Telford seating specialists takes on more workers

A Telford firm which provides seats for some of the biggest football clubs in the world including Manchester United and New York Red Bulls has undergone a £500,000 expansion.

Cobra Seats, which makes specialist seats for dugouts on the touchline, has expanded its premises in Halesfield into a new machine shop creating six new jobs.

For more than 30 years Cobra Seats has produced innovative seats for the automotive world, but since its expansion into stadiums in recent years the firm has continued to grow despite the recession.

The move also meant Cobra needed to undertake bespoke projects, which led to the decision to invest £500,000 in the new machine shop.

Manager Mark Dunsford said: "Inevitably, the investment has opened even more doors for us."

The move also created half a dozen jobs, including an engineering manager, a job already filled by Simon Baldwin, three machine operatives and two apprentices.

Mr Dunsford said: "To be honest, our introduction to the stadia market came about almost by accident – but we started at the top being invited to supply dugout seating for Manchester United.

They have exported seating to Germany, Holland, Italy and Qatar and to the New York Red Bulls, an American soccer team.

The automotive side is still core to the company's success, with seats created for British Touring Car champion Matt Neal, and Craig Breen, the World Rally Championship Academy Champion.