On the 28th April 1986, Amanda Cale started up an engraving business in her garage. With the help of the Enterprise Allowance Scheme, Amanda was able to run Classy Glass from home and look after her son Christopher Cale, then approaching his first birthday.
The business soon grew from a solo hand engraving service to employing another member of staff, Elizabeth Jones, and the purchase of our first sandblasting machine in 1989 to allow a higher production output.
In 1996 Classy Glass moved to larger premises in the centre of Dursley, a much larger workshop at the bottom of Long Street in one of Lister Petter Diesel Engines old garages, and the company grew again with two more members of staff.
In the early days of the company, business came to us through word of mouth and by many appearances at craft fairs all round the county. By 2000 however, such local business was slowing down and the company considered closing it’s doors. Instead, the company diversified into trophies and commercial engraving, and foreseeing the vast potential in the internet, Amanda invested in our first website; business began to turn around. In 2007 we opened our first webstore and the company’s turnover virtually doubled in it’s first year, with business continuing to climb year on year.
In 2002 Classy Glass became Classy Glass & Awards Ltd when it incorporated.
Our Long Street premises became unviable and so on the 1st June 2015 we moved to our new location at the Wisloe Road Business Park in Cambridge (not the famous one).
In 2016, we celebrated our 30th anniversary and the business continues to go from strength to strength, now employing several of Amanda’s family.
