About Us

JT Dove Ltd: An Employee-Owned Business

In 1954, the family gave their entire shareholding to a trust for the benefit of employees. This employee benefit trust (EBT) was intended and is structured to achieve two main purposes.

First, to keep J.T. Dove Ltd as a successful, independent, builders' merchant based in the North East, preserving local, long-term employment for the staff. Under this arrangement, the Trustees of the EBT are the shareholders rather than private individuals or companies seeking to profit from ownership. The company Directors are appointed by and accountable to the Trustees. The terms of the Trust very heavily restrict the chance of the company being sold to a competitor, to such an extent that there is no realistic possibility of such a sale and thus again employment is secured.

Secondly, and very importantly, the EBT operates an employee profit share scheme giving employees an annual payment based upon the profits for the financial year. This gives employees a direct stake in the success of the business of the company.

Our history

From our beginnings in the middle of the 19th Century, we are now at the leading edge of builders merchanting through our website. A comprehensive product and price catalogue, order, enquiry and information service is available online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For online timber and building supplies, heating, plumbing, kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping, tools and ironmongery.

Established in 1869, in Newcastle and one of the city's very earliest merchants to supply the building industry, today the company is a major stockist of Timber, Plumbing & Building Materials serving every sector of the construction industry.

In 1954, Herbert Dove put the company into Trust to preserve the purpose and identity of the business and today, like the John Lewis Partnership, profits continue to be distributed to the members of staff.

An independent company with branches at Newburn, Ashington, Berwick, Birtley, Bishop Auckland , Carlisle, Hawick, Hexham, Marske, Stockton and South Shields, Dove offer a delivery service from Edinburgh to North Yorkshire, The Lakes and the Scottish Borders.

In 2004 the branch network was extended with the acquisition of Auckland Timber and Builders Merchants Limited, in Bishop Auckland.

2006 saw the aquisition of H & W Supplies at Marske in Cleveland and this was followed closely in 2007 with another aquisition at Hawick in the Scottish Border region of BIS Builders Merchants both of which now trade under the J T Dove banner.

Early in 2007 saw the launch of a brand new branch at Portobello trading estate in Birtley ideally situated just off the A1 road.

In 2008 J T Dove launched a new concept in the form of specialist Plumbing and Heating branches at Ashington and closely followed with another Plumbing and Heating branch at Birtley.

Also In 2008 further expansion came in the form of a brand new branch at Newburn near Newcastle. This new facility includes separate Building Materials and Plumbing and Heating branches and is ideally located on Lemington Road Newburn, only 3 minutes from Scotswood bridge.

In 2009 our Stockton branch was re-located to a site just off Portrack Lane with a Plumbing & Heating branch added a year later.

Further Plumbing & Heating implants (still part of parent site) have since opened at Berwick, Carlisle and Hexham to further spread and expand the customer and sales base of the company. The acquisition of Seasoned Timber & Building Supplies (Boldon Branch) took place in 2010 and trades under the JT Dove banner with a P&H implant added in 2011.

Also in 2011 work started on the re-location of our Tyne Dock branch in South Shields to a freehold site in North Shields which also provided the opportunity to add both a building materials branch alongside a Plumbing & Heating Branch on the same site, to yet again further strengthen our business position. These branches opened in 2012.

In 2012 our Bishop Auckland branch was re-branded JT Dove and a Plumbing &Heating implant was also added.

2013 saw the opening of a new building materials branch at Galashiels in the Scottish Borders closely followed by a building materials and Plumbing & heating implant at Hetton. Also in 2013 a plumbing & heating branch was added to our existing building materials branch at Marske.

In 2014 we opened a new building materials branch and plumbing & heating implant at Alnwick.

Early in 2016 saw the launch of a new building materials branch and plumbing & heating implant at Darlington.

This was closely followed by a brand new build at Seahouses with a new building materials branch and plumbing & heating implant.

In October 2018 we saw the opening of our Consett branch, a newly purpose built building and plumbing materials branch with onsite kitchen and bathroom showroom.

In January 2019 we returned to Newcastle City Centre with the opening of our Newcastle Central branch.