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Offline & Thriving: Stantons Leeds
In a world where‘ almost’ every business relies on websites, reviews, and social media to stay visible, Stantons Leeds Ltd is quite an exception. This longstanding, family-run locksmith business in Harehills, Leeds, has no website, no social media presence, yet its phones keep ringing and its doors stay open. For father-and-son team Steve and George Mijakovac, reputation, reliability, and word of mouth have always been their best marketing tools.
» THE BUSINESS HAS BEEN SERVING Leeds for decades, becoming a trusted name for locksmithing, joinery, and door fitting across homes and housing associations. With roots going back around 70 years, and over 30 of those in the Mijakovac family, Stantons Leeds is proof that personal service and strong local ties can still compete in a digital world. Now, George is looking to build on that legacy, bringing fresh energy and new ideas while staying true to the traditional values that made the business what it is today.
Following in My Father’ s Footsteps
I got into locksmithing because of my dad, who’ s been doing it all his life, and I just followed in his footsteps. I’ ve never really been the academic type, I’ ve always been a hands-on worker, just like him.
Straight out of school, I joined him in the business, and that was eleven years ago now.
Working with my dad has been great. Of course, he’ s old school, so we don’ t always see things the same way. Sometimes we have to compromise on how we do things, but most of the time we agree. He’ s got a huge amount of experience, and I’ ve learned nearly everything from him. We’ re a good team, and we’ ve built a solid reputation in Leeds over the years.
More Than Just Locksmiths
We’ re not just a locksmith shop, because we like to do a bit of everything. Locksmithing, joinery, and door fitting, plus double glazing for housing associations. We deal with all types of doors: uPVC, composite, fire doors, and internal doors. We also have a shop that sells DIY and ironmongery products, and we offer key cutting services too.
That range of work keeps every day different. There’ s always a new challenge or something unusual that comes through the door. One customer came in recently asking for a really complex master key system. We spent ages explaining how it all worked, and honestly, we didn’ t think they’ d ever go ahead with it, but they did! We ended up installing a full DOM UK Sigma RS system for a school. That one was a great job, and it pushed us to expand what we offer on the accesscontrol side.
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JANUARY 2026
locksmithjournal. co. uk
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