About Us
Thank you for visiting our website and we hope that, having browsed through the various categories, you will find a product or idea that will help you achieve your marketing or sourcing objectives.
Presenting you with images of our products is a relatively straightforward matter, but if you have not already traded with us in the past you will not have had an opportunity to build an image of our company, our philosophy, our service levels and our quality. With brevity in mind, we will endeavour to open a window on our operation over the following paragraphs. 
Our History
Printed promotional pens were originally introduced to the product range in 1987 at a time when our main activity was the manufacture of computer mousepads. Since that period, pen sales have grown steadily to the point where we are now one of Britain's leading promotional pen suppliers.
Neil Cleere, the Company's founder and current Managing Director believes that our success is due to a number of factors but primarily because of our dogged adherence to the company's philosophy.
Our Philosophy
The Pen Warehouse and its staff are totally committed to achieving unrivalled levels of service and quality for its customers whilst at the same time maintaining pole position in the market in terms of competitive pricing.
Competitive pricing has been achieved through the power of bulk purchasing from leading manufacturers in Europe and the Far East and also through economies in assembly and printing by using state-of- the-art machinery. All savings achieved as a result of these economies of scale are used for reinvestment and for the maintenance of competitive pricing.
Our Staff
We currently employ 67 full-time staff, covering sales, administration and production. Production members of staff are highly trained and experienced operatives, many of whom have been with us since we first became involved in pen printing. We operate a policy of cross training in virtually all departments within the company and staff are encouraged to be flexible in their approach and to be mindful that customer service is of the highest priority.
The Pen Warehouse takes an active interest in the welfare of its staff, both inside and outside of work and we operate an equal opportunities policy at every level. We constantly monitor the needs of our staff and address any issues such as training, motivation and general welfare.
Click Here to view our Staff Profiles
Corporate and Social Responsibility
The Pen Warehouse, as a company, takes a keen interest in our surrounding community.
One such example of our involvement is The Story Sack Project which is an on-going project we have embarked on with our local school.
The Story Sack concept was first conceived by a former head teacher who realised that to some children, and also to some adults, reading is a chore rather than a pleasure. The aim of Story Sacks is to encourage children to enjoy books and help make reading a positive experience shared with their parents. They are of particular benefit when the adult has limited reading ability and may otherwise find storytelling difficult. Feedback suggests that after using Story Sacks many adults have gained the confidence to read with their children and the motivation to improve their own literacy skills.
In practical terms, a Story Sack is a large drawstring bag made from brightly coloured fabric and labelled with the title of the story. Inside the bag the child can expect to find a copy of the book and soft toys of the main characters in the story.
Other contents are flexible but will include props and scenery that will bring the story to life. Additional items such as a CD of the story, a non fiction book on a related theme and a game designed to help language skills can also be included.
Story Sacks are mainly used in schools but have become increasingly popular with other groups. In many areas a wide variety of organisations have been involved in producing Story Sacks for their local community.
We were delighted to be able to provide Story Sacks for our local school which would not otherwise have had the resources for such a project.
Our staff showed great enthusiasm for this project from the start. They were actively involved working in teams to assemble the Story Sacks, vying with each other to produce the most colourful and creative array of contents. Some items were bought and others home made, so this was an excellent opportunity to develop both team building and creative skills. The six brand new Story Sacks were presented to the school at the end of the summer term.
Community Project Update
This community project has already been a huge success and very rewarding for all involved. The first six story sacks were assembled by Pen Warehouse staff and presented to our local school in July last year. They bring stories to life and inspire children who may otherwise see reading as a chore rather than a pleasure. The story sacks are such a valuable resource to the school that we chose another four books from the wish list provided by the teachers. These were completed and handed over in December, as an early Christmas gift, to the delight of children and staff.
This project will help children gain skills that will be vital for everyday life but will also enable them to experience reading for fun, use their imagination and express their ideas. While we don't all have the talent to write a best seller, everyone has the potential to enjoy reading a good book, or relax with the weekend papers.
2008 is the National Year of Reading. The campaign was launched by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is managed by the National Literacy Trust. The aim is to encourage everyone, whatever their age or circumstances, to pick up a book and discover the pleasures of reading. It is hoped that employers, voluntary groups, parents, local communities and many others will all join in and help improve the national reading culture.
Speaking at the launch Ed Balls, Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said, "We are without doubt, a nation with a great literary heritage and I want that to continue. I want 2008 to be the year of the book."
"It is very important that we help more children to become confident readers. There has been real progress in the last few years - with over half of all children leaving primary school having a reading age that's higher than the expected level for eleven-year-olds. This is a tribute to the hard work of teachers and support staff, librarians and the many voluntary organisations who make a vital contribution to helping children learn to read.
