Our Story

Welcome To South West Upholstery

Our business is a real family affair started in Bristol by three generations of the Ball family in Grandad John’s garden shed.

John, Andy & Ryan all worked together undertaking seating repair, recovering for buses and coaches. In the early days this was part time work on evenings and weekends alongside John & Andy’s regular jobs but Ryan had a burning passion for business from a young age and took the plunge to take on the business full time and learn the trade alongside his Grandad, driving it forward from their shed to where they are today.

The home of high-quality Bristol Upholsters. Our family-run business started out 25 years ago in our small garden shed in Bristol.

Since then we have steadily grown to become the most recognised upholstery business in Bristol and probably across the UK for quality & service. Offering a wide range of upholstery, re-upholstery, new furniture and soft furnishings to both commercial & domestic customers.

We offer a wide range of upholstery, re-upholstery and new furniture services for every project, from three-piece suites, armchairs, banquette seating to the creation of bespoke furniture. Our Bristol Upholsters really can do it all. We also provide upholstery services for contract customers including pubs, clubs, hotels, and restaurants, as well as reupholstery for motorhomes, caravans and boats, foam replacement, furniture spraying or French polishing, and so much more!

We are your one-stop-shop for all your upholstery needs regardless of where you are in the UK (we cover the whole UK!) and look forward to hearing from you.

Get in touch to speak with our team of friendly Bristol upholsters!

Meet the Team

Ryan Ball

Ryan

Managing Director

Andy

Andy

Director

Abbie

General Manager

Rachel

Head of Finance

Robert

Robert

Upholsterer

Pawel

Pawel

Upholsterer

Eddy

Eddy

Upholsterer

Mike

Upholsterer

Finn

Upholsterer

Alan

Upholstery Team

Aaron

C & D Team

Volder

Upholsterer

Mike

Collections & Deliveries

Toby

Designer

Rhi

Sewing Team

Jacob

Office Team

Leanne

Office Team

Join Our Family

We are always looking for talented people to join our amazing team, if this is you please get in touch to find out more Tel 0117 370 2745 or Email [email protected]

A Stitch In Time

A short summary of where we came from and how the business has grown over the past 20 years.
A Stitch In Time 1999

1999

A large workshop is built in John’s back garden then our upholstery business is born. Offering full seating refurbishments and repairs for small minibuses as well as dining chairs, pads, and so on for the public.
A Stitch In Time 2003

2003

Ryan dropped out of college to focus on the business, sending out leaflets and making phone calls to promote our upholstery services. He works closely with his Grandad to learn the trade.

A Stitch In Time 2006

2006

John left his regular job and joined the business full time. We moved to new larger premises, offering more services and a yard to take in larger orders for upholstery on vehicles.

A Stitch In Time 2008

2008

We moved to a large manufacturing unit which allows us to increase our output. We tailored our operation to the re-covering of single or double deck bus seating in one day as well as working with a number of pubs and restaurants.

A Stitch In Time 2013

2013

We acquired ‘Bobbie Burns Upholstery’, a well-known upholstery brand and after a major refurbishment of the building, we open up our first shop to the public.

A Stitch In Time 2015

2015

We opened a second shop in Bristol, expanding our high street presence and offering upholstery services and brand new furniture to our customers with a showroom experience.

A Stitch In Time 2016

2016

We purchase our North Street shop and workshop, rooting solid foundations on the high street in BS3 and begin a major overhaul of the building.

A Stitch In Time 2018

2018

We outgrew our workshop, so we purchased a 11,000 sq. foot unit for our upholstery operation. After some TLC, our team was thrilled with the extra space and better set up to serve our customers across the UK.

A Stitch In Time 2023

2022

We continue to increase our skilled team and offer more apprenticeships in upholstery along with investing in the best equipment for our great teams to use.

We close our retail shops bringing our teams under one roof and invite our customers into our new showroom to see our workshops at work too.

What Our Clients Say About Us...

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Gary Marshall profile picture
Gary Marshall
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Very efficient friendly staff. They said it would take 2 weeks and it did.
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lindsay loader profile picture
lindsay loader
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Highly recommend southwest upholstery! The lady in reception (Leanne I think), responds very promptly to any query and the chair is unrecognisable from the dog chewed and completely flat one I left them with. Only problem now is its too perfect to sit on...
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A F profile picture
A F
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We had spoken with other upholsters and quite frankly not only were we unimpressed, we began to worry if we would find anyone who could help us reupholster our two much loved large sofas and armchair. Then we came across a TV interview on South West Upholstery and their approach to sustainability. We went along to see their set up and what they had to offer. From that very first visit to selecting the fabrics with their guidance, placing our order, collection of the items and then receiving our newly upholstered furniture back, we received a first class professional service throughout. Without exception, everyone we have met or spoken with at SWU have gone above and beyond in helping us get a fantastic outcome to our treasured sofas and armchair. We are so pleased with the work SWU did for us.
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mel creton profile picture
mel creton
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From enquiring , to pick up and delivery , everything was so easy. Didn’t expect the result to be so amazing , worth every penny .
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Jim Fearns profile picture
Jim Fearns
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We are looking for a way to upcycle our old office furniture, South West Upholstery have provided a very sustainable answer. Great quality work and very friendly service, thank you.
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Ann Rayter profile picture
Ann Rayter
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A helpful and friendly service from the first phone contact to final delivery of 6 upholstered kitchen chairs. Having a local service offering a collection and delivery service was ideal. The van drivers were friendly and did all the carrying of heavy oak kitchen chairs. The estimated time for completion of the project was around 30 days but we were pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call a week later that the chairs were ready. The finished project was excellent- we are very pleased with the quality of the work. We highly recommend this company and will return to them if we have other projects to complete.
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Nick Edgell profile picture
Nick Edgell
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We had our furniture re stuffed and treated it looks fantastic so pleased with the service we have received from a first class company it's been a pleasure doing business with SWU would recommend to everyone
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Donna profile picture
Donna
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I had a great experience with SWU from start to completion.The entire process was smooth and the customer service was excellent throughout, shoutout to Leanne and Abby for being particularly helpful. Overall, I would definitely recommend their upholstery service to anyone looking to refresh their furniture.

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