Leicester University Students' Union Gets a Face-lift

Chalkboards UK and WoodenBox UK have both been working with the Students' Union at Leicester University for a number of years.

Recently, they decided to have a complete face-lift of their facilities, making them more contemporary and appealing to the students.

Our two businesses were asked to provide framed chalkboards for the menu displays and rustic trays and crates to display the produce.

The end results are stunning, making it look more like a high-end city centre brand than a Students' Union.

If you'd like more information on how Chalkboards UK or WoodenBox UK can help with your retails displays, please don't hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@porterandwoodman.co.uk

Beautifully Crafted for BrewDog

At Chalkboards UK, we're always happy to develop bespoke products for clients, never more so than when BrewDog approached us to design a new table top chalkboard for their bars.

The board was to promote their Punk IPA craft beer on bar tops around the country. BrewDog wanted a product that reflected the brand, so we designed a board with a top shaped to the contours of their shield logo, set in a hardwood base.

After samples were made and approved, an initial order was received and completed in two weeks. Their marketing department and bar managers were so pleased with the chalkboards, we received a repeat order for the same quantity a few months later.

Our work with BrewDog hasn't stopped there. They wanted a special sliding lid box made for the launch of a speciality craft beer called 'Death or Glory'.

Our sister company, WoodenBox UK, was able to design a hardwood box with a heat-branded logo that fitted the bill. Again, pre-production samples were made and once signed off, the order was delivered in less than two weeks, just in time for the launch of the beer.

The first 1000 orders of the beer received a bottle in the special presentation box.

These two bespoke products have allowed us to build up a great working relationship with BrewDog, for whom we are now working on another project for larger shaped chalkboards for their bottle shops.

If you would like more information on our bespoke work, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844, or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

All NEW WC150 Standard Round Top A-Frame Chalkboard

One of our best-selling A-Frame chalkboards - the WC150 Standard Round Top A-Frame Chalkboard just had a make-over - but the price remains the same!

With new stainless steel fittings and a sharpened up look, this standard wooden A-Frame chalkboard is ideal for roadside advertising.

It's available in 2 sizes - A2 @ £39.96 + VAT and A1 @ £51.96 + VAT (TRADE ONLY PRICES).

The NEW board features:

• 2 x 6mm PAINTED chalkboard panels
• Designed for use with STICK CHALK ONLY
• For indoor and outdoor use
• 2" square Dark Oak stained legs
• NEW stainless steel hinges and stays
• Weights: A2 - 7Kg & A1 - 10Kg

Please give us a call on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk for print prices.

NEW PRODUCT - 6mm EasyToClean Unframed Laminated Chalkboards

Chalkboards UK has just launched a new range of 6mm 'EasyToClean' unframed laminated chalkboards to use with stick chalk and liquid chalk pens.

Starting at ONLY £3.56 +VAT (TRADE ONLY) each for an A6 board, the new range gives the best ever value for an 'EasyToClean' chalkboard surface, e.g. the largest off-the-shelf size (XXL 2440 x 1220mm) is less than HALF THE PRICE of its HPL equivalent at £79.96 +VAT (TRADE ONLY) - (HPL price - £159.96 i+VAT - TRADE ONLY).

As with all of our unframed chalkboards, the new range is available in 10 different sizes, from A6 through to XXL. However, if you have a bespoke size requirement, call us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk and we'll be happy to help.

To compare all of our unframed chalkboards, just CLICK HERE.

Chalkboard Artist Directory

Early in June Chalkboards UK is launching a new directory page for Chalkboard Artists.

We already work with a number of chalk artists, recommending them for various projects around the country when our customers prefer the flexibility of changing designs regularly, rather than having a permanent printed chalkboard sign.

Customers will now be able to decide whether they want a printed board, a chalked board, or a mixture of both.

The Directory will list a number of Chalkboard Artists, where they're based, what range they cover from that base and how they can be contacted.

There's also a dedicated Pinterest Pin Board with examples of the artists' work on our products - CLICK HERE to take a look at the start of our photo collection.

The link will be published here as soon as the page is finished.

