Niche Pens have been around since April 2004 and began as a retailer of Pelikan fountain pens through the pelikanpens.co.uk website. We build up a great knowledge of Pelikan and still have a soft spot for them and specialise in their pens, holding the largest UK stock of their pens and inks.
Pen fans tend to collect more than one brand and it wasn’t long before people were asking us for other brands and we started to stock Noodler’s ink. When other pens joined the fray, we set up a new website at purepens.co.uk to sell the other brands and leave the Pelikan specific images, videos and information pages on the Pelikan site, so people could use it as a resource for research before buying.
We are based in Newport, South Wales close to the border of English border. We run the company from a small. modern office building which can be easily accessed off the M4, close to the infamous Brynglas Tunnels.
We have a comfortable office which doubles up as an informal shop which customers can visit, with parking right outside the door. We are around 5 minutes drive from Newport train station, and a very short walk from the Sainsbury's supermarket (if that helps with directions!)
Ross Adams
Niche Pens was started by Ray and Ross Adams, a father and son, who noticed it was quite difficult in 2004 to get hold of a Pelikan fountain pen. Ray had another job as a Chartered Financial Planner (nicheifa.co.uk) but Ross had just finished his GCSE exams. After a University degree in Law in Cardiff, we came back to work at the pen business full time and has grown and expanded things over the year since.
Ross is married to Vicky and has two young daughters, Ruby and Grace. You may have seen Vicky helping out at a pen show if you have visited on in recent years and Ruby even tagged along to the Midland & Newcastle Pen Shows as baby a few times!
Ray Adams
Ray, Ross’ dad, still gives advice but doesn’t take an active day-to-day role in ‘the pens’ but does come in to see what new Pelikan models are now available and has a collection including an M910 Toledo which was gifted for his 50th birthday.
Our longstanding customers will have no doubt spoken to him on the phone for Pelikan advice and he has been to the London pen show over the last few years to lend a hand. If you are from further afield, you may have also seen him with Ross at the Boston Pen Show on the table next to Nathan Tardif from Noodler’s Ink at one of our now annual UK vs USA sales competition selling Noodler’s Inks and fountain pens.
Sophia
If you were to contact Niche Pens, you would most likely hear from Sophia. She works on the administrative side of things, answering all of your phone calls and emails. She also helps to run the business by sifting through and filing important paperwork and updating the back-office systems.
Sophia's go-to pen when working on the business is the Noodler's Nib Creaper Fountain Pen in Pink Panther, filled with her favourite Diamine 150th Anniversary Ink in the shade Safari.
In her spare time, Sophia hangs out with her beloved Italian Greyhound pup called Seymour and invests in her favourite cosmetics products to create new and on-trend make-up looks for her followers online.
Jenet
Also a member of the administrative team, Jenet ensures that our website is up to date and is charged with monitoring and managing our inventory. She is also the one who helps to package and ship all your orders out to you!
Jenet's favourite pen is the Clear TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen filled with her favourite ink, Robert Oster in Tranquillity.
During her free time, Jenet loves to do yoga to wind down and keep healthy and enjoys shopping for in-fashion clothes and shoes. When she's not doing those things, she spends time with her Peach Tortoiseshell cat called Theia.
Rhys
The other member of our marketing team is Rhys, who writes and creates all of Niche Pens' newsletters for our subscribers. He also writes the product descriptions on our website and, more often than not, completes the lunch runs for all of us in the office!
As his favourite pen, Rhys uses the Pelikan M200 Blue Marble Fountain Pen to make all of the notes needed for his write-ups, blogs and e-mails.
During his free time, Rhys is an avid musician and plays the guitar. He has also attended gigs with his band and when he's not on tour, he loves to hang out at home with his two cats, Tigger and Vinny.
Tasha
Tasha is our in-house graphic designer so if you've received a leaflet or Christmas card inside your parcel from us, if you've admired our advertising screen or seen some new and improved website banners, they'll all be the handy work of Tasha.
Tasha is originally from Essex but moved to Cardiff a few years ago. She lives with her partner Josh and her Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Astro.
We used to run the company from home which was a house on the site of a former rainway station on the GWR network. The history of the site was interesting and we even had an old GWR Lantern Room in the back garden as a storage shed! (pictured below)
After a few years of growth, we needed more space so moved to the Treforest Industial Estate into much bigger offices to deal with the growing sales, staff and stocks. The building was the former Rizla factory that produced cigarette papers up until 2004. The former management offices then became our company home and we stayed there for three years.
Due to business growth, we have now moved back home to Newport. With a sometimes-sunny riverside view and now have more workspace than ever before and can be seen from the M4 westbound carriage before the Brynglas tunnels.
We aim to provide traditional customer service built upon an excellent knowledge of our products, so that you can call or email us in order to ask any questions, whether it be general or technical and we will be able to answer you. We also invite our customers whom may wish to visit our office to come and see the stock that we have available and to have a play with whichever products that interests them.
Very frustratingly, many shops nowadays have lost the informed, personal service of the past. This is a real shame and we hope to be able to revive this old fashioned service that was once the true meaning of customer service. We wish to incorporate this into a modern website that allows you to browse a large range of products, order securely and receive your new pen the next working day
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about a product you are interested in. If you require a little further information before you make a purchase we will be more than happy to help. We operate a policy of continual improvement to the website, so if you would like more information to be added to a page (such as pen weight or dimensions) please do let us know.