Housewares Magazine Editor Will McGill took the trip down south to the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells to meet Sarah Wood, Managing Director of the iconic Trevor Mottram cookshop. As the store marks its 50th anniversary, she reflects on the shop’s enduring appeal, her insights into the ever-evolving housewares sector, and what it takes to keep an independent retail gem thriving.
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town full of elegant charm and curious quirks—from the historic Chalybeate Spring where visitors once “took the waters,” to the legendary Tunbridge Wells Gnome, and the famously fussy “Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.” Nestled in the heart of its Georgian jewel, the Pantiles, sits Trevor Mottram, a cookshop that’s become a beloved local institution—and this year, it’s proudly celebrating 50 years of delighting customers.
Since opening its doors in 1975, the world has changed dramatically—Britain joined (and left) the EU, the internet was invented, mobile phones shrank from bricks to pockets, and royal weddings, recessions, and revolutions have come and gone. Through it all, Trevor Mottram has stood firm, evolving with the times while keeping its charm and character intact.
Bursting with colour, the shop remains the go-to for cookware, bakeware, gadgets, and gifts that excite home cooks and seasoned chefs alike. From enamel pie dishes to French pepper mills, and everything in between, it’s a treasure trove of culinary joy, and proof that good service, great products, and a sprinkle of charm never go out of style.
Q&A
Question (Q): How did the business start?
Sarah Wood (SW): Trevor was an interior designer, and he was married to my Aunty Mindy. They had been working out in Uganda for quite a long time but returned to the UK when Idi Amin came to power. They took over a hardware store—Ellis Brothers in Rye—selling paint, screws, and things like that.
They then turned it into a cookshop. Mindy and Trevor later separated, with Mindy continuing to run that shop until she passed away a few years ago. Trevor and his new wife found the location here in Tunbridge Wells and essentially repeated what they had done before.
That was back in 1975. It was very traditional—black and white, steel, white plates, stainless steel. I suppose that’s just what was popular at the time. It was also the era when you’d find those lasagne dishes with the recipe printed in the centre. And Trevor would have died rather than have something like that in the shop!
The vision was always to sell products that people aspired to own—things that would elevate their lives—and that ethos is still very much true today.
Trevor eventually retired because he went off to design wine bars and things like that. His wife, Wendy, then took over the shop. And she soon worked out that actually, people did want more variety—more colour, more individuality—in their kitchens.
Q: When did you start to get involved?
SW: So, when I started here, we had moved down from Cambridge for my husband’s job. I was working for a credit management agency and hated it. We were at Amphidina one night, and Trevor mentioned he wanted to open an interior shop, actually. Then he changed his mind—Wendy, his wife, wasn’t very well, and they were planning to move to France, so he wanted to sell this shop. Several bottles of wine later, I agreed to buy it.
Almost immediately after, I found out I was pregnant. So my son is nine months older than the time we’ve effectively had the shop. He was nine months old when I started here. I was running it with my cousin Sophie, who is Trevor’s daughter. I didn’t get much maternity leave!
It was tough running a shop when you’re a bit baby-brained and learning a new industry. I’d grown up in the restaurant business, so I knew customer service, but what really helped me was that I’m a very keen cook—which means I know what I’m talking about.
Q: How did you stay on top of current trends?
SW: I keep an eye on what’s trending on TikTok and Instagram, and publications such as Housewares Magazine provide invaluable insights. TV also plays a huge role. It can be a bit of a pain because people come into the shop and say things like, “I’d like the knife James Martin used this morning.” Of course, we try our best, but it’s hard not to say, “I was working here in the shop, so I really don’t know!”
Being independent means we don’t have to go through multiple channels to decide whether to stock a product. If it works, we can make the decision almost immediately—there’s no bureaucracy.
That’s one of the many benefits. We can manoeuvre much more quickly, and I’m not afraid to give feedback if something doesn’t work.
I attend many shows, including Exclusively and Ambiente, which I think is the best show in the world. This year was my first since COVID, but I will definitely be going back next year—although Frankfurt has become rather expensive. It’s exhausting, 22,000 steps every day, but it’s those moments when you meet a supplier with amazing products, and a John Lewis or a Fenwick’s hasn’t been to that section of the show, that you can get a deal at a great price. That’s a good feeling because you know, and hope, that customers will like it, and you might have just found yourself a great new supplier that no one else knows about.
Q: You are celebrating 50 years of Trevor Mottram, a tremendous milestone. How do you feel about it? How have things changed?
SW: Well, I’ve been here for just over half that time, roughly 27 years, but it is certainly a great achievement. When you see many friends who’ve had to close their shops, I can only thank the wonderful people who have supported us. We’ve had some really fantastic people work here, all of whom have worked incredibly hard, and I’m always grateful for that.
