Poppies Heritage
Over 40 years as the #1 domestic cleaning trailblazer
The Poppies Story
Poppies is Britain’s oldest-established domestic cleaning franchise business, having been set up by founder Sue Rorstad in a bedroom of her County Durham home in 1980 while on maternity leave.
Recognising there was a shortage of properly managed domestic cleaning services that provided excellence for customers and staff alike, Sue set about to make Poppies a byword for quality.
And we’ve been setting the standards for others to follow ever since.
What set us apart in 1980 still drives us forward today: an unwavering belief in the quality of our services and franchisees, and a devotion to improve the lives of our clients.
We are hugely proud of Poppies heritage – not only in delivering premium cleaning services for customers across the nation, but also providing the opportunities for franchisees to join our family and build a sustainable business they can truly be proud of.
Franchisee-turned-managing director Chris Wootton took over the company on 1 April 2018 – exactly 38 years to the day since Poppies was founded – and he continues to run his own franchise whilst overseeing the business as a whole.

1980
1983
Late 1980s
1994
1996
2018
2020
