Our Story
Radrestore restores and builds cast iron radiators from a workshop in Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, stripping, repairing and hand-finishing every one to Guild of Master Craftsmen standards. It started with one man hand-polishing radiators in a barn on a Cheshire farm in 2012, became Radrestore in 2014, and has been restoring cast iron radiators — and the history inside them — ever since.
- The radiator’s story
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1841
The earliest cast iron radiator patents are filed in America — the first serious attempts to move heat around a building through pipework, rather than relying on an open fire in every room.
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1863
American engineers Joseph Nason and Robert Briggs patent the design usually credited as the first true radiator: vertical wrought iron tubes screwed into a cast iron base.
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1872
Nelson H. Bundy patents the “Bundy Loop” — a cast iron radiator that becomes hugely popular and helps drive the design toward the sectional radiators still restored today.
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Victorian era → 1950s
Cast iron becomes a decorative feature in its own right in Victorian homes. Central heating doesn’t reach most British houses until the early 20th century — and stays a luxury for many well into the 1950s.
- Fast-forward 170 years — to a barn on a Cheshire farm.
- The Radrestore story
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2012
A gap in the market
Peter Donoghue is plumbing for another trade cast iron radiator company when he spots a gap: nobody offers a proper hand-polished finish. He starts Pete’s Polishing Services in a barn on a Cheshire farm — self-taught, working from a bench built out of wooden pallets.
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2013
Leaving the farm
A year on, Peter leaves the barn for a proper unit of his own and takes on his first member of staff, to help fulfil growing demand for hand-polished radiators.
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2014
Radrestore is born
A rebrand marks a bigger shift: not just a hand-polished finish, but full restoration of old original cast iron radiators too. Peter and his team teach themselves the tools and methods to handle historic ironwork properly.
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2016
Room to grow
Flourishing and at capacity, Radrestore moves into a larger unit in Greater Manchester. Every new team member is trained in every stage of polishing and restoration — and other trade companies in the sector start sending their own radiators here to be restored.
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2020
A different way of working
2020 is a hard year for almost everyone. It forces Radrestore to think and work differently — but it doesn’t stop Peter and the team pushing on and growing.
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2023
A family business, growing
Radrestore now has 8 members of staff, and Peter’s wife Hannah is helping head the business alongside him. The team has restored radiators for graded manor houses, hotels and developments across the country — with no plans to stop.
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2024
Independently recognised
Radrestore becomes a member of the Guild of Master Craftsmen — assessed by a Guild Regional Assessor, with insurance and customer references verified.
Proud members of the Guild of Master Craftsmen — assessed by a Guild Regional Assessor, with insurance and customer references verified. See our Guild profile. -
Today
Where we are now
Radrestore restores original cast iron radiators, builds new ones, and runs a full restoration service for radiators customers already own — every job backed by our 25-year Cast Iron Guarantee.
The craft continues
Every radiator we touch carries this whole history forward — a Victorian idea, kept alive by hand.
Want more? Nerd out on over 180 years of radiator history.
Workshop: Unit 8, Station Road Industrial Estate, Reddish, SK5 6ND · Phone: 0161 843 8163
Showroom: Mon–Fri 8:00am–4:00pm; weekends by appointment. A quick call before you set off means someone’s free to show you round.