Our Story: How Gas Mark 1 Began

From Apprentices to Engineers

John and Tony first met at Francis Combe Secondary School in 1978 and quickly became firm friends. After leaving school they both joined British Gas as apprentice gas engineers. Once qualified, they spent eight years working as heating engineers before deciding, at the age of 28, to start their own company.

Gas Mark 1 founders John and Tony, who met at school and later became apprentice gas engineers at British Gas.

Exterior of the original Gas Mark 1 showroom on St Albans Road in Watford.

The First Showroom

In 1993 they launched Gas Mark 1, and in 1995 teamed up with another ex-British Gas colleague, Steve Tate, taking over his Watford market stall selling gas appliances. Soon after, they opened their first showroom on St Albans Road and Gas Mark 1 was truly up and running. The business expanded rapidly, built on customer satisfaction and value for money—an ethos that remains today.

By 1998 the company had outgrown the St Albans Road site and moved to its current 8,000 sq ft showroom on Market Street in Watford.

Expanding with Herts Bathrooms & Kitchens

With the larger showroom came new opportunities. John and Tony joined forces with Kevin Richardson to launch Herts Bathrooms and Kitchens, broadening their offering into bathroom and kitchen design and installation. Over the last 25 years the two companies have continued to grow, earning respect and repeat business through recommendations from satisfied customers.

Bathroom showroom at Gas Mark 1 in Watford showcasing bathroom suites and displays in 2007.

Apprenticeships & Long-Serving Staff

John and Tony also had the foresight to invest in apprenticeships. Their very first apprentice is still with the company, and many engineers and support staff have now been part of the team for more than 20 years. Every current engineer began as a Gas Mark 1 apprentice, and this continuity has been a huge factor in the company’s success.

Special recognition goes to Russell White, operations manager for many years, whose dedication helped develop the company and who still plays a key role today.

Today & Beyond

John and Tony remain hands-on with Gas Mark 1 and Herts Bathrooms and Kitchens, working alongside a loyal and skilled team. They are proud of the businesses they’ve built and the people who make them what they are.

Gas Mark 1 continues to deliver professional, high-quality service at fair prices—and with that ethos, the company looks forward to serving Hertfordshire for many years to come.

Wayne Harris

3 months ago

We’ve recently had three bathrooms fully refurbished along with a complete new heating system and boiler relocation, and our experience from start to finish has been fully deserving of five stars.

The whole team have been very professional throughout. From our first visit to the showroom and throughout consultations, site surveys and delivery of the project, the communication has been clear and consistent, and nothing ever felt like too much trouble — the team have a genuine “can do” attitude and creative approach that is focused on delivering great service and a fantastic end result.

The project has felt like a partnership rather than a blunt client/contractor relationship and they have worked with us from the start to explain options, offer suggestions and work with us to get the details right.
Just as importantly, they were reliable and respectful of our home — turning up when they said they would, keeping things tidy, and keeping the schedule on track.

Stew was extremely helpful during the consultation and design process and Jason was incredibly meticulous with the central heating works.
Special mention goes to Tom H. for his attention to detail and for working tirelessly to ensure that we were satisfied.

We’ll definitely be using Gas Mark 1 / Herts Bathrooms again for future work and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.

Martin Geoffrey Moore

A nice experience. We recently refurbished our bathroom and these guys were great. We were very impressed by their total attention to detail, their focus on the job and the way they made every effort not to leave any debris or waste behind them. Thank you!

Jo Windmill

Tom and Harry, really professional - great job! Would recommend. Thank you 🙏

Kevin Petty

5 months ago

Thanks to Charlie, Tom and all the team for a fantastic job. We are delighted with our new bathroom. From start to finish great care and organisation has been taken to keep disruption to a minimum.
We have no hesitation in recommending Gas Mark 1

James

6 months ago

Very happy customers! Gas Mark 1 and Herts Bathrooms were excellent every step of the way. Communication was fantastic throughout and the work was undertaken to our complete satisfaction. Gareth (engineer) and his team were polite, considerate and very easy to get on with. Highly recommended

Libby Pfeiffer

We are delighted with our new kitchen. It is lovely and most importantly, it was put in so well by GasMark1.
Alex and co were totally professional, polite (and nice).
Special mention and thanks for Alex, a Perfectionist!

Natasha Proctor

Would absolutely recommend Gas Mark 1 - we got our boiler replaced, a new radiator installed and an electric shower put in the bathroom and the team were brilliant. Always arrived on time each day, were very knowledgeable and great at explaining what was happening and left the house without any mess. We'll be getting them back in for work on the kitchen next!

Coral

7 months ago

We had Gas Mark 1 round to install our washing machine. Barney visited this morning to survey the job and managed to get two guys to install a couple of hours later. Great service as usual. They installed our kitchen 7 years ago and were reliable then. Great to see their customer service is still the same as are the three guys that came today, so not a high staff turnover.
Wouldn't hesitate in recommending this company.