Award-winning kitchenware designer, Robert Welch, has opened a £3 million state-of-the-art business hub with the support of a seven-figure finance facility from HSBC.

The family-run firm based in Chipping Campden has used the funding to combine its warehouse and office functions on to a single site in Evesham.

The new 3,600 sq. ft. business hub will house more than 40 members of staff and includes facilities such as cloakrooms, showers and a leisure space for colleagues to enjoy.

Rupert and Alice Welch, who joined the company alongside their father Robert Welch MBE in 1990, officially opened the site on 6th October 2017, the same day the business was awarded its second Queen's Award for Enterprise for Outstanding Achievement.

The new hub will operate alongside the Old Silk Mill site in Chipping Campden, where Robert Welch founded the business more than 60 years ago.

Rupert said: "This new facility represents a positive move forward for both Robert Welch and the British design industry. We've held a longstanding relationship with HSBC which has supported our business for more than 30 years.

"The team, led by Mark Wilton, has a thorough understanding of the company and is highly supportive of our plans and passion to continue fulfilling our father's legacy of beautiful and timeless designs."

Robert Welch, who became Royal Designer for Industry, set up his first workshop in an 18th century silk mill in Chipping Campden in 1955 and pioneered the introduction of stainless steel cutlery to the UK.

Picture caption: (left to right) HSBC's Mark Wilton, Robert Welch's Rupert Welch and Stuart Jones, HSBC's Georgina Garrett and Peter McIntyre, and (below) the new business hub.