Pallet racking in Haverfordwest, planned around the long road west on the A40.
Haverfordwest is the county town of Pembrokeshire and the place where the A40 and A487 meet, so most of the county's trade stock passes through it at some point. Farm supply, timber, plumbing and electrical wholesale, kitchens and joinery all trade from Withybush, and milk from west Wales farms is now bottled at the Pembrokeshire Food Park on the same estate.
We design, install, inspect and repair racking for Haverfordwest sites from Withybush and Merlins Bridge out to the Fishguard Road. It is a long drive west from Seven Sisters, so we plan each visit properly and group Pembrokeshire work to keep your costs down.
- Drive from Seven Sisters
- 1 hr 35 min
- Road distance
- 75 miles
- Survey lead time
- Within 10 working days
- Typical install
- 4 to 8 weeks
Withybush and the trade estates of Haverfordwest.
Almost all of the warehouse floor space in Haverfordwest sits on the northern edge of town at Withybush, beside the county showground and the A40 Fishguard Road. The estate grew up around the old airfield and is a patchwork of council owned starter units, trade counters and larger sheds. Pembrokeshire County Council still lets small light industrial units on Withybush North Estate, typically 2,000 to 2,600 sq ft with a roller shutter, a workshop and mezzanine storage over the offices. Those buildings fill up fast and rarely have the height for more than three beam levels.
The bigger change is the Pembrokeshire Food Park, laid out at Withybush in 2021 with Welsh Government and ERDF funding. Its anchor is a liquid milk plant on a 10.25 acre plot built to process around 70 million litres a year from local family farms. That brings chilled packaging, crates, ingredients and spares into a town whose storage was mostly agricultural merchants, builders merchants and timber.
South of the river, Merlins Bridge and the Johnston road carry motor trades, plant hire and smaller yards serving Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock. Across the whole town the pattern is the same: mixed stock, limited eaves height, a lot of material kept outside, and owners who want one visit to fix several problems.
Withybush Industrial Estate
Electrical and plumbing wholesale, joinery trade counters, timber and agricultural supply, mostly pallets, long lengths and bagged goods.
Pembrokeshire Food Park
Milk processing and food manufacturing on serviced plots, with chilled finished goods, packaging and ingredient storage.
Withybush North Estate
Council let light industrial units of around 2,000 to 2,600 sq ft, used as workshops and small stores with mezzanine space.
Withybush Business Park
Vehicle dealers and service workshops storing tyres, parts and consumables on shelving and light pallet racking.
Merlins Bridge
Motor trades, plant hire and builders yards on the south side of town toward Milford Haven.
Pallet racking and yard storage we fit in Haverfordwest.
Ordered by what Haverfordwest operators ask us for most. Trade counters and merchants come first, followed by the food park and the small council units at Withybush.
Racking safety duties for Haverfordwest operators.
Under PUWER 1998 your racking is work equipment, and HSG76 sets out what the HSE expects: an appointed person responsible for racking safety, regular recorded visual checks by your own staff, and an expert inspection at least once every 12 months by a SEMA Approved Rack Inspector. In a Haverfordwest merchant yard that appointed person is often the branch manager who also runs the counter, so we keep the checking routine short, written down and easy to hand to a deputy during the busy spring building season.
The risks here are specific. Mixed trade stock gets put back wherever there is a gap, so overloaded beams and missing locking pins are common. Food park tenants answer to BRC and retailer audits that ask to see racking records alongside cleaning schedules. Because we are 75 miles away, we never leave a red risk open: we either off load and isolate the bay on the day or book the repair before we leave.
Why we plan Haverfordwest visits in batches, and build for the yard.
Haverfordwest is about an hour and a half from our depot at Seven Sisters, down the M4 to Pont Abraham, the A48 to Carmarthen and the A40 west through St Clears and Penblewin. That is too far to pop in, so we treat Pembrokeshire as planned work. We collect survey requests, inspection renewals and small repair orders, then run them as a route over one or two days covering Withybush, Merlins Bridge, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock. Each customer gets a fixed arrival window and a van loaded with the components their survey said they would need.
The second thing that marks out Haverfordwest is how much stock lives outside. Timber merchants, agricultural suppliers and builders merchants keep lengths, mesh, posts and pipe in open yards exposed to salt laden westerly weather. Painted racking corrodes quickly here. We specify hot dip galvanised cantilever with arms set to the length and weight of each product, braced to suit the slab, so a yard that was stacked on bearers becomes sorted, countable and quicker to load.
Grouped route days
Vans loaded from the survey
Galvanised for the coast
Single and double sided arms
Getting to Haverfordwest and how we schedule the work.
From Seven Sisters we take the A4109 and A465 to Neath, the M4 west to junction 49, then the A48 and A40 through Carmarthen and Whitland to Haverfordwest. It is roughly 75 miles and about 1 hour 35 minutes in normal traffic, longer in July and August when caravans fill the A40. Surveys are booked within 10 working days and timed with other Pembrokeshire visits where possible.
