Leekes Retail & Leisure Group

In the late 1890s, blacksmith James Henry Leeke established a modest ironmongery business from the front room of his family's terraced home on Court Street, Tonypandy. A true family venture, he and his wife served the local miners and their families who were flocking to the area as the coal industry flourished. By the 1940s, the family had broadened their offering to include hardware, and leased a yard from which to sell building materials. The business subsequently relocated to premises on Tonypandy high street, before the family purchased a disused station in the town - the additional space allowing them to introduce DIY, flooring, and eventually kitchen and bathroom studios.

The 1970s saw the opening of the first Leekes home department store, situated "out of town" near Llantrisant and just a short distance from where it all began. Further stores followed in Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire in 1984 and Melksham, Wiltshire in 1992. In 2016, Leekes acquired Park Furnishers - a large independent furniture retailer based in Bristol and another proud family business - which continues to trade under its original name to this day. Most recently, November 2024 marked an exciting new chapter with the opening of a dedicated furniture store in Cheltenham, located on Kingsditch Retail Park and offering furniture, kitchens, bedrooms and home decor, alongside a café that has quickly become a firm favourite with shoppers.

Each Leekes home department store offers truly everything for the home, from the bricks and blocks needed to build from the ground up, to fully fitted kitchens and bathrooms, sofas, beds, and all the finishing touches in between.

Today, over 60,000 people walk through the doors of a Leekes store every week - a remarkable journey from those early days of serving customers in a terraced front room in South Wales.

In 1993 Leekes diversified into the hospitality market when it bought a 650-acre site with a small golf course in Hensol in the Vale of Glamorgan. Since then a landmark four-star hotel with spa, health and racquets club, 700 seat conference facility, and two 18- hole championship golf courses have been built.

The Vale Resort has a great link with sport with a number of the trophy-winning national and club football and rugby teams using the hotel with its superb training facilities, including football and rugby pitches on the grounds and the Welsh Rugby Union’s indoor training facility, its centre of excellence. Both the Football Association of Wales and the Welsh Rugby Union use the Resort as their base for training camps.

The hospitality business now includes the grade 1 listed Hensol Castle, a beautiful seventeenth-century stately home that sits in the countryside alongside the Vale Resort. The Castle has been transformed into a wedding and events venue and has opened some very individual, luxurious bedrooms. Whilst adjacent to the Castle, buildings on the grounds have been converted into private residential apartments called Hensol Castle Park.

In 2018 the business diversified further converting the cellars of the Castle to a distillery, making award-winning gin, plus a contract bottling facility. In 2021 we opened a top-class visitor attraction and gin school.

Official company information

Company Name: Leekes Limited

Registered Head Office
Leekes Limited
Mwyndy Business Park
Pontyclun
Rhondda Cynon Taff
CF72 8PN

Registered Company Number in England and Wales: 00563751
VAT number: 135044206