STUBBINS businessman Garry Buck is basking in the warm glow of success after transforming the fortunes of a fireplace company 12 months after taking the helm.

In that period, Lancashire Fireplaces has doubled its workforce and increased the level of supply and installation contracts five-fold.

Thanks to a host of TV house makeover programmes, people are warming to the idea of having a fireplace fitted and these, together with stoves, are now in vogue.

Mr Buck (33), who has been in the trade for eight years, said: "We make and supply a large selection of stone fireplaces, offering a made-to-measure, service. We also deal with stoves. We have our own stonemason and quarry, using local stone as well as importing limestone from Portugal.

"We have 75 working fireplaces on display including stone, marble and contemporary wood surround styles.

"We fit almost two fireplaces a day. Our success all boils down to these house TV programmes. The cost of a new fireplace is not as much as it once was, nor is there the same upheaval.

"Previously, we did not sell stoves but these are now becoming an important part of our business. Many customers go for wood-burning stoves inside a fireplace."

Almost all the work of Lancashire Fireplaces, based on the Cuba Industrial Estate in Bolton Road North, is domestic.

Added Mr Buck: "Although most of our customers are local, weve done work in Carlisle and for two people on the Isle of Man."

Mr Buck said: "I started as a labourer for a fireplace company and I took to it. I studied at night school and did a course on fitting fires and the rest.

"A year ago, the chap who used to run Cheshire Fireplaces was selling and I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. The first thing we did was to change the name. Since then, we have doubled the workforce to six, quadrupled our display of fireplaces and, in our first year, fitted five times the amount of fireplaces than the previous guy."