Our History
Martell's commenced trading as independent retailers in 1917, when William George Martell took over the lease of 7 London Road, Elephant and Castle. The previous lessee, whom had been the Manager of the shop decided to close that particular branch of their bedstead business.
In 1924, following the death of William George Martell, his eldest son, Edward William Martell, left his job as a qualified Toolmaker to take over the running of the family business.
Six years later, Edward and his wife Ada started an independent business in Sutton, Surrey. Based in Sutton Common Road, they had formed Martell's of Sutton Ltd. This proved to be a successful move.
They later moved the business to three units at 10-14 Stonecot Hill, Sutton.
In fact, we were still trading there until March 2020 with a respectable range of beds, bedroom furniture and sofa beds as well as a specialised chair centre.
During 1954, Martell's opened a new store in East Grinstead, West Sussex, at 68 London Road. These premises were extended a few years later to accommodate a full range of home furnishings.
Roger Edward Martell joined the company in 1960, starting as a Sales Assistant / Delivery Driver.
Roger is now the current Managing Director and has seen the extension of the Sutton store, as well as the opening of our Queens Walk, East Grinstead store in 1974. The latter was then extended to 15,000 sq ft of retail space in 1997. The shop has now moved to a new site at the Whitehall on London Road which opened on the 1st of May 2017.
Our East Grinstead store sells home furnishing items such as upholstery, dining and bedroom furniture, curtains, beds and sofa beds, but also includes linen, luggage, cookware, glassware, china, toys, games and hobbies.
Martell's is currently run by Roger Martell, his wife Margaret, their son Charlie and of course the knowledgeable staff that make Martell's the friendly, family business that it is.
To read more about the history of Martell's and the man who started it all, you can now read "Some Bods Move On" by Edward W. Martell online.
Some Bods Move On
"An unsolicited appreciation from a printing worker completely unknown to me at the time." E.W. Martell
Dear Mr. Martell,
I feel slightly out of line writing this letter to you, however you will be interested to know that I did the machine setting in type of your book.
My reason in writing this is to congratulate you on your writing such an interesting personal history, the chapters provided a most satisfying work to set, indeed, one of the most interesting jobs I have set of late.
You must have had some terrible times in the "Second World War" - so graphically portrayed by you.
I could almost see your van in the middle of that field in Turners Hill and the "Horse Marine."
At the end, reading about "your journey being necessary" - food for thought here!
A most excellent account to read and I wish the book and your family all the best.
(Signed) C.P.S. Terry.
Click here to read "Some Bods Move On" By E.W. Martell
