Our History

The Lukehursts were a well-known family in the Sittingbourne and Medway area long before Gerald opened his first store in Rainham in 1970.

Having managed the long-established Sittingbourne business, John Peters, for over 25 years, Gerald decided he wanted to run his own business, and so, at the somewhat surprising age of 53, he opened his own shop. The first day’s sale at Lukehurst – the sale of a pillow - amounted to 4 shillings and 11 pence.

Two years later Gerald’s son Martin joined the company aged 22 and they expanded the business, opening a store at Watling Street in Chatham in 1972. They developed still further in the late 1970’s opening three units in the Rainham shopping centre. Two years later, they moved the flagship store into the former Lipton’s supermarket on Rainham High Street, adding another 10,000 square feet to their floor space.The Sittingbourne store opened in 1983, taking over the former Nash’s furniture store in the High Street - realising a dream for Gerald to return to Sittingbourne after a break of 13 years.

Gerald retired in 1987, with Martin carrying on running the business. In 2010 Lukehurst move into larger premises in the retail park outlet in Mill Way, Sittingbourne.

In 2014 a third generation joined the business when Kathryn, Gerald’s granddaughter and Martin’s daughter, started working with Martin. Then in 2015 they purchased and moved to their own premises, Bargebrick House, on Eurolink Way Sittingbourne.

Their Rainham and Sittingbourne stores both offer a wide range of furniture, beds and accessories, and the Sittingbourne store also offers curtains, carpets and flooring. In Rainham, they also have the Chapel, which specialises in carpets & flooring, curtains, blinds & soft furnishings and wallpaper.

Lukehurst also have a 10,000 square feet warehouse on the Eurolink estate in Sittingbourne, which is used for the daily dispatch and delivery of carpets, furniture and beds throughout the region.

The company now employs 35 people and the business has increased somewhat from that first day in October 1970 when just 25 pence was taken!