Looking at labs: Kennet Optical’s personal touch

An aura of calm descends on the journey to Kennet Optical which nestles on the edge of Salisbury Plain in picturesque Pewsey.

That calm, only interrupted by the occasional army tank on manoeuvres, continues once you enter the doors of the lab which acts as the prescription manufacturing and logistics centre to Haine & Smith’s practices. A neat business unit houses the lab which has the capacity to glaze 250 jobs a day and exudes an air of relaxed efficiency.

The West Country group, founded in 1975 by Sue Haine and Barry Smith, conducts around 40,000 sight test each year in its Wiltshire and Gloucestershire outlets. It decided early on in its history that it wanted control of spectacle manufacture to complete its ethos of quality optics with a personal touch, so Kennet Optical was formed. That ethos is apparent at Pewsey with industrious, smart staff clearly taking a pride in their work and surroundings.