Mirror is the fussiest glass we cut

A glass workshop, not a mirror shop

Bespoke Mirrors London is the mirror side of a London glass company with its own processing workshop at 6 Atlas Road in Wembley. We cut glass, we grind and polish edges, we drill it, we toughen it, we laminate it and we make up sealed units. Mirror is one of the things that comes off those machines. We are not a homeware retailer and we do not sell framed mirrors off a shelf. If you want a decorative mirror in a gilt frame, a furniture shop will serve you better and we will say so.

What we do is make a panel of mirror glass to a size and a shape that exists in exactly one building, and then fit it. Alcoves, chimney breast recesses, full height hallway panels, wardrobe and cupboard door inserts, gym walls, bathroom panels, splashback runs, shaped recesses under a staircase. All of it cut to size, all of it from our own workshop, all of it fitted by our own installation teams rather than by subcontractors we have never met.

Why having the workshop matters with mirror specifically

Mirror punishes handling more than any other glass product. The silver and the protective paint on the back can be scratched by a grain of grit on a bench or a careless strap on a frail. Once that backing is scratched the damage is permanent and often does not become visible as a black line for months. Every time a panel is passed between companies it gets loaded, unloaded, stood up, laid down and shuffled, and every one of those moves is an opportunity for the panel to be quietly ruined.

Because we cut it, we edge it, we load it and we fit it, there are four or five fewer handovers than in the usual supply chain, and anything that does go wrong is ours to put right without an argument about who scratched it. It also means lead times are ours to control, and that a resize after a survey is a change to a cutting list rather than a new order with a new supplier.

What we will tell you not to buy

Most of the money wasted on bespoke mirrors is wasted on specification rather than on price. We would rather talk you out of the wrong spec than sell it, because a customer with a mirror that still looks right in five years is worth more to us than the margin on an unnecessary upgrade.

• A bevel on an edge that will be hidden behind a frame or beading. Nobody will ever see it.
• 6mm in a small cloakroom or cupboard panel. 4mm is flat enough at that size and lighter to fix.
• A premium corrosion-resistant backing for a dry hallway or bedroom wall. It will look identical to standard mirror for as long as you own the house.
• A demister pad in a bathroom with a window and a working extractor fan.
• Antique or tinted mirror anywhere somebody needs to see themselves properly.
• One enormous single panel where two butted panels would look just as good and actually fit up the stairs.

Standards, and an honest word about certification

Mirrors for internal use are covered by BS EN 1036, which deals with silver-coated float glass mirror including its reflective quality and its resistance to corrosion. That is the standard that sits behind the grades of mirror we buy and the reason a mirror sold for a bathroom is a different product from one sold for a dry wall, even though they look the same on a shelf.

Where mirror has to behave as safety glass, the relevant classification is the impact performance of the backed panel, assessed under BS 6206 and BS EN 12600. Safety backing film is applied to the rear of the mirror to achieve that, and we fit it as standard in gyms, on anything full height, on anything in a circulation route and on anything low enough for a child to run into. Approved Document K sets out where glazing in critical locations needs to be safety glazing, and in a domestic setting that is doors, door side panels and glazing at low level. A mirror is not usually a critical location in its own right, but a full height mirror panel in a hallway sits in a place where we would not want unbacked glass regardless of whether a regulation compels it.

We are a FENSA registered installer. It is worth saying plainly what that does and does not mean: FENSA registration covers replacement window and door installation under the building regulations. It does not certify an internal mirror and it does not need to. We mention it because it tells you what sort of company you are dealing with, not because it has anything to do with the panel in your alcove.

One technical point we get asked constantly. A standard silvered mirror cannot be toughened after it has been silvered, so if somebody quotes you toughened mirror cut to size from stock, ask them exactly what they are supplying. Safety backing film is the normal and correct route to a safe mirror panel, and it is what we use.

How a job runs from first call to finished wall

You ring or email with the room, the rough sizes and what the mirror is for. On straightforward rectangular panels where you are confident in your own measurements, we can price from your figures and you take responsibility for the sizes, which is often exactly the right arrangement for a trade customer or a landlord.

On anything shaped, anything large, anything full height or anything where the wall is in question, we survey. The survey is free anywhere in London. We measure at multiple points, check the wall construction by sounding it, template if the opening is not square, look at the access route from the kerb to the room, and discuss thickness, edge, backing and fixing method on the spot.

Then you get a written fixed quotation. Fixed means fixed. It lists the panel sizes, the thickness, the edge finish, the backing specification, the fixing method and the fitting. If we have surveyed and templated it, the risk of the glass not fitting is ours, not yours. We then cut and process in Wembley, we protect and deliver on our own vehicles, and the team that fits it is the team you met.

On the day, floors and furniture get protected before any glass comes into the room. Old mirror comes off the wall and goes with us, which is worth asking about because a large broken mirror is not something a local authority will take as household waste. We clean the panel, clear up, and leave you with the cleaning advice that keeps the edges alive.

Our own installers, and why we do not subcontract

Fitting a mirror looks simple and is not. The mistakes are all invisible until it is too late: the wrong adhesive against the backing, a panel bonded to board that will not hold it, no bottom support under a heavy panel, a bead of acetic silicone against an edge, a panel pushed into a recess that is 2mm too tight. A subcontracted fitter paid per panel has every incentive to stick it on the wall and leave. Our fitters are on our books and they see the same customers again, which changes the incentives entirely.

Trade, landlord and contractor work

A good share of the mirror glass we supply in London goes to builders, kitchen and bathroom fitters, interior designers, gym installers, shopfitters and letting agents. Trade customers can order on sizes, collect from the Wembley workshop, or have panels delivered to site. Templates can be dropped off and we will cut to them exactly as given, with the sizes confirmed back to you in writing before anything is cut so there is no dispute later.

If you are a designer specifying mirror for a client, talk to us before the drawings are frozen rather than after. The two issues that cause the most late-stage trouble are access and fixing substrate, and both are cheap to solve on paper and expensive to solve once the room is finished.

Where we work and how to reach us

We cover Greater London from the Wembley workshop and we are strongest in north, west and central London. The workshop is at 6 Atlas Road, Wembley, London HA9 0JH, open Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm, and the number is 020 4634 6045. Site surveys across London are free and written fixed quotations follow them. If your job is better served by a standard mirror from a shop, we will tell you that on the phone and you will not have wasted an afternoon.