A Dorset business, a national honour
British Fires marks its King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade with a reception at St James’s Palace, recognition for a company that has never moved far from where it started.
Focal Point Fires, the Christchurch-based manufacturer behind the British Fires brand, has been named a recipient of The King’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, one of the highest accolades available to a British business, and one granted personally by the Sovereign. Michael Athay, Group Managing Director, attended a reception at St James’s Palace on behalf of the company, where he was received by His Majesty King Charles III.
The King’s Award is not lightly given. Winners are assessed over a sustained period against strict criteria, and only a small number of businesses across the whole of the UK receive the honour each year. For a company that began in a workshop in Christchurch, Dorset, in 1983, the recognition marks the latest, and perhaps most significant milestone in a story built almost entirely on staying put and getting better at what it does.
PICTURED ABOVE: New Forest 1600 Electric Fireplace
BUILT WHERE IT STARTED
Focal Point Fires was founded by Ivor Mitchell and Alan Pryke, who remain the company’s owners more than four decades on, a point of some pride in an industry where independent, family-run manufacturers are increasingly rare. The business built its early reputation on gas fires before launching British Fires in 2019, a premium electric fireplace brand distinguished by its use of genuine, hand-sourced real logs rather than artificial alternatives.
That decision to stay close to real materials, has underpinned the brand’s growth into international markets including the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and the UAE. It is that export success, built on relationships with distribution partners abroad rather than any single product launch, that the Award formally recognises.
“When I started this business in 1983, it began with a simple ambition: to build a company founded on quality, innovation and strong relationships. To see how far we’ve come, and to have that work recognised with The King’s Award, means a great deal, not just to me, but to everyone who has been part of this journey over the last four decades.”
— Ivor Mitchell, Founder
WHAT THE RECEPTION RECOGNISED
The reception itself was a formal but understated affair, held to mark the year’s Award recipients across different categories. For Michael Athay, representing a company, the occasion was as much about the people behind the business as the award itself.
“It’s easy to talk about export figures and growth,” Athay said afterwards, “but what this really reflects is a lot of people in Christchurch doing careful, considered work for a long time.”
With the Award now secured, British Fires says its focus remains where it has always been: on manufacturing, on its export partners, and on continuing to grow the British Fires name from the same Dorset base where it began.
CONTACT
T. 01202 588632
E. sales@superiorfires.co.uk
A. 10 Avon Trading Park, Reid Street, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 2BT
