We've been making and selling great quality, great value beds for almost 30 years now.

There's virtually nothing we don't know about the kind of beds people living in and around London like and, just as importantly, need to make the most of their homes.

But how did we get started?

Late in 1979 our driving force, Martin Walsh, who was at that time a schoolteacher, decided to make two beds for his own children. With a little research he decided that a timber-slatted bed would be the best option.

Armed with nothing more than a handsaw, an electric drill and an old table as a workbench, he set about making the beds in his back room.

He sanded them by hand and finished them with beeswax.

Even Martin was surprised how well they turned out and his kids were delighted.

Soon, friends and relations began asking if Martin would make beds for them. Although Martin had no plans at all to change career at that time, he agreed to make a couple more beds, and it quickly became apparent that there was a big demand for such beds.

Martin carried on making the beds in his spare time at home and advertised them in the classified section of the local paper. Demand grew until it reached the point where there just weren't enough hours in the day to teach and make wooden beds.

Martin took the bold step of giving up his job and renting a small workshop at the Production Village, northwest London, just a few miles from our current showroom. After about a year, demand was such that a much larger workshop was needed, so Martin moved to a showroom, with workshop at the back, in Belsize Road, Kilburn.

Following a very favourable review in an article about pine beds in Time Out magazine, Taurus was unable to cope with demand at Belsize Road, so the next move was to a fully equipped 4000 square foot workshop in Scrubs Lane, Willesden.

Around 1992 Martin's brother Tom, who was designing and making furniture at his own workshop, joined Taurus.

Today, Martin and Tom design all our beds and furniture and are forever trying out new ideas.

What starts off with a customer requesting a special bed can end up with us adding that bed to our range. Our Kyoto bed, for example, was conceived as a direct result of a customer asking for a bed that didn't stick out beyond the mattress. It wasn't easy to produce such a bed, but we persisted and now it's one of our most popular models.

The key members of the Taurus staff, including our delivery drivers, have an average of 15 years' service with us. In fact, all of our drivers have been involved in the manufacture of our beds at some time. So you can be sure, if you have any questions, an experienced person will be on hand with an answer.