Notice Board
From Garden Shed to Industry Leader in Office Security:
Fast Key Services Ltd
Marc Narbeth, CEO and business owner, shares how a small family key-cutting business grew into the nation’ s go-to supplier for office furniture and locker keys- and why the future of locksmithing is going digital.
» THE COMPANY MIGHT NOW BE THE UK’ s leading supplier of office furniture and locker keys, trusted by customers across the country and beyond, but its story started in the most-humble of settings: Marc’ s mum’ s garden shed.
Humble Beginnings
I got into locksmithing almost by accident. My mum and stepdad ran a small office furniture maintenance business with contracts for British Gas and the BBC and customers in around the M25. My stepdad( he was fed up with spending so much time on the road between sites) wanted to set up a keycutting sideline in the late 80s, and I lent him the money to buy his first machine. Sadly, he passed away and that’ s when I started helping my mum out, cutting keys in her shed at the back of the house.
Everything was mail order back then. All we needed was the key number, and we’ d cut and post it the same day. We took pride in that- speed and reliability were everything. Orders came in from schools, banks, and big organisations like HSBC and Lloyds. We sold keys for as little as a pound each, and business was growing 40 % year on year.
By 1996, turnover was around £ 50,000. I’ d come from a background in financial markets, but I could see this was a real business with potential. Now, we’ re turning over more than £ 2 million a year, and we’ re still sticking to those same principles- quality, speed, and great service.
Built for the Mail Order Market
We’ ve always been a mail order business at heart. About 80 % of what we do is still online or by phone. We sell tens of thousands of office furniture keys and locks every month. Schools, facilities managers, office furniture manufacturers, and locksmiths themselves are our main customers.
What makes us different is that we’ re geared up for small, quick orders. The average order is about £ 30, but it’ s the consistency and efficiency that matter.
We dispatch directly to customers( often under blind cover for office furniture and locker suppliers) so it looks like the goods have come from them. That’ s a service not many others can match.
We’ ve got tens of thousands of customers on our database, and we’ re proud of how loyal they are. We keep old customers happy by sticking to what we’ ve always done- good service, fair prices, and same-day dispatch- and that keeps new ones coming in.
From Shed to Shop
We’ ve come a long way from that garden shed. These days, Fast Keys occupies two units in Essex- a large warehouse and a fully equipped locksmith shop. We’ ve got twenty employees, including two experienced locksmiths serving in our busy Trade Counter( that is open to the public) and one apprentice learning the trade.
Around 20 % of our business now comes from site work— helping customers with safes, cabinets, car keys, and domestic lockouts across the South East and London. It’ s a different side of the business, but it’ s all part of the same ethos: getting people what they need quickly and professionally.
14
NOVEMBER 2025
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