The Silentnight story so far ...
66 years ago, in 1946, in the North Yorkshire
town of Skipton, Tom and Joan Clarke formed a brand new company
under the name Clarke's Mattresses Limited.
In 1948 they registered the company (Clarkes
mattresses Limited) and rented a small premises in the centre of
Skipton and the very first shop was opened to the public.
Our company began producing high quality but affordable beds and
mattresses and before long they were in huge demand. Operations had
to be moved to a much larger site and we quickly moved to
Barnoldswick in 1949.
The next big change came in 1951, when our name
changed from Clarke's Mattresses to Silentnight Limited.
Production continued to expand at a rapid rate and in
1961 our business moved to its current Silentnight
premises.
In 1979,we extended the existing showroom which
was built in the mid 70's into the big "shed" exhibition Centre in
Salterforth which was then opened by Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher.
The centre went on to host twice-annual bed shows for our
company for many years.
The 1980's were a hugely exciting time for us.
We looked to cement our position as the UK's number one bed brand
by creating an entirely new spring system to improve the quality of
our bed range and to ensure we remained uniquely different to our
competitors.
In 1986 we launched the 'Ultimate Spring
System' - the first new spring system in the UK for over three
decades. To demonstrate the ultimate spring system's unique no-roll
together properties, we introduced our two new brand icons, Hippo
& Duck. Through entertaining and informative TV advertising
Hippo and Duck became instantly recognisable and are still loved by
the public today.
In the late 1990's our unique spring system was
improved and renamed the 'Miracoil® Spring System'
In 2000 our brand identity was refreshed with a
new, more contemporary illustration of Hippo and Duck. The new
illustrations were used on our liveries, literature and of course,
in our TV commercials.
In 2001,our new animated TV commercial aired.
Featuring the voices of Jane Horrocks and Clive Rowe and set to a
specially reworked version of Hot Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing' (I
Believe In Miracoil's) Hippo and Duck caught the attention of the
nation yet again and sales continued to grow.
In 2003 we started to produce beds and
mattresses for the children's market and we're proud to say that
'My first bed' won 'bed of the year' at the furniture awards. A new
set of commercials aired informing the public of the quality of our
products.
In 2005 we achieved Superbrand status and
2006 we celebrated our 60 year anniversary by
launching a new Sleep etc campaign.
In 2008 'convenience' became the nation's
favourite buzzword. In response we launched mattress-now® - the
first Silentnight 'convenience' rolled mattress.
The year after, we continued to launch many more new products,
the most popular being a new pocket spring system.
In 2010 Silentnight returned to television
screens across the country with sponsorship of American Idol. We
also launched our Best for Bedsteads range.
In 2011 our Facebook and Twitter communities
sprang into action and have continued to grow at a rapid rate.
In April 2012 we launched our Safenights and
Healthy Growth ranges - cots and beds specifically designed to help
a new generation sleep well at night.
We have a refreshed Brand identity and a brand new website both
of which helps us prepare for a very exciting
2013…
