One of the highlights of a year-long celebrations of Belling’s centenary and the brand’s British heritage was the memorable event in London, to which the manufacturer invited two hundred guests including its employees, retail partners, customers and press.
Over the afternoon tea at the Savoy, Denver Hewlett, GDHA’s chief executive, reminded the guests about the humble beginnings of the Belling brand which was founded by Charles Reginald Belling in 1912 with the capital of just £150 and went to launch a number of the world’s and UK’s cooking and heating firsts.
Mr Hewlett said: “I’m incredibly proud to be the current brand custodian of a company that developed products and technologies decades ago that still are important to Britain today. Belling launched the first domestic fanned oven, the first slot-in oven and even kick-started the range cooker market with the launch of the Belling Farmhouse. More recently, we have championed induction technology, making clever, energy efficient cooking available across built-in and freestanding.
“We began the year by unveiling our 100 Collection, a suite of specially designed products to mark our centenary year. In that collection we wanted to create something which celebrated our heritage as a great British brand whilst also looking to the future. Since then, it’s fair to say we have kept to our theme of celebration, winning a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for the exceptional performance of our British-made products overseas; we welcomed His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent to Prescot and this month we learnt we had won the coveted Total Excellence & Quality (TEQ) service award for the fourth time, recording our highest ever customer satisfaction score.”
