WENDY MARTIN GREEN of Peter Green reflects on the store's rich history:

In the spring of 1956 Elvis Presley’s voice pierced the airways with his first hit Heartbreak Hotel, quickly followed by his song Hound Dog – the same year Peter Green opened his first little bed store on Leigh Road, Eastleigh.

What many people don’t know though is that Hound Dog was actually written in 1952, had already been recorded 250 times by various singers, but it was Elvis’s smooth voice which brought it to the charts, making the song a memorable part of our history.

On a very much smaller scale, the same could also be said of my father, Peter Green who, on a local basis, changed the landscape of Eastleigh when he turned his small bed shop into a massive furniture superstore on Southampton Road, bringing people who had never even heard of the little town flocking from miles around.

At that time Peter Green was a cash-and-carry business and Saturdays saw a stream of customers strapping rolls of carpet and furniture onto the roofs of their car before driving their bargains away with them.

The original showrooms sold all manner of tables, chairs, sofas and beds laid out in rows, ready for “immediate delivery”.

Housed in an old brush factory, Peter Green was a well-known landmark and the largest furniture store of its kind in the south of England – people still come up to me and talk about it.

Thirty years later the business relocated to School Lane in Chandler’s Ford, and the old buildings were demolished to make way for the new Swan Centre.

Unfortunately my father died in 1980 and never saw this move, but my mother, Norah Green, continued to see it through, and remained chairman until she died in 2010, after which I was happy to take over.

Nowadays most items are placed on order because of the vast array of choices in styles and fabrics, which often requires many pieces to be custom manufactured. We, however, have our very own Peter Green Hampshire Collection, many items of which are still available for immediate delivery.

We still stock many of the trusted British brands such as Ercol, G Plan and Parker Knoll that could be seen in Peter Green’s first store 62 years ago, but now we have added many modern lines to our collection. We have one of the largest selections of beds in the county and a huge selection of flooring too.

We are proud that our family business still can play a big part in the community, and enjoy staging fun events such as the Peter Green Spring Clean with a ’50s twist, or the Midsummer’s Night Sale which features Shakespearian vignettes performed by the Chameleon Theatre group.

We also hold networking evenings in our coffee shop for neighbouring businesses, and gallery evenings at which local artists can show their work. At Christmas we have entertainment for all the family and a Christmas Fair.

We are still as much a part of the community as the old Peter Green was, and still hold dear to out hearts the principles that he taught us – value, price and service are the key and the customer comes first.

In honour of our 62nd anniversary we have 62% off selected lines from the September 2 until September 30 and we are inviting friends and neighbours to an ‘Elvis’ Party on Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30, between 11am and 3pm. There will be complimentary snacks, cake, bubbly and ‘Elvis’ will be in the building singing some of his classics at noon and 2pm on Sunday.

Please join us because we want you to know that you are always on our mind.