Quality Design and Print for Chalkboards

As part of our bespoke services, Chalkboards UK offers a quality, professional design and print service for all its chalkboard products.

Here's a few of the advantages of using Chalkboards UK for printed chalkboard work:

• Adds impact to any of our wooden products
• Many years of print experience
• 'One-Off' prints up to 1000s of prints
• Consistency of image across multiple prints
• Simple single spot colour, multiple spot colours and full-colour process
• Screen print, printed vinyls and direct digital print services available
• Hard-wearing products and print

The picture above shows supplied artwork on the left and the printed chalkboard product on the right, illustrating screen print's accuracy in logo reproduction. 

Customising your chalkboard with a printed logo or message can add real impact to the board, promoting your business, products, menus or events and generating that much needed footfall and sales.

At Chalkboards UK, we offer a professional design and print service to make the most of your blackboard purchase. We have many years of experience supplying printed blackboards to large retail and restaurant chains, breweries and pub groups. You can see examples of our printed work by visiting our Pinterest Pin Boards.

The Print Department is able to take your logos, artwork or wording to create PDF proofs for you to approve before we start printing. For more complex design briefs we offer a chalkboard design service - please ask for a quote.

Screen Print is our main method of applying designs to our chalkboards. It offers a professional and consistent finish, whether you are buying a 'one-off' board, or a multiple purchase for a chain of outlets. The screen print process allows us to print simple one colour spot designs, multiple spot colours, through to more complex full-colour process work.

NO HIDDEN COSTS
There's no hidden costs, we only charge for the set-up, which varies depending on the number of colours or the size of the board. Full details are available on our 'Printing Details' page on the website.

To achieve the best results for the customer with more complex requirements or full-colour work over longer runs, we are also able to offer digitally printed vinyl stickers or digital print applied directly to the boards.

Quoting Service

For quotes on design briefs, larger print requirements, printed vinyl stickers or digitally printed chalkboards, please give us a call on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk with your requirements.

Hard-wearing Print!
Here's an example of one of our chalkboards for children, an A1 Vegetable Chalkboard. It's screen-printed in 7 spot colours and has been on this customer's shed wall since 2013. As you can see, in 2015, having faced everything the British weather can throw at it, it's looking as good as the day it was mounted on the shed.

Print Examples

Here's just a couple of examples of the print work we have produced for customers:

...but there's much more to see on our social media pages - Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Chalkboards UK and handmade burger Co.

It's a dull, wet Thursday morning at The Bull Ring in Birmingham. Matt and I have arrived at handmade burger Co. to take some photos of our products in use at their restaurant just outside Selfridges. We are immediately made to feel very welcome by the Manager and her staff, who show us around the premises and where our products can be found.

Chalkboards UK has been working with handmade burger Co. for nearly 5 years, supplying them with a number of off-the-shelf products and some items designed specifically for their restaurants.

As you walk towards the restaurant, you'll notice one of our WC171 A1 A-Frame Poster Holders used to promote footfall from passers-by. In the window by the front door, hangs a double-sided poster holder we developed especially for handmade burger Co. The window display repeats the message in the A-Frame and highlight what you can expect when you sit down to eat.

Inside the restaurant, you'll find off-the-shelf products like our condiments holders, bar caddies, wall-mounted poster holders and cutlery holders (although these are used to hold crayons for the kids' colouring sheets). The bespoke items include the window hanging display, table number holders and Maître D' plinths.

All of the products we supply fit in well with the restaurant, complimenting the rustic and 'handmade' ambience handmade burger Co. has created - see the pics below. 

The photo shoot is over and it's nearly lunchtime, so where better to have some lunch?! We're treated to a fantastic peppered beef burger, thick-cut rosemary fries and some Cajun onion rings, all washed down with a glass of ice cold Brooklyn Lager. I can honestly say that it's the best burger I've ever tasted - it made my son very jealous when I showed him this picture, so I guess I'll have to take him there soon!

If you would like any more information on our off-the-shelf products, please visit our website. If you'd like us to develop bespoke chalkboard or wooden products for your restaurants, pubs, bars, shops or a promotional campaign, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844 and ask for Sales.

