History

Cotswold Marquees was established in 1987 with a single 30ft x 15ft canvas marquee. Our first hire was in the village of Charlecote, a party to celebrate Margaret Thatcher winning the election. At that time we were known as ‘Stour Marquees’ or ‘Stour Valley Marquee Hire’.

In the early days we only hired traditional ‘peg and pole’ marquees and worked out of farm buildings in the hamlet of St Dennis, located between Shipston-on-Stour and Tysoe. We rapidly out-grew the farm buildings and in 1996 moved to The Old Fruit Store buildings at Longborough near Moreton-in-Marsh, (these buildings have since been demolished). Whilst at Longborough, and now positioned in the heart of the Cotswolds we decided to change the company name to Cotswold Marquees. Our business was expanding year on year so we decided to employ an experienced seamstress to make our interior linings, and we had a PVC welding machine installed. With an ever increasing stock this was now to include clearspan frame marquees covering larger widths and lengths.

By 2003 the buildings at Longborough became too small to contain us and we moved to the Industrial Estate in Lower Brailes, Oxfordshire, to a 9,000 sq ft building with yard space large enough to house our fleet of commercial vehicles. We installed a 2,000 sq ft mezzanine floor to support a large cutting table and, our now two, PVC welding machines.

In 2008 we purchased another 2,000 sq ft building situated next to our main warehouse. We took away the perimeter fencing to increase the overall size of the site. This additional building has now become our dedicated furniture space.

The manufacturing side of our business has grown considerably. Our principle work is fabricating PVC for marquees. We also make the Trevera linings used for marquee and hall linings.

As our expertise in fabrics has developed over the years and we have taken on more diverse and bespoke work. For example we have made several canvas roofs for exhibitors at The Chelsea Flower Show, re-covered decorative gypsy caravans and made covers for trailers, boats and cars. We have even made a cow sling! We have a 'can do' attitude to most projects.

Cotswold Marquees became a limited company with two directors who own and run the company. They have a huge amount of experience between them, in all areas, and will often wherever necessary take a hands on approach.

Cotswold Marquees Ltd has grown from small beginnings into a recognised brand name. We hope it will continue to be associated with great customer care and satisfaction, friendly efficient attitude and ever reliable service.