Former Barnsley footballer-turned-entreprenuer builds on family business

A budding Barnsley entrepreneur, who played football at professional league club level as a teenager, has now marked his tenth year running his own bed business.

Adam Oldham played for Barnsley FC up to the age of 19 and was on standby for the England Under-18s team at the peak of his sporting career.

Now aged 30, he is managing director of his own company, By Charles and Charles, which is a specialist supplier of head boards and bedsteads, and is set to launch a new product range of mattresses this month.

Once his young football career with Barnsley was over, Adam quickly established himself in the bed business after following in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps, both of whom worked for years at Silentnight.

Adam said: “I was obviously very disappointed being dropped by Barnsley after years in the youth team, but being turned down like that was the spur I needed to get out there and set up my own business. The experience made me determined to succeed.

“I used to go to work with Dad sometimes and was always around beds as a kid. Bed manufacturing is really in our blood. It’s a family tradition.”

Adam established his company, Sleep Marketing, in his father’s garage in Thurgoland, and moved the business to new 7,500 sq ft premises on the Maple Business Estate, Stocks Lane in Barnsley, renaming it By Charles and Charles.

Adam is now being given free business support by Enterprising Barnsley, which is run by Barnsley Council.

The company employs 15 staff, having taken on three apprentices and two new upholsterers due to increased demand from customers since the beginning of this year. Adam has recently developed a purpose-built trade showroom in Barnsley and will launch his new line of hand-made traditional mattresses at the National Bed Federation Trade Show in Telford this month.

Enterprising Barnsley has assisted Adam with marketing, contracting, HR and employment matters.

Adam, who now plays for a Sheffield Futsal team, said: “Enterprising Barnsley has helped us to develop our business from scratch and giving us the confidence to go forward. They are always on hand to lend a hand and give us the benefit of expert advice.”

Angela Pedley from Enterprising Barnsley said: “Adam is confident and ambitious and it is great to see how well he has developed his business and created jobs over the last ten years. By Charles and Charles builds on Barnsley’s history and Adam’s family tradition of bed-making and I’m sure it has potential to grow more in the future as Adam sets his sights on the EU export market.”

Enterprising Barnsley offers a wide range of free business support to small and medium-sized businesses with growth potential. The programme is supported financially by the European Union and has attracted £3,015,276 investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development, through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme.

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