After more than 70 years making memorials in West Drayton, Middlesex, WJ Lafford has sold its premises there for development and moved production to The Stone Yard near Alton, Hampshire, that it took over in 2005.

Lafford sells a wide range of granite, marble and stone memorials and is especially famous for its carved marble and Nabresina memorials. The company sells memorials to retail memorial masons across the UK – and is continuing to do so.

But with granite dominating the memorial market these days it had become difficult to maintain workshops in West Drayton and Alton, with the duplication of masonry skills that involved.

“We are pleased to retain all of our staff and will concentrate on providing high quality, stone memorials at great prices to new and existing customers,” says Alexis Sancisi, one of the current directors whose grandfather started the company.

Lafford is a long-standing member of the national Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM). Alexis sits on its General Council and Lafford’s five memorial fixers have City & Guild fixing qualifications introduced by NAMM and are on its Register of Qualified Memorial Fixers.

Although production will move to Alton, Lafford are maintaining a presence in Middlesex in a new showroom two miles from their former premises. It will open next month (February).

When Lafford expanded into Alton it gave the company the opportunity to develop its presence in the worktop market. It will continue to make worktops, which will be displayed in the new showroom in West Drayton as well as continuing to be displayed in the showroom in Alton.

“Our new shop will be mainly for retailing memorials, but it will also introduce our stone interiors into Middlesex and South Buckinghamshire,” says Alexis.

Memorial masonry customers will still be able to use the same West Drayton telephone number (01895 442441) to place their orders, or can call the Hampshire number (01420 562500).