"The National Year of Reading is an ideal opportunity for us all to build on this success and encourage everyone of any age to pick up a book."
We are delighted to report that The Pen Warehouse is already working to support these aims and will continue to do so.
Carrying on the Good Work...
Following the success of the last two Story Sack presentations, the staff at The Pen Warehouse are now busy making another four additions to the widening range. Not only does the creation of the sacks provide a valuable resource to the school, it also enables us to particiapte in an enjoyable, team-building experience. Each team is respsonsible for designing a sack based on a story chosen from a list provided by the school. It gives us a chance to show off our creative skills and enjoy a litle healthy competition!
We also supply the school with pencils, free of charge and will be donating pens and desk accesories to be used as prizes and attainment awards.
We are constantly looking for ways to support and involve our local community. With this in mind, we plan to invite parties of school children to The Pen Warehouse where they will be able to meet some of the staff and see how pens are printed.
Our Environmental Policy
We have a long-term commitment to reducing our carbon footprint using a number of 'green strategies' which you can read about in our Environmental Policy Section. We are constantly striving towards finding new ways of saving energy and reducing the impact on climate change.
The most significant step has been to switch to electricity produced by wind generators. Ecotricity is an electricity company with a difference - they are dedicated to changing the way electricity is generated. They take the money that their customers spend on electricity and invest it in clean forms of power like wind energy. What's more, they are the only green electricity company actually building these new renewable energy sources. In 2007 alone they invested £25 million in wind energy.
Also, high on our list is to reduce emissions from the various company vehicles that we use and we have made a start by upgrading our 'pool car' from conventional diesel to a hybrid drive model.
We are also aware of the impact that packaging waste has on the environment and with this in mind, we have taken steps internally to promote recycling and careful waste management.
The following list represents the items we are currently re-using or recycling:
- Cardboard boxes
- Polythene bags
- Paper and envelopes
- Printer cartridges
- Pallets
- Waste packaging
- Plastic bottles
- Drink cans
- Drink cups
- Computer equipment
If you require more information on reducing your carbon footprint and recycling tips and ideas visit our WHAT YOU CAN DO section. Here, you can find practical advice on rubbish, energy, transport, water, food and shopping. Each section will guide you through the most important aspects and provide helpful hints, links and answers.You'll be amazed how easy it is!
Our Products
The Pen Warehouse, as you would expect, is primarily involved in the supply of promotional pens. We represent a number of leading pen manufacturers from Europe, notably Lecce Pen (Italy) and we are also bulk importers of pens and pencils from the Far East. Our product range is rapidly growing and we currently stock in excess of 290 different pen ranges. We also offer a very large range of non-stock promotional pens that can be supplied directly from source.
The Pen Warehouse is also a major wholesaler of lighters for the promotional, own-label, and souvenir markets. All lighter models conform to the new ISO 9994 - 2005 Quality Standard which can be seen here.
We also have a wide range of promotional items that are complementary to our pen range including, pencil sharpeners, erasers and a range of desktop items. We also have an extensive range of Eco-Friendly products which is constantly being added to. All these business gift ideas can be found in the relevant section under Products.
All products sold by The Pen Warehouse can be printed in-house, or we can ship plain stock on your behalf to a third-party printer. Our printing facility comprises multiple fully-automatic lines, numerous semi-automatic lines and pad (Tampo) printing. We offer a full artwork service including design, typesetting and proofing.
Our Trading Policy
The Pen Warehouse operates a strict and unambiguous policy of trade-only supply for business-gifts within the UK. We actively promote our products to the end-user under various banners on behalf of the business-gift trade and all resultant business-gift enquirers are encouraged to source our products through their regular gift supplier. We take enquiries from end-users directly and assist with sampling to enable them to make the best choice for their corporate requirements.
Trade Associations
We are members of the following Trade Associations.
- BPMA
- Promota
- PSI
Managing Directors Statement
My personal thanks to you for visiting our website. We have adopted a minimalist approach to the layout of our site to ease navigation. I will let you be the judge of whether we have managed to achieve this and I would welcome your comments if you feel that we can do anything to improve its performance. I hope that you will visit pens.co.uk many more times and use it as a reference tool for sourcing in the future.
As you will have seen from the above I run a small and friendly company dedicated to supplying promotional products to a global market. What you cannot see is that I am surrounded by a wonderful team of people that have supported me for many years and have helped shape the company into what it is today. I have no doubt that with their continued support and interest from visitors such as yourself we will continue to grow from strength to strength over the coming years.
Neil Cleere
Please direct any comments to me via our Contact Us page.
