Summer sale

It hasn't been much of a summer yet with endless days of rain, but here at Westcombes we decided it was time to cheer everyone up with our special SUMMER SALE.

We're offering discounts on a wide range of fires and stoves from now right through to the end of August - come along to our showroom at 250-252 Lee High Road where we're open from 10-6 Monday - Saturday to see what we've got on offer.

Mary Portas and High Street parking

We're glad that Mary Portas raised the issue of High Street parking in her analysis of the problems of the British High Street.  Here in Lee High Road, it has become increasingly difficult for our customers to park close to our shop.  The local streets are now almost exclusively residents' parking.  There are one or two parking bays close to Lee High Road, but the situation is very confusing - on one side of the shop you can park for an hour, but on the other side for only half an hour.

Lewisham Council has said the half hour restriction gives our customers plenty of time - but they've obviously never bought a fireplace from a specialist retailer like Westcombes.  Many of our customers like to spend far longer than that discussing their options, looking at all the fireplaces and stoves that we have and considering the relative pros and cons.

Lewisham Council clearly doesn't have much time for the traditional service and expertise that a shop like ours can offer - but fortunately our customers put up with the confusing parking arrangements because it's the service and expertise that they particularly like about Westcombes.

We're still open...

I know some of our customers were worried after reports that Lee High Road had been badly affected by the rioting in London earlier this week.  Sadly, our local garage and some of the shops in Lee High Road were looted or had their windows broken, and the garage is still closed now.  We can reassure you that none of the shops in our little row were affected (perhaps for once we should be grateful that most of our fires are so heavy!),  but thank you to everyone who has been in touch to express concern. 

Although many local shops in Lee, Lewisham and Greenwich shut early yesterday, we decided to stay open and we're here from 10 to 6 throughout the week from Monday to Saturday - you can find details of how to reach us here

Our new stock of logs...

We're very excited to have just taken our first delivery of kiln-dried logs from a company called Certainly Wood. One reason many people have problems lighting fires is down to the logs they are using.  If you pick up a bag of logs from your local garage, they tend not to be properly seasoned - which means they haven't been dried out for long enough and are still retaining lots of moisture. They're not always stored properly either and are left outside in all weathers. This makes it harder to light a fire, it produces lots of smoke and it's harder to keep the fire going.

Our new stock of kiln dried logs have an average moisture content of just 20% and you can use them in all wood burning appliances - in London, of course, that means Defra-approved stoves.  Dry logs don't produce as much smoke which means they give a very clean burn with maximum heat output. 

The company we're sourcing our logs from dry them first before finishing them off in wood fired kilns. All the wood they use is hardwood, which is sourced from sustainable British woodland.  You can find them at Westcombes  showroom in Lee High Road from today - come and stock up in good time for the autumn!