Three Generations,
One Phone Number.
Stan The Coal Man delivers coal and solid fuel across Sunderland and the North East, six days a week. The family has been in the trade since before the Second World War. We built a website that tells that story, shows every fuel and gets people to pick up the phone.
- WHO — Stan The Coal Man (Stan Wallace, Coal Merchant)
- WHAT — Web Design & Build, Content Layout, Enquiry Form, Website Care
- WHEN — 2024
- WHERE — Hendon, Sunderland & the North East
- HOW — A one-page WordPress site built around the family story and a big phone number
A Trade Built
on Word of Mouth.
Stan The Coal Man supplies house coal, smokeless fuel, logs and kindling from 2 Hendon Street in Sunderland. The business needed a website that new customers could find, one that explained what they sell and made it simple to order. It also had to work well on a phone.
- Delivering to homes and businesses six days a week
- Fuels for open fires, multi-fuel stoves and gravity feed boilers
- Simple ways to ring or send an enquiry
From Horse and Cart
to Lorry.
The family story is the best thing this business has, so we put it high on the page. Alf Maw started selling coal by the bucket from a horse and cart before the Second World War. His sons and sons-in-law, Stan among them, carried it on. During the miners’ strikes, Stan Wallace was made a Priority Merchant so the elderly and vulnerable still got coal. The text stays in the family’s own voice.
- Family history told in their own words
- Old photos beside today’s lorries
- Shows trust and local roots without any sales talk
Every Fuel
on One Screen.
Buyers want to know if you stock their fuel before they ring. We laid out the whole range in one grid with a matching image for each: coal doubles, anthracite doubles, Long Beach lump and nuts, multi-fuel briquettes, coke blend, anthracite peas and kindling. A filter lets people narrow it down.
- Eight fuels in one clean grid
- Matching image for each product
- Filter to narrow the range
The Family Album,
On the Web.
The family sent us photos from every era: the horse and cart, old coal lorries, a delivery through a coal hatch, today’s signwritten Stan Wallace lorries, and pallets of briquettes and kindling. We arranged them into a history gallery so people can see a real family business, not stock photos.
- Archive photos and new photos side by side
- Real lorries, real yard, real deliveries
Black, Bold
and Easy to Read.
The design is black and white, like the Stan Wallace lorries, with big bold headings you can read at a glance. On a phone, the page stacks into one column with the “Contact Stan” button in the header.
- Black and white to match the fleet
- Large headings and short paragraphs
- Contact Stan button in the header
Ring Stan,
or Drop Him a Line.
The page ends with the phone number in huge type and a short form: name, email, subject and message. Enquiries go by email for prices, deliveries and stock checks. We still look after the site, with WordPress updates handled for Stan.
- Phone number as the main call to action
- Four-field enquiry form, sent straight to email
- Ongoing updates and care from Northern
Stan The Coal Man
A family trade, told properly online.
Got a local business with a story worth telling?
Screenshots
& Photography
Website shown was designed and built by Northern Digital for Stan The Coal Man. Family and delivery photos are the client’s own. Product images are illustrative. Presented to demonstrate capability.
More from the Northern portfolio.
What clients say about our work
Real reviews from real businesses.
Had a website made from scratch was done within 4 days and turn around was great.
Great service overall. It's been a real pleasure working with Dave and his team. They've helped strengthen our business presence and brand identity through our website and are always on hand to offer support and go the extra mile. We're looking forward to continuing to work with Dave and the Northern Digital team on future projects as our business grows.
Very good experience, very knowledgable and trustworthy. Highly recommend.
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