Pod manufacturer builds bigger home

A North Yorkshire company that was established two years ago, has expanded into new premises at Hambleton Grove in Knaresborough.

Anthropods & Co has taken the last remaining unit, 4,000 sq ft of space, at the seven unit industrial and warehousing estate.

The firm which manufactures a range of clamping pods for country landowners and estates, wedding venues, hoteliers, glamping operators and aspiring BnB entrepreneurs in the UK, Europe and beyond, currently employs 6 people.

Doug Adamson, executive chairman from Anthropods & Co, said: “From our bigger base at Hambleton Grove we will manufacture and distribute more pods than ever before and anticipate an increase in orders as a result of staycations in the UK and increasing demand for self-contained holiday accommodation across much of Europe. Despite closing our workshop at the end of March until the middle of June due to Covid-19, we have been able to fulfil orders from across the UK and the Netherlands and respond to many more enquiries with confidence, as the new premises will allow us to increase our production.

“Our Anthropod Daddy Long Legs, which is a five-metre-high glamping pod that sleeps a family of four, remains one of our most popular pods, but all of our pods benefit from fabulous stand-out designs and innovative layouts. In addition to the leisure market, we have also experienced an increase in enquiries from homeowners for our Anthropod GO!, a stylish home office built from sustainable timber that requires no maintenance and uses recycled plastic bottles for insulation. As more people have transitioned to working from home, we expect these pods to increase in popularity and are currently recruiting for new employees to meet this demand.”

Property consultancy Gent Visick let unit 6A at the estate which is less than four miles of the A1 (M) Motorway and half a mile from Knaresborough’s town centre, to the company.

Jonathan Jacob, from Gent Visick, said: “Hambleton Grove is an established industrial estate with an attractive location very close to the A1(M) Motorway. It’s a fully secure site with a loading yard and generous parking provisions. This deal with Anthropods is the latest of six lettings on Hambleton Grove since refurbishment works were undertaken there less than 12 months ago. We are delighted to say the estate is now fully let.”