A rapidly-growing warehouse, distribution and contract packing company has moved into new headquarters worth more than £350,000 in Pocklington and earned praise from an MP.

More than 40 of the 50 staff of RSH Warehousing Ltd have moved out of cramped conditions of little more than 1,000sq ft on the old Beecroft haulage site in Pocklington into a sleek, new 4,500sq ft base in York Road.

Formally opening the Georgian-style development, John Townend, Tory MP for Yorkshire East, complimented the teamwork of the family-owned firm which has seen massive expansion since it was established in 1970 by Stephen Howdle, the managing director and chairman.

At the time the business consisted of 5,000sq ft of rented storage space at the Elvington airfield, serving the food industry.

Today, with a turnover of up to £4 million, it has 300,000sq ft of quality warehousing on 32 acres, spread over three sites, two in Pocklington and one in Beningbrough, where eight staff are still based. It also has a new and thriving packing facility on the Beecroft site, offering services such as shrink wrapping and re-labelling.

And it regularly delivers to giant food multiples like J Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway, Asda, Somerfield, Waitrose, Kwik Save, the Co-op, Aldi, Netto and Morrisons. It also distributes for the likes of Nurdin & Peacock and Bookers Cash & Carry and for the toy and greetings card sectors. The new headquarters, built in ten months by F Hall & Sons of Hull and designed by architect Chris Gower, is one of a number of major milestones recorded by the firm over the past 28 years.

RSH became a limited company in July 1971 coinciding with a move to larger premises at Wilberfoss. It outgrew this base by July 1979 and moved on to the Pocklington industrial estate. Then in 1990 RSH expanded again by acquiring the Beecroft site at Pocklington and by 1993 had bought the 12 acre site of the failing Flowers distribution organisation at Beningbrough where it invested heavily in redevelopment of the site with new warehousing.

But 18 months ago, when RSH leased offices and warehouse facilities to Advance Natural Fuel on the Pocklington industrial estate, its own staff was forced to cram into offices at the Beecroft site.

Michael Andrew, development director and son-in-law of Stephen Howdle, said: "It was too small to have my own office. I became a sort of nomad, pitching my tent where I could. For me, as well as others, the new headquarters could not be built quickly enough.

"Now I have my office and there is room at some future stage to expand by taking on more jobs, if necessary, although we have already taken on three more people to operate the packaging side to meet new contracts."

Also directors of the company are Mr Howdle's daughter, Joanne Andrew and son, Stephen, plus Jeff Gillyon, joint managing director, and David Watson.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.