(Apologies for the dull posting)

About 5 years ago we bought a sofa from Next… never again. The 3 seater has no central support at all.

We’ve recently moved and are now looking to get quite a big corner sofa (possibly in leather).

We’ve looked at SofaSofa and Sofology – but nothing jumps out.

Any suggestions please?

I’d be inclined to look in John Lewis or House of Fraser.

I think that sofas are now considered disposable as the fashion dictates. Five years out of a sofa isn’t too bad.
The last decent one I bought came from a store in Cannock, near Sainsbuys some 20 years ago and is still going strong.
Current sofa is a G Plan from John Lewis, the previous one went back to John Lewis as the fabric was crap. The current one seems ok, but I won’t get 20 years out of it.
Natuzzi or some of the designer shops like Chattels would be a good start.

PlanetX, or am I just getting confused with similar pricing strategies? 😆

Very happy with ours from sofa.com Looks like they build them to last.

Five years out of a sofa isn’t too bad.

Really, ours are 15 years old, although since we got two cats they need new covers as the arms have been scratched so badly they now have a few small holes appearing. I’d be happy just to get them recovered but it’s probably cheaper to buy a new set….

We’ve got a Laura Ashley one and it’s good. JL are a good option because customer service; sitting on them is the answer

Barker and Stonehouse for our last one, 5yr old and still looks new l, great quality and do 0% finance too – or did when we got ours.

Seriously worth looking second hand, as you can get really high quality ones (especially big corner sofas) for next to nothing. Paid £10 for our last one and it is in really decent nick. Just need a big trailer or van to collect.

Laura Ashley, we have a leather sofa from them, 12 years old now. Still looks good, almost like new. Be disappointed if we didn’t get another 12 Out of it.

We also have a John Lewis corner sofa we bought on eBay in the garden room. Cost us 220 it’s been really abused by the kids but is standing up OK considering. Glad we didn’t pay new prices for it but worth looking at.

Dunno what your budget is, but we went to JL and bought an own brand three seater for £600, it’s ok, but it squeaks quite a lot and seems to be bobbling where my arse goes. We also bought a g-plan one at the same time, it was much more expensive, but it’s comfier the and construction is clearly in a different class.

Where are you? Some decent small companies around Derby/Nottingham area, used to be quite a big industry from what I can gather. Knightons now the main one.

Five years out of a sofa isn’t too bad.

Five years out of a sofa isn’t even remotely acceptable.

As MoreCash says. Long Eaton in Notts is where all the highend beech framed sofas are made. You can buy direct and costs will be similar to DFS etc…

There are at least 5 or 6 companies you can deal with in that area.

Do NOT, repeat, DO NOT buy from Debenhams.

We were struggling to afford John Lewis (our first choice), and the Debehams drew us in with a half price January sale offer.

They are made of cheese, splintery 2×1 and a disregard for anything nearing engineering or design for strength.

In addition, Debenhams refused to ‘find’ our warranty information, despite a receipt and credit card bill being produced. Only when we went to do a ‘chargeback’ on CC did they miraculously find our record.

They then sent a man round who stated that creaking and one sofa sagging like sitting on a hammock was OK. Cue three more months of arguing and letters before a second man came round, who agreed there was an issue. He then walloped in three over long screws and a set of small brackets (in tension, not compression), so they that repair lasted 6 months.

We are now out of warranty, Debenhams refuse to do anything, and i have repaired and re-built the base of one of the sofa’s myself.

£1200 for a pair of sofa’s that last under three years…

Utter tosh. Lewis’s next time for us.

I lost a John Sankey Goya sofa in the boxing day floods, still looking for a replacement. I quite like the Tetrad traditional leather sofas, the Degas and Churchill, not a corner sofa tho. They’re the only leather ones I’ve considered.

We have 2x Sofa Sofa 3-seaters than are primarily all-day beds for our two hounds – 11 years old now, but the leather is good quality and comes up really well after a clean. Really solidly built. My wife wanted a footstool and they saw that we had previously ordered the older model and matched the leather/fabric.

our two from sofa workshop are going strong after 10 years. Bit faded where they’re sat in the sun, but not too bad.