It’s lovely when customers come in and say, “I used to come here with my mum when I was five, and now I’m bringing my own children.”
But the way people shop has changed drastically, as have people themselves. It’s rather depressing when someone wanders in with earbuds in—you’re trying to talk to them, offer help or guidance, and they just say, “We’re just browsing.”
A lot of the younger generation don’t really know how to be served—we’re so used to self-service that we forget how to interact in a shop. When I first started here, customers would walk straight to the counter and ask for what they wanted before browsing. Now, people wander around glued to their phones, probably hunting for one particular thing, and then they say, “Why is it so expensive?” Well, that’s because it’s made in Denmark and it’s a high-quality item.
When you go into a German department store, you find German brands, and it’s no different here. We don’t celebrate British or own brands enough, whereas before they were much more prominent.
To celebrate our anniversary, some of our suppliers have kindly donated products, and we’re running raffles with winners announced on our Instagram.
The actual anniversary day is December 7, and we might be doing something special then, so it’s very much a “watch this space” kind of thing.
Q: Which brands do you stock? Which products are selling well, and why do you think that is?
SW: We stock a lot of British brands such as Silverwood Bakeware, Mermaid, and similar names. We even carry Dexam’s range of British knives.
At the moment, though, Japanese knives are really popular—that’s one of the big trends right now.
Q: Can you tell us about some of the highs and lows of running a business today?
SW: Staffing is always a challenge, but I’ve found it usually sorts itself out in the end. I often worry it’ll be harder than it turns out to be.
Theft has definitely increased, which is a whole new experience for us. The advice is not to challenge thieves and just let them go, but then they tell their friends, and suddenly you’ve got a regular problem. We even have “regular shoplifters,” which really leaves me speechless.
Our store manager, Sarah, is married to a police officer, so she’s brilliant at handling these incidents—no one argues with her!
It’s driven by the cost-of-living crisis, and to be brutally honest, a lot of it is just feeding a bad habit.
Another challenge is that the store is in a very old building. Winters seem to get colder every year—probably because we’re all getting older!—and summers are definitely getting hotter.
Competing against the internet is huge. For example, a customer might see something they like and ask if we have it in their size. If we don’t, we can order it, but it takes around 10 days. The customer knows they can order it online and have it the next day, so that’s tough.
But there are plenty of highs too. We’ve won several awards, including Best Cookshop and the Buying Award twice at the Housewares Magazine Awards, which meant a lot. We also won an award in Chicago this year [2025] at the GIA Awards.
Another high for me is just being my own boss. The freedom it’s given me is incredible. I could see my family more, attend the children’s school plays when they were younger, and spend quality time with my husband—things we simply couldn’t have done in previous jobs.
I’ve realised I just couldn’t work for anyone else—I’d probably get sacked; my timekeeping is terrible!
But running the shop has given us a better quality of life, even if the money isn’t quite the same. You just can’t put a price on spending time with family.
It’s also the camaraderie of everyone who works here. We celebrate all our birthdays together because they fall around the same time. Being here doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy it so much. That’s the thing about this industry—the bond I’ve built with everyone over the years is just incredible.
Q: Are you members of any associations? And if so, why?
SW: We are Bira members, mainly because they offer a better credit card deal—that’s why we chose them. We’re also still members of the Cookout Group, which has kind of faded a bit. It’s a buying group of 22 independent cookshops, but many of those shops have now closed.
Q: Who are your main competitors? And how do you ensure your customers choose you instead of your rivals?
SW: One of the biggest competitors is actually the suppliers themselves. They can create a D2C (direct-to-consumer) website much faster than a B2B one, and I can understand why they’re doing it. But the least they could do is offer us the same deals they give consumers. It makes it almost impossible to compete when they instantly launch a 20% off sale for customers. Of course, there are a number of suppliers who are very honourable and respect our business. Paul Shelley at Haus is great because he also owns his own shop, Simmer and Slice in Staffordshire, so he really understands.
Another challenge is the number of returns we have to manage. I read somewhere it’s a statistical fact that consumers are more likely to return an item to an independent shop than to a department store. That’s because they assume we’ll accept returns, which we do, but they think department stores won’t. Sadly, that’s just the way of the world.
We make sure everyone who works here has tried every product we stock, so they have real-world experience of using them. It also helps us know that the product is worth stocking because it’s high quality.
Amazon isn’t really a competitor in my eyes because we focus on high-quality products, which they don’t. We also have TK Maxx in Tunbridge Wells, HomeSense, and a department store called Hoopers just a couple of minutes’ walk from us.
After 50 years, Trevor Mottram remains a staple in Tunbridge Wells, blending tradition with a clear understanding of what today’s home cooks want. Sarah Wood’s hands-on approach and passion for quality keep the shop relevant, despite the challenges of modern retail. It’s a reminder that independent shops still have an important place, offering something you just can’t get online.
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