Serkan Senoi, Goss Marble, Bolton

EVERY year, thousands of tonnes of beautiful slate, stone and marble from quarries around the world end up in Bolton.

Not that it stays there long as Bolton-based Goss Marble sends it all over Britain and exports it to Ireland, Spain and Dubai.

In a competitive market, it has gained a reputation for high-quality marble, travertine, applestone, limestone, slate and granite tiles, sourced from Turkey, India, Iran, Brazil and Italy.

From its Waters Meeting Business Park base, the company supplies architects, builders, developers and retail outlets and recently won a contract to supply marble for a new 110-room Holiday Inn hotel in London.

Managing director Serkan Senol said: “Through family origins, we made connections with a leading quarry in Turkey that gave us distinct advantage in establishing Goss Marble in 2005.

“With the first suppliers secured, we contacted other quarries in India, Iran, Brazil and Italy to increase the range of stone offered to customers and appeal to a wider spectrum of the market. By late 2006, we had three locations across Bolton which was becoming difficult to manage and so in early 2007 we relocated to one site in the Valley.”

Mr Senol set up Goss Marble after he worked in a specialist brick distributor firm where he spotted there was a gap in the UK market for securing natural stone at the right price.

Now aged 29, he manages the company, his father, Oguz Serkan, is chairman, and his brother Gokhan has just finished university and has joined the firm.

Mr Senol added: “We are planning to undertake £150,000 investment in new machinery in the next three months to start in-house production.

“This product extension provides the business with high-value margin returns while eliminating competitive pressures.”

The company is also building a small showroom so suppliers can see how the product looks in-situ.