History of Chichester-based business Covers Timber and Builders Merchant

​These factors play a key part in the success of the business. Last year, the company saw a turnover of £95million, a major step up from £20million in its 150th year.

The company started in 1846 when a young William Cover began trading timber on land south of the Canal Basin. Nearby woods became the source for the timber and was brought to the site on horse drawn wagons.

In 1857, William’s son David joined the business and started the long tradition of the business having family at the heart. Along with timber, the company also sold coal and agricultural goods, trading under the name David Cover and Son Limited. The business was owned by the Cover family until 1944, when the Green family purchased it. The Cover family did however, continue to play an active part of the business until the 1980s.

The Green family moved to the Chichester area in 1932. The family purchased a large section of the standing timber on the Goodwood Estate, totalling around 2.5million cubic feet of wood. This purchase was described by the Chichester Observer as ‘one of the largest sales of timber in the country’.

The Green family and Covers became associated with each other when Edward Green (the grandfather of Rupert and Henry Green, the current chairman and managing director of Covers), and his uncle developed the sawmill at Charlton to process the timber. Covers became a customer of the sawmill and they eventually brought the businesses together.

In 1949, due to the growth of the business, Covers opened a new premises at The Hornet in Chichester, closing their original site at Canal Basin which had been in use for 104 years.

The Hornet site comprised one large building facing Bognor Road, with several timber storage sheds and a small timber mill. Following the Second World War, business with the trade and DIYers began to grow, resulting in the need to expand to accommodate these customers. As a result, a shop in South Street, Chichester, was purchased for the domestic hardware side of the business.

In the 1960s, the company needed to expand once again. Unfortunately, the Hornet did not have the capacity for expansion, so in 1963, Covers purchased a six-acre site in Quarry Lane. It took four years of preparation and, in 1967, timber operations were transferred to Quarry Lane. The head office and builders merchants remained at The Hornet.

The business continued to grow rapidly and maintained its success. This led to Covers purchasing several new sites, and saw the business develop further afield than Chichester. In 1965, Covers acquired two depots – The Havant Timber Centre and a DIY business in West Street, Bognor. The business then bought the sawmill and timber yard in Lewes in 1973.

Covers bought the business Olbys in Bognor Regis in 1986. This meant Covers acquired a further two depots in the town at Hawthorn Road and Station Yard. Milling operations from Bognor were moved to the main site in Quarry Lane and by 1994, the entire Bognor operations were moved to the same location.

The Covers Trade Centre at Quarry Lane opened in 2007 and Covers Home Ideas opened in 2012. The site includes its kitchen, bathroom, and flooring showrooms, as well as the Eco Centre which sells the latest products to homeowners and builders to create a home that is as energy efficient as possible.

While the Quarry Lane site in Chichester remains the centre of operations, the company now has 15 locations across the south-east. Covers employs around 475 people, many whom have been with the company for 20 to 40 years. The family links throughout the company continue with colleagues meeting through work or generations of families working at Covers.

The company celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2022 with a range of special events, offers and activities for its customers, staff, and suppliers. Covers put on special demonstration days, exclusive offers and the chance to win lots of prizes. They also continued supporting the local community through a number of charity donations. Additionally, the 175th anniversary celebrations served as a thank you to the dedicated workforce.

The company maintains their mission to protect the planet through their operations with a long-term net zero goal. To continue helping the planet and to coincide with their anniversary celebrations, November 17, 2022, saw the company plant 175 beech trees up in Selhurst Park, Halnaker.

The Novium Museum holds a pencil that shows the South Street shop address from the 1960s, as well as several invoices from Covers, which show the original shop address. In 1994 and 1996, excavations at The Hornet took place and archaeological finds were deposited with The Novium Museum and are now stored in its archaeology store at the Collections Discovery Centre at Fishbourne Roman Palace. These finds include a number of pottery items and ceramic tiles.

Additionally, the West Sussex Records Office holds some paper archives on the history of Covers. Notably, it cares for a collection relating to Olbys, which includes records about the business and the family. It also holds information on the late Frank Hellyer, the former director of Covers who began working for the company at the age of 13, and worked his way up the ladder, totalling 66 years in service. Hellyer was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the Chichester Observer’s Business Awards in 2009.