No one can pretend things have been anything but tough in the furniture business in recent years. But, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

And that certainly applies to Homestyle, the sofa manufacturing business which Keith Measor set up in a chicken shed 25 years ago — and which now has an annual turnover of more than £1m.

He said: “Even in these difficult trading times we can’t just sit back. We must move forward and give the customer exactly what he or she wants. Times change and you simply react to trading conditions. Never moan.”

Now the business is expanding into retail. It last year opened its first Sofa Studio store in Reading and, earlier this year, opened its second in Botley Road, Oxford.

Mr Measor, 59, says he has furniture in his blood. He gained his upholstery skills in the then capital of British furniture manufacturing, High Wycombe, where he became a teenage apprentice.

By the age of 21 he had started his own business — in a workshop on the side of his house in High Wycombe.

He re-upholstered sofas and gained a good reputation but always planned to start his own manufacturing operation.

He said: “That was always my dream. And in 1985 I got the chance. Joe Jennings rented me the chicken shed on what has now developed into the highly successful Monument Business Park.”

In fact his business grew as the Chalgrove-based business park expanded and he regards Mr Jennings as his mentor.

One of the reasons for that is the fact Mr Jennings helped him negotiate a grant from the Rural Development Board which helped him buy an essential piece of kit — an industrial fabric cutter.

Now Homestyle employs 12 people in the factory — which is still at the Monument Business Park 25 years on — including some who have been there since the start. And it is also a real family operation.

His wife, Gloria, runs the manufacturing side, while daughter Tiffany manages telephone sales and administration. And son-in-law Andrew Cruickshank is in charge of frame-making and upholstery. Even pet poodles Diva and Drew are always on site!

But why branch out into retail when he had already built up an enviable business in manufacturing and supplying other retailers nationwide?

Mr Measor said: “Passion. It’s simply something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Also, two years ago, he joined forces with retailer Mohammed Shiek, owner of Oaks men’s outfitter in Golden Cross, Oxford, who is backing his plan to eventually set up a chain of Sofa Studios.

And, returning to the question of doing business when times are hard as fewer people are moving home, and not buying new furniture, he added: “I don’t subscribe to gloom and doom. Just get on with it.

“I might not have been able to move into these premises for Sofa Studio without the recession, as I may not have been able to afford it. Now I have it, and I will be in a good position when the recovery comes along.”

As he spoke I was sitting comfortably — very comfortably — on a sofa called the Dorchester, a replica of the very first sofa he produced in that chicken shed, and which still sells well today for £2,000, plus two chairs.

He reminisced how he took the first Dorchester to retailer Viners in Abingdon back in 1983, and how customers there liked it immediately.

All Homestyle sofas are named after Oxfordshire towns, with good reason too, according to Mr Measor: “We are the only place where Oxfordshire people can buy sofas that are entirely built in Oxfordshire. And that matters to a lot of customers.”

It has practical advantages, too. For example lines of communication are short, so if a customer sees a sofa they want in the Sofa Studio, but finds it is too small, or too large, for their room, it is easy to get one made in the right size, since the factory is just down the road.

And talking of sizes, Mr Measor is particularly proud of an invention of his own.

“If you are tall but your wife is short, there is a simple way that one half of a sofa can be made to fit her.”

And here he demonstated an extra, removable piece of padding tailored to go behind the cushions to reduce the seat depth on just one side of the sofa, while remaining completely hidden.

Certainly, Mr Measor is a good salesman and good at getting his products in front of prospective buyers. Now he is planning a local advertising campaign pushing his “unique designs of Oxford”.

He is a keen member of the the British Furniture Manufacturers’ Association and supports its current ‘Ask If It Is’ campaign, designed to promote British-made furniture — and fight the stream of imported goods.

So, are you sitting comfortably? If not, going along to the Studio might give you some ideas about what to do about it.

Name: Homestyle/the Sofa Studio Owner: Keith Measor Established: 1972 Number of staff: 14 Annual turnover: £1m

Contact: 01865 891504 Web: www.thesofastudio.co.uk