Cushions and bases still near perfect.

Dave

Ikea maybe?

Gumtree for the poshest postcode you can drive to. Collect a bargain.

We’ve done it twice and the things are immaculate. We’ve realised rich people don’t eat chocolate biscuits and spill tea on theirs. Lovely.

Ercol or Ekornes for sofas, find a local stockist and be prepared to hand over a fair sized wedge. We have Ekornes sofas that are getting on for 30 years old from them, they need recovering which is going to be a bit spendy too as they are proper upholstery not loose fit covers.

Furniture Village has different sofas from different manufacturers and have a sale on. Once you see a decent quality one, you soon can see why others are cheap.

BIN ALL OF THE ABOVE 😀

Try the Tetrad factory outlet store – they have a Facebook page.

Caveat: You have to collect from Chorley/ Preston

Marks and Spencer. Well built and great customer service. Ours are two years old and have had two children, a big dog, and me mistreating them. They still look pristine. I was recommend by my Dad and he knows about that sort of thing.

Thanks all – great suggestions!!

Our budget is up to £1000 but if we can pick up a used bargain so that we can spend more elsewhere on our living room refurb then all the better 🙂

I was just going to write Tetrad then I noticed they’d been name checked.

We bought a couple of sofas and a chair from them in 1993. The shape is very similar to the nicer stuff sold in shops today but the leather was getting a bit creased and scratched. We paid a leather doctor £200 to renovate them and he did a complete strip of the coating, a colour match re-dye of the marked bits then a polish and re-coat. Took him about 4 hours at our place.

They’re not like new – but they’re looking like something one year old. Fantastic.

As said above, look for 2nd hand quality and get a bloke in to do a re-furb.

multiyork

If you’re up North Red Brick Mill in Batley is well worth a visit.

+1 for Markies. Good solid stuff, nice material.

Also +1 for second hand from folk with so much cash they can’t think what to do with it , apart from getting rid of stuff to replace with more stuff. You’ll regularly find sofas in pristine nick for peanuts.

Not sure I’d go do far as to suggest going to Long Eaton…. 😉

Couldn’t resist :

Sofa king

Wesley Barell – but they are not cheap. If they have a store near you worth looking at what they have on sale. They will rebuild any sofa they have made – we bought a suite from them that they had made for a photo shoot – it was white and about half price. When sofa got damaged in a radiator leak they took the sofa back and rebuilt it. The two chairs are 18 years old and are just about run in.

Other option listed above is Ercol. We have one that I paid full price for about 20 years ago – needs cushions re-covering but otherwise has survived childen and pets. They were horribly out of fashion a few years ago and we picked up a couple of small sofas for 100ukp plus delivery – probably a 20th of what they were worth originally. Now a bit more sought after and I haven’t looked recently on ebay but if you can find a decent one and be prepared to get cushions recovered you will still have a bargain.

Laura Ashley’s not a bad shout. My wife had one second hand when we met and it’s now moved on to mum’s sun room where it’s doing a great job.

We got a 3 seater, 2 seater and foot stool from ScS a year or so ago. No complaints, it is comfy, holding shape and caused no problems.

IKEA – if you don’t mind jigsaw puzzles.

Your local faceboak for sale page, take advantage of all the fashion victim gudders.

Another vote for John Sankey if you see a second hand one. Lovely furniture!

Another vote for M&S here. I bought my after recommendation from my mother (and mothers know best right). My folks sofa must be at least 15years old now and has been re-covered once when they redecorated and still looks almost new.

I bought mine near Xmas time when they are discounting them to change to new season stock. Can get some cracking offered and on not just stick items. Mine were end of line but still built to order.

Think I got 1/3 off if you bought two pieces (I.e. A sofa and chair) on the original reduced end of line price. Then they had an extra 10% off if you took out the credit card and that gave you 18months interest free credit on purchases.

Mine is just coming up to 2 years and if you straighten the cushions looks brand new. Not been jumped on by kids or dogs mind you.