Old Woking

The village of Old Woking has been largely re-built due to dilapidations and pre dates Woking by 1000 years.

Old Woking has easy access to the A3 and M25 and is 2.5 miles from Woking Town Centre, Woking Railway Station is a short drive from the village.

The area contains many historic buildings and landmarks one of which being St Peters Church which is a grade I listed building, dating from the 12th century.

Many homes in the area are semi detached, there have been some new building, the most impressive of which being Gresham Mill which used to be a Victorian printing mill once the home of Unwins the printing firm.

The Mill has now been converted into luxury apartments by Linden Homes and further apartments have been built to the same style as the Mill, the development is set in 7.4 acres of landscaped gardens, and one of The Rivers Weys backwater streams run though the development making for a setting of blissful tranquillity which resembles a nature reserve.

Old Woking is also the home of Harvey Water Softeners (founded by Harvey Bowden), its one of the largest manufacturers of Water Softeners in the UK

The company was established in 1978, at that time the American company Permutit dominated the UK market, it was very well established in industrial applications but struggled in the domestic market due to the size of the machine, as Permutit had a good reputation Harvey decided to promote the product, however as it was quite large and needed the controls altered every time the number of people in the house changed, invariably the controls did not get altered and the household ran into hard water from time to time. Harvey Bowden thought that there must be a better way to soften the water in the home and set about designing a new type of softener. whilst trying to find a valve to suit his new design he came across a company at a trade exhibition in the U.S.A. who had such a valve on their softeners, The American softeners were too large for the British market as the mains stopcock in England is typically under the kitchen sink, so a new smaller cabinet was designed and this was the called the MK1, the first design had two cabinets one for the salt and one for the softener, this softener incorporated the American valve as did the two updates mentioned below.

Very quickly the MK1 softener became a market leader with its twin cylinder, non-electric design. This was followed by the Compac, which had the salt and softener in one cabinet

Harvey then introduced Harvey’s Block Salt to the softener. It made salt loading easier and was packaged in boxes with a handle, and was so much lighter than the 25kg bags of tablet salt and much more convenient for the user and a new cabinet was designed making the softener the smallest ever.

In 2001 Harvey went back to the drawing board to invent a new British softener, so did not need the American valve any more, the new softener, had many improvements, better flow rates, used less water, ect.

As Harvey Water softeners are now a full manufacturer they have built a new impressive factory and their expansion has meant that they are in constant need of more space so nearby buildings have been purchased and converted to accommodate the growing company.

Kevin Goody (UK Water Softeners) has been looking after the residents of Old Woking since he started the business over 19 years ago, he now has over 4500 customers, and is one of Harvey Water Softeners top dealers, if you would like to see how soft water would benefit your home then phone Kevin Goody on 01276 27924.


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