiday cabins that winter.

1970s

Cabinet materials changed with the introduction of melamine-faced chipboard; a revolutionary new material sold by the Egger family in Austria. It replaced the plywood and Formica kitchens of before. The melamine came in a wide range of colours and was perfect for furniture and cabinets. Customers now wanted to see the assembled kitchens, so Manhattan opened a chain of retail shops in Brighton, Birmingham, Croydon, Portsmouth and Guildford.

George retired in 1971, replaced by Jim Downs, and Robbie stayed on. By 1978, they were turning over nearly £3 million a year, and exporting kitchens to the Middle East, Asia and the USA. The company finally stopped making clock cases in 1979 to focus on kitchens and bedroom furniture.

David Robson was busy with Kingfisher too. He was supplying kitchens for newly built council houses across the country and replacing outworn kitchens that had been installed after the war. Then he developed Topaz, a new brand for the contract side of the business, opening a new factory in Telford. By 1978, Kingfisher was turning over £4 million. The next year they launched another new brand to offer high-end kitchens directly to the retail market, initially called Paula Rose after David’s daughter Paula and wife Rosemary before becoming Paula Rosa.

1980s

Manhattan re-designed and re-engineered their kitchens and received high praise for the three kitchens displayed in the futuristic houses at Homeworld ’81 in Milton Keynes. Their parent company, Smiths was evolving into a high-tech business and so in 1982 Jim Downs led a management buyout and brought Manhattan back into private ownership. Robbie became President and a shareholder again in the business he founded 40 years previously. He eventually retired in 1986, leaving the company with the reputation for producing expensive, good quality products. The firm could boast that all of its furniture was made in Britain with the greatest possible care, craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Kingfisher, meanwhile, had a shaky start to the 1980s as Margaret Thatcher drastically cut the number of council houses built – the demand for kitchens followed suit. The Telford factory closed. But then the kitchen industry became more fashion conscious, looking to the US for inspiration. David Robson started importing oak doors from America, launching a popular American Oak Kitchens range. By the mid-1980s, Kingfisher was supplying almost exclusively to the private sector and was one of the top five suppliers in the country in terms of market share.

In 1983 the company opened a new Paula Rosa showroom in Brighton and turned over between £10-£11 million in 1985, employing around 250 people. This rose to over 400 by 1988. They produced a range of 15 fully assembled kitchens at mid-range prices, and in 1989 were presented with the Furniture Industry Research Association Gold Award as recognition of the highest standards of quality.

1990s

Competition in the kitchen industry was severe but the future was looking bright for Dennis & Robinsons and Manhattan Furniture. Private housing developers accounted for 90% of sales but Manhattan still managed a 20% increase in contract sales in the early 90s. By 1995 they had over 100 different door colours and handle choices, across 30 ranges, and were awarded the Furniture Industry Research Association Gold Award.

Kingfisher Wood products was acquired in 1990 by Ballingslov International, one of the largest family-owned companies in Sweden and a subsidiary of Electrolux. Kingfisher’s Paula Rosa’s Country Originals range offered handcrafted and hand-painted cabinets to match the needs of the increasingly sophisticated market. Their showrooms catered for customers in the South East while David and his son Peter expanded the export side of the business in the Far East before retiring.

2000s

There was another successful management buyout at Manhattan whereby ownership was again restored to the senior management team. In 2001, the firm was granted the Royal Warrant for completing projects at royal residences, and a year later became an accredited Investor in People.

2010s

Manhattan experienced rapid growth in 2012 with turnover hitting £32.1 million, making it attractive to investors.

Ballingslov bought Manhattan in 2013, joining brands with Paula Rosa to create Paula Rosa Manhattan. A substantial investment led to the relaunch of the state-of-the-art Paula Rosa Manhattan showroom in 2018.

2019 saw the launch of the company’s sustainability strategy to limit the environmental impact and by 2020 manufacturing carbon emissions had fallen by 23%. Since then, the company has switched to renewable heating, become CHAS accredited, celebrated 10 years of zero manufacturing waste to landfill, moved timber product groups to FSC-certified suppliers only, introduced biofuel to the distribution fleet, and become Living Wage certified.

In 2024, Paula Rosa Manhattan embarked on an exciting new chapter with a comprehensive rebrand. The introduction of a new logo emphasising ‘PRM’ accompanied by a new slogan ‘Superior kitchens built for generations’ encapsulates our identity and core values, whilst reinforcing the commitment and legacy we strive to deliver.

Alongside the rebrand, we proudly reopened our showroom doors to the public as Paula Rosa Kitchens, welcoming customers to experience our retail offerings firsthand. Featuring 17 stunning showroom sets that showcase a diverse range of products, we have created a space that perfectly represents our brand values while meeting the varied tastes and needs of our customers.

The future of Paula Rosa Manhattan

None of us knows what the future holds, but with such a strong heritage and forward thinking and sustainable growth plans, the future is looking bright for Paula Rosa Manhattan.