144-146 Brownedge Road, Lostock Hall, Preston, PR5 5AE 01772 336118  ·  Mon–Sat 10am–5pm
Carpet & Furniture Supplies Preston · Lancashire

Woven in Portadown since 1938

Ulster Carpets

Axminster, Wilton and tufted loop carpets, woven in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Grange Wilton Parmesan carpet in a panelled hall
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Ulster have been weaving carpet in Portadown since 1938, and they are one of a small number of manufacturers still doing it properly in the British Isles. We stock the full residential range: nineteen collections covering woven Axminster, woven Wilton and tufted loop.

We have been selling Axminster from this shop for more than sixty-five years, which is long enough to have watched the trade move almost entirely to tufted carpet. Woven carpet is a different thing to choose and a different thing to lay, and these pages are here to tell you what each range is actually like to live with.

The collections

Nineteen ranges, grouped by how they are made

Axminster

Axminster weaving inserts each tuft individually from a fixed palette of yarns, which is why it can carry complex multi-colour patterns.

Ulster Anatolia Scroll Aswan carpet in a panelled sitting roomWoven AxminsterAnatoliaTraditional oriental medallions and scrolls, with matching 27in stair runners.View the rangeUlster Carpets Athenia Motif Wine carpet swatchWoven AxminsterAtheniaSmall-scale motifs and pindots, with matching stair runners.View the rangeUlster Beaumont Granary plaid carpet, overheadWoven AxminsterBeaumontA single plaid design in ten colourways, from chalk through to deep grouse.View the rangeUlster Blossom Camellia floral carpet in an attic bedroomWoven AxminsterBlossomA single delicate oriental floral, in Camellia and Opal.View the rangeUlster Braeburn Estuary plaid carpet with an armchairWoven AxminsterBraeburnA plaid Axminster in seven colourways, quiet enough to live with anywhere.View the rangeUlster Carpets Glenavy Kashmir carpet swatchWoven AxminsterGlenavyUlster's traditional patterned Axminster, 18 designs with four matching runners.View the rangeUlster Carpets Glendun Blue Lorenzo carpet swatchWoven AxminsterGlendunFive large-scale traditional designs, for rooms with space to show them.View the rangeUlster Glenmoy Robertson tartan carpet with a record playerWoven AxminsterGlenmoyTraditional florals and orientals, plus genuine tartans.View the rangeUlster Carpets Natura Nahla Bayou carpet swatchWoven AxminsterNaturaContemporary nature-inspired designs drawn large, for big family rooms.View the rangeUlster Carpets Sheriden Cameo Wine carpet swatchWoven AxminsterSheridenA coordinating system — Cameo, Pindot and matching stair runner in six colourways.View the rangeUlster Tazmin Prussian motif carpet with a cream armchairWoven AxminsterTazminMotif, pindot and a matching stair runner, in seven colourways.View the rangeUlster Vescent Vapor Ebony carpet in a sitting room with a fireplaceWoven AxminsterVescentContemporary linear, geometric and mottled designs in 21 colourways.View the rangeUlster Watercolours Mineral Atmosphere carpet in a sitting roomWoven AxminsterWatercoloursPainterly, colour-led Axminster in 15 designs across two families.View the range

Wilton

Wilton runs the yarn continuously through the backing. Fewer colours in a design, but a dense and very even pile — traditionally the plains.

Ulster Grange Wilton Celadon carpet in a hall with garden doorsWoven WiltonGrange WiltonPlain woven Wilton in 49 colours, from pale neutrals to a proper red.View the rangeUlster Velvet Canvas carpet in a sitting room with a fireplaceWoven WiltonUlster VelvetA smooth, dense velvet pile in 32 rich, saturated colours.View the rangeUlster York Wilton Meadow carpet in a drawing roomWoven WiltonYork WiltonThe broadest palette Ulster offer — 60 plain and heather colours.View the range

Tufted Loop

Not woven. The yarn is punched into a backing and left as uncut loops, giving a textured, hard-wearing, more casual finish.

Ulster Habitus Strond Fallow carpet in a beamed sitting roomTufted loopHabitusScandinavian-influenced tufted loop in 100% wool, 24 colourways across two families.View the rangeUlster Carpets Open Spaces Queenstown Jute carpet swatchTufted loopOpen SpacesTufted loop in 58 colourways across five designs, most in New Zealand wool.View the range

Natural Choice

An umbrella collection in 100% undyed wool, spanning all three constructions.

Ulster Natural Choice Blends Moor carpet in a bright roomWoven Axminster, woven Wilton and tufted loopNatural Choice CollectionFour sub-ranges in 100% undyed wool — Axminster, Wilton and two tufted loops.View the range

Why it matters who lays it

Woven carpet is fitted differently

We have been selling Axminster from this shop for over sixty-five years, and our fitters are time-served men who work with woven carpet regularly rather than once in a blue moon.

That matters more than it used to. Something like ninety-five per cent of what goes down in British homes today is tufted, so a great many fitters have simply never had much woven carpet through their hands.

A woven carpet asks for things a tufted one does not. A pattern has to be set out on paper before anything is cut. A repeat has to be carried true up a flight of stairs and round a winder. Pile direction has to run the same way through every piece, or a single colour reads as two.

None of it is difficult for someone who does it week in and week out. All of it goes wrong in the hands of someone who does not.

See the Ulster Carpets ranges in your own light

Woven carpet never reads correctly on a screen, and it rarely reads correctly under showroom lighting either. Come and look at the displays, then take a sample home with you — we are happy to book one out so you can live with it for a few days and see it against your own walls, at your own windows, morning and evening. If it is easier, we will bring samples out to you and measure up while we are there.

Book a free home visitVisit the showroom

144–146 Brownedge Road, Lostock Hall, Preston PR5 5AE · 01772 336118 · Mon–Sat 10am–5pm · Free parking

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