Up Close with: Hucknall Garden Building Manufacturer Keycraft

A Hucknall business that manufactures and supplies garden buildings, garages and greenhouses is in the process of revamping its show site.

Keycraft Garden Buildings Ltd, based at The Aerodrome on Watnall Road, builds bespoke outbuildings on site and has done so for the last 30 years.

Managing Director Jackie West has been involved with the business for the majority of its existence. She began working at Keycraft in 1994 before buying the company in 2001.

Speaking exclusively to Hucknall Nub News, she said: "We're completely bespoke, we're a local friendly company. If somebody wants something a bit different, they just bring us the drawing in and if we can do it, we'll do it."

"We do everything bespoke. Garden offices have gone phenomenally well. They either want something a little bit more upmarket a little bit more they can use all year round; they want their own home offices or home entertainment rooms.

We've done a lot of garden bars that sort of thing but we haven't got any display models so we're working from drawings all the time and it works because that's what we do but sometimes people want to see what they're buying or see an example of what they're buying so we're revamping the whole site."

Changing the display models and making alterations to the show site is something the company expects to do in January. However, there was no opportunity for Keycraft to do this last year as the winter lockdown brought an unseasonal influx of customers post-Christmas.

"Obviously this is an ideal time because you are normally quieter, last year we weren't, it was just busy all the way through, we never had a let up.

"This year it's gone slightly quieter, I think mainly because of the cost of timber, everything has shot through the roof price wise, people are going away now, they are spending a bit more money on things. Last year they hadn't got anywhere to go, couldn't spend their money because they'd got nothing to spend it on, so they were coming here and buying garden rooms."

Of the changes being made to the site, Mrs West added: "We're trying to modernise things and revamp really. One or two of the show models, because they've been on a bit longer, they look a bit tired, they're ready for a treatment, they're ready for going out there and being used really."

Over the years, the business has continually expanded with a garden centre and coffee shop now part of the site. The garden centre has been in existence for around a decade when the business on the neighbouring plot sold up and Keycraft acquired it. By Mrs West's own admission, it took a while for the garden centre to grow in popularity with customers, with it only really taking off after the first lockdown in 2020. The coffee shop is a much more recent addition having only been completed four years ago. Well behaved dogs are welcome everywhere across the site apart from inside the coffee shop but there is an outside seating area where dog owners can sit with their pets and enjoy refreshments. "The coffee shop's taken a while to get going but now we've got a really good regular customer base in the coffee shop. I've got regular customers that bring me gifts at Christmas. I've got a sign in the corner from a customer that says 'This is our happy place.' I just love what I do." Despite the company's long standing history in the town there are still a significant number of local residents that aren't aware that Keycraft exists or where it's located. Thankfully for the business, their abundance of positive online reviews, returning customers, and word of mouth, has seen them deal with clients from as far out as Hinckley, Rugby, and Leicester. The revamp is now underway and many of the soon to be ex-display models are now for sale as Keycraft look to freshen their site up at the start of this new calendar year. For further information about Keycraft visit their website here or their Facebook page by clicking here.