Mark Denison
Communications Director - Chalkboards UK


A little bit about handmade burger Co.

One day, whilst sitting in his kitchen, where he has most of his best ideas, our owner Chris decided that he would like to open a burger restaurant with a difference… Chris wanted a burger restaurant that made everything by hand, using only the freshest and finest ingredients. In 2006, along with his two brothers, Chris found the perfect location for their first family-run restaurant at Brindleyplace, in his hometown of Birmingham, and so handmade burger Co. was born... to read on CLICK HERE

To Chalk Pen, or not to Chalk Pen?...

At Chalkboards UK, we manufacture a wide range of blackboard products from various materials for different applications.

When we first started manufacturing chalkboards, over a decade ago, all our outdoor products were made using 6mm water-resistant MDF, painted with blackboard paint. These products worked well with stick chalk, which we still sell today.

We then started selling a limited range of liquid chalk pens - packs of white or assorted colours in 2 different nib sizes. We quickly realised that these pens caused a problem on the painted MDF. The liquid chalk applies very easily, can create some very vivid and impactful chalkboard messages, doesn't wash off in the rain; but, even using professional chalkboard cleaners, the liquid chalk leaves a ghosted image. Over time, this ghosting builds up and detracts from any new chalked messages.

We tried extra coats of blackboard paint, new cleaning materials and even supplying tins of blackboard paint, but none of the solutions we found were ideal.

After a great deal of research and tests with materials such as Foamex, we discovered a blackboard high pressure laminate (HPL), which was ideal for a whole range of our products - and the liquid chalk pens wipe off leaving no ghost image. The HPL has to be imported and is a very expensive material, so we decided to offer a choice between painted MDF and HPL, depending on the customer's requirements - but always advising to use stick chalk only with MDF.

We are now able to supply most of our products in a choice of painted MDF, Foamex, HPL and a new mid-price MDF product with an 'Easy to Clean' surface laminated onto both sides.

NEW Chalk Pen Range
On top of that, we've just expanded the chalk pen range to include some great new colours - CLICK HERE to visit the Chalk Pens Section.

Info Pages
There's more information on the website, with dedicated pages for Chalkboard Care and Chalkboard Surfaces.

If you would like any more information about these products and their application, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk

... but please don't forget - ONLY USE STICK CHALK on painted MDF!

Professional Design & Print Service

As part of our bespoke services, Chalkboards UK offers a comprehensive design and print service for its chalkboard products.

Here's a few of the advantages of using Chalkboards UK for printed chalkboard work:

• Adds impact to any of our wooden products
• Many years of print experience
• 'One-Off' prints up to 1000s of prints
• Consistency of image across multiple prints
• Simple single spot colour, multiple spot colours and full-colour process
• Screen print, printed vinyls and direct digital print services available

Customising your chalkboard with a printed logo or message can add real impact to the board, promoting your business, products or menus, and generating that much needed footfall and sales. Simply email your requirements to us for a quote.

At Chalkboards UK, we offer a professional design and print service to make the most of your blackboard purchase. We have many years of experience supplying printed blackboards to large retail and restaurant chains, breweries and pub groups. You can see examples of our printed work by visiting our Pinterest Pin Boards.

The Print Department is able to take your logos, artwork or wording to create PDF proofs for you to approve before we start printing. For more complex design briefs we offer a chalkboard design service - please ask for a quote.

Screen Print is our main method of applying designs to our chalkboards. It offers a professional and consistent finish, whether you are buying a 'one-off' board, or a multiple purchase for a chain of outlets. The screen print process allows us to print simple one colour spot designs, multiple spot colours, through to more complex full-colour process work.

To achieve the best results for the customer with more complex requirements or full-colour work over longer runs, we are also able to offer digitally printed vinyl stickers or digital print applied directly to the boards.

Quoting Service

For quotes on design briefs, larger print requirements, printed vinyl stickers or digitally printed chalkboards, please give us a call on 01384 445844 or e-mail sales@chalkboardsuk.co.uk with your requirements.

Print Examples

Here's some examples of the print work we have produced for customers:

...but there's much more to see on our social media pages - Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.