WHEN Gerard Pennington started his business in 1969 he "didn't have tuppence."

A friend helped him get going with a van load of second-hand office furniture worth £100 and a helpful understanding that he should pay for it when he could.

These days G. F. Pennington and Sons is a well-known Bolton business with a turnover of about £1.5 million.

It supplies new and second-hand furniture such as desks and cabinets throughout the UK.

And there is an interesting sideline -- hiring out or selling items which feature in BBC and Granada television programmes.

Coronation Street, Cops and Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights are among those which have "starred" furniture provided by Gerard's firm.

Attraction

At one time there was an attraction in looking for the firm's products on the screen, but now Gerard says the novelty has worn off.

He and Sales Director Steve Elster spent three days last week entertaining a series of guests at an office furniture exhibition staged to celebrate 30 years in Fletcher Mill, Fletcher Street.

They included Peter Kay, the Bolton comedian who is working on a new series of Phoenix Nights, Bolton South-east MP Brian Iddon and Bolton Wanderers legends Nat Lofthouse, Roy Hartle and Eddie Hopkinson.

Gerard Pennington, who is 61, remembers the days when he started selling second-hand furniture in his spare-time when he was a guillotine operator with a silencer company.

He rented a shop in Halliwell for £5 a week and it was looked after during the day by his wife Cindy.

The business then moved to a building by Frank Edward's garage in Brownlow Way.

Expansion

"For six months I nearly packed it in because it was so bad," Gerard remembers.

"But suddenly I had a good week......."

The business was useful to local businessess who wanted cheap office furniture and the move into one floor of the former cotton mill gave the opportunity for expansion.

Eventually, he took over the whole mill and bought it.

Since then he has also bought the former Courtaulds Asia Mill in Great Lever, Bolton. Mr Pennington remembers the help he received in the early days from his father George, a former cotton spinner who died in 1975 when he was 70.

"He was like two men about the place," he said.

G. F. Pennington & Sons employs 19 people and finds that it is reasonably recession-proof -- there is always a demand for second-hand furniture when times get tough.

"We are booming," Mr Pennington said.

He was born and bred in Astley Bridge and went to Holy Infants primary school.

After that he went on to study at Bolton Technical College on Manchester Road.

"It's nice to be a working class hero," he said, smiling. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: From left, Gerard Pennington with Peter Kay and MP Brian Iddon Ref: 3176-23