Installs are scheduled as continuous runs, with the crew staying locally so the job is not broken up by daily travel. Where a merchant cannot close the yard, we work early mornings, evenings or Sundays, and for food park sites we fit around production and cleaning windows agreed with your quality team. Urgent damage reports are answered by phone the same day with off loading advice.
- Route
- M4, A48, A40
- Surveys
- Within 10 working days
- Out of hours
- Evenings and weekends
- Inspection days
- Grouped by area
A typical Haverfordwest job: merchant yard and warehouse together.
A typical job in Haverfordwest is a builders or agricultural merchant at Withybush with a cluttered shed and a yard full of timber on bearers. Inside, we replace mismatched second hand bays with adjustable pallet racking sized for bagged cement, feed and fencing materials, and add longspan beside the counter for small fittings. Outside, galvanised cantilever runs take the long lengths, with Armco barrier at the ends of runs where delivery lorries turn.
The work is split into stages so the branch keeps trading. Yard cantilever goes in first, freeing ground, then the shed is cleared and refitted bay by bay. We finish with load notices, a racking register and a first recorded visual check with the appointed person, so the annual inspection that follows on our next Pembrokeshire route day starts from a clean baseline.
Standard racking and shelving delivered to Haverfordwest
Bays, beams, shelving, protection and handling kit are in stock on the online store and delivered to Haverfordwest. Designed systems still come through the free survey, because a layout has to be measured before it can be priced.
- Racking & shelving (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Storage (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Safety & premises (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Trucks & trolleys (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Steps & ladders (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Lifting, drum & cylinder (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Workshop & environment (opens the online store in a new tab)
- Office & mailroom (opens the online store in a new tab)
Questions from Haverfordwest.
Haverfordwest is about 75 miles and roughly 1 hour 35 minutes from our depot, so travel is a real cost. We reduce it by grouping Pembrokeshire work: inspections, surveys and repairs in Haverfordwest, Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock are run as shared route days, and the travel is spread across those visits. For a full installation the crew stays locally, so you pay for working hours on site rather than three hours a day in a van. Your quotation shows travel as a separate line.
Yes. That is what hot dip galvanising is for. Painted cantilever left outside in Pembrokeshire will usually show rust at arm joints and base plates within a few winters because of the wet, salty westerly air. Galvanised columns, arms and bracing resist that far better. We check the slab under each column, set arm length to your longest common product, and specify end stops or upright pins so timber and pipe cannot roll off in high wind. Inspect it annually like indoor racking.
Usually. Those units are around 2,000 to 2,600 sq ft, often with offices and mezzanine storage at one end and a roller shutter at the other. We measure clear height under the roof steel, door width and the lease conditions, then draw a layout that keeps a clear route from the shutter. Many tenants get more from longspan shelving on one side and two or three pallet beam levels on the other than from full height racking. Check fixing into the floor with the landlord first.
We plan food site work around your cleaning and production schedules. Before starting we agree a method statement with your quality team covering swarf control, drilling dust, tool counts and hygiene clothing. Most chilled store racking can be fitted in sections, with each completed area cleaned and handed back before the next is opened up. Where needed we work through a planned shutdown or overnight. You receive the paperwork your BRC or customer auditors usually ask for at handover.
Survey within 10 working days of your call, drawing and quotation in around a week after that, then 4 to 8 weeks from order for standard pallet racking and cantilever. Mezzanine steelwork is usually erected in 1 to 3 weeks once approvals are in place. A pallet shuttle system is longer, at 12 to 16 weeks. On site, a typical Haverfordwest merchant refit takes between two and five working days depending on how much stock has to be moved.
Yes, and it makes sense to do it on the same trip because the drive back east is long. Serviceable frames and beams may have resale value, so we assess them during the survey and either credit them against your new order or buy them outright. Damaged and obsolete components are taken for recycling. Tell us at quotation stage so we bring the right vehicle and include removal in the programme.
Off load the damaged bay and stop using it, then phone us with photographs of the upright, beam connectors and base plate. We grade the damage from the images where we can and tell you whether the bay can stay loaded or must remain empty. Replacement parts are picked at Seven Sisters and fitted on the next Haverfordwest route day or on a dedicated trip if the risk is high. Order rack protection at the same time to stop it recurring.
Other West Wales towns we cover.
Haverfordwest sits on our western route, so we usually combine visits here with work in Milford Haven around the haven and the energy terminals, Carmarthen on the way back along the A40, and Llanelli and Ammanford nearer the depot. Ask us to add your site to the next route day.
Plan your Haverfordwest racking project.
Tell us what you store, inside and in the yard, and we will add your Haverfordwest site to our next Pembrokeshire route day. Book a free site survey or book an inspection.