Buttle plc is an independent Timber and Builders' Merchant with branches in London, St Albans and Leighton Buzzard. Our roots are in timber (we've been selling it since 1919) but today we also sell building materials. Our Head Office is in St Albans, we employ around 35 people and our sales turnover is approaching £8m. We are Investors in People, and several of our employees have worked with us for over 20 years.
Our customers include national house builders, local developers, general contractors, public sector organisations and home improvers- in fact, all users of building materials, however large or small.
We are long-standing members of the Builders' Merchants' Federation and we comply with the BMF Merchant Member Charter. As members of the respected NMBS and H&B buying groups, we are able to purchase materials from the UK's leading manufacturers at competitive prices. We are skilled at sourcing special items for our customers and always aim to provide the right materials at the right time at the right price.
We have a fleet of 8 crane-offloading vehicles and 2 fast response vans. Our normal delivery area includes London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, but we can also arrange deliveries direct from the manufacturer to sites throughout the UK.
Our History
Buttle’s is one of the UK’s longest-established timber and builders’ merchants. Around 125 years ago, George James Buttle left his Essex farming life to start afresh as a sawyer in St Pancras and established a tradition of craftsmanship and service which has been maintained by future generations of his family.
His son, George Harold Buttle, chose a different path. Not content to be just a sawyer in someone else’s sawmill, he saw an opportunity to start his own business by making joinery and wooden parts for pianos and organs. In 1919, during the difficult time just after the end of the Great War, George Harold rented a railway arch in Kentish Town and began trading as a timber merchant.
This became Buttle’s first branch, and the company is still trading there today. Space was at a premium, and the present generations of the family realised that more storage space was needed if the business was to grow. In 1975 a former transport depot in St Albans was purchased to store timber for the London branch. Demand from local customers soon led to this becoming the company’s second branch, complete with a saw shed and timber treatment plant.
Following the lead of the company’s founder, the current Chairman, Peter Buttle, recognised the opportunity to diversify. By adding a full range of building materials such as bricks, blocks and underground drainage and with a fleet of crane-offloading vehicles, Buttle’s became a successful timber and builder’s merchant.
Expansion was now on the agenda, and in 2002 buildings and land were acquired in Leighton Buzzard for Buttle’s third branch, an impressive site with a self-select sales area and saw shed. There was more diversification in 2008, this time into plumbing and heating supplies, with the arrival of PlumbersPal in Kentish Town.
2008 also saw the beginning of one of the worst recessions ever to hit the building industry, but it was a sign of the company’s strength that it was still able to make a significant acquisition. Following the demise of Long & Somerville Builders’ Merchants in 2009, Buttle’s acquired their modern 2.5 acres site in Enfield. In 2013 a second PlumbersPal branch was opened within the vast Enfield warehouse, providing local customers with an impressive one-stop service.
