IT’S the viral product beloved by cleanfluencers, and it is produced right here in Bradford.

The mould blaster spray is also the number one product by Astonish and was rolling off the production line when the Telegraph & Argus visited the firm’s new premises in the city this week.

The family-owned firm has supplied household cleaning products to some of the UK’s biggest retailers for more than 40 years.

Such is its ongoing success that turnover has doubled in the last two years, after doubling in the five years before that.

Most recently the company has also invested massively in a new headquarters and production facility – moving from its Staithgate Lane site near the M606 to a bespoke facility two-and-a-half times the size.

It is here, at Thornbury Industrial Park in the city, that we speak to owner-manager Howard Moss, whose father it was that set up the Astonish brand some 50 years ago.

From selling an oven and cookware cleaning paste door to door, to making more than 60 different products and shipping them worldwide, the firm has gone from strength to strength.

Of the move, Mr Moss told the T&A that weeks after an earlier deal fell through, he spotted a news article about two units being developed on what was to become the new industrial park.

This time they were able to agree on a price and a deal that would see the building handed over within 12 months. But it wasn’t all plain sailing.

He said: “We took possession of a building that was just a shell and then we had about another 10 months of a fit-out that was extremely complex, to say the least.

“Then when we were going live in July last year, one of the key utilities, water – a base ingredient in what we manufacture – we had an issue with. What was meant to be five or six litres a second, we were only getting two litres a second. Basically, it had not been specced right – something had been lost in translation.”

It needed a new water main, which was turned around in a month to allow the move to continue.

“I think pretty much since November last year, we’ve had record month after month, in terms of our output,” he added.

“We’re fully aware of the scope of this site, we are turning over pro-rata what will be around £60 million turnover for the full year.

“The site here has got the ability to do about £120 million – so we can certainly build into it and grow.”

The firm’s products are stocked in stores such as B&M, Wilko, Aldi, Home Bargains, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland, and more recently Sainsbury’s.

And Astonish’s sale team were preparing to have a key meeting with supermarket giant Tesco this week – one of the few remaining big retailers that doesn’t stock the firm’s cleaning products.

It also exports around 25 per cent abroad, to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia for example, with the addition of special labelling in different languages.

The Astonish site at Thornbury Industrial Park in Bradford (Image: Newsquest)

“We’re proud of our British heritage. We’re proud of what we do. We could comfortably get these products manufactured wherever – but there are two things – would you get the quality of product that we are getting and would you get the agility and speed to market that we’re getting? Absolutely not.

“Here we’re in control of it. We can determine what we’re doing and we can dial it up.”

He added that they are the only vegan-approved cleaning brand and the only cruelty-free endorsed leading brand.

Sustainability is also a key issue for the firm, switching to non-plastic alternatives where possible, including a new cleaning paste in a metal tin – a similar style of container to the original products first produced by the company’s founder, Alan Moss.

“I think what’s happened with the Astonish brand is its evolvement – it’s gone from being something that was very much off the radar with the bigger retailers that are out there. We navigated areas where we could pick business up such as the discount chains. Then over this last six or seven years, as a brand, we’ve developed massively.

“I think that’s because we’ve stuck to what we’ve always done – we make a product that if you go online and you read the testimonials, they almost look like we’ve written them, but they’re real. It’s what people think of our brand – they genuinely love using our products.”

He added: “We make great products at a great price.”