Bogans history

In 1948, World War II had not long finished and - among many other things - having a fitted carpet was a luxury that was restricted to very few. Alice and Laurence Bogan set about to change this in Dingle, Liverpool 8, and from the back room of their house they turned a quirky idea into the foundations of a great carpet business.

Having a fitted carpet in those days used to involve the well-off going to a posh department store in Liverpool city centre, most of which are just names from the past now, but back then the carpet would be cut to size and hemmed before delivery and fitting to the customer's house at great expense (an Axminster then in modern money was costing approximately £150 sq yard).

However, this meant there were loads of waste pieces and Alice and Lawrence set about making use of them, originally collecting them in a pram. Later, finances allowed the purchase of a second hand van to get the pieces from the city to Dingle. The pieces were then all seamed together to form a patchwork carpet which was made to order for their increasing number of customers.

By the late 50's you could even specify mainly red, blue, green etc and Alice would visit the houses weekly and get their 'drip' payment, marking each one off in the payment book religiously. Along the way, they had acquired a shop in Park Road along with a couple of hardworking employees.

By the early 1960s, Tommy got involved in the business. Tommy was (and still is) a prolific pianist and at the time he was more famous as one of - if not the best - piano players in Merseyside and was in massive demand around the clubs, often working seven nights a week. When he moved into the family business, he did so with a considerable investment, enabling the small business to be something much more substantial. A four-storey warehouse was leased from Liverpool City Council and Tommy started sourcing affordable carpets which had started to become available and Bogans was formed in the style most people would now recognise.

In 1984, a purpose-built warehouse was constructed which was extended three times to eventually fill a whole block. At this point, the third generation of the family had got involved. 1990 saw the addition of a Wirral-based store, which is still very much in operation and successful.

After steady trading for many years as Merseyside's largest independent carpet retailer, it was decided with the new excitement in Liverpool to build the largest purpose-built carpet and flooring store in what is the busiest area of Liverpool.The store was designed by Peter (the current MD) specifically around carpets, flooring and natural light, and it really is a beacon for another 60 years trading as another generation gets involved in the apprenticeship which really is truly now in the Bogan family blood not very healthy, perhaps, but they seem to live to ripe old ages!