A WIRRAL luxury candle company will be opening it's first flagship store next week.

Owen Drew Luxury Candles offers hand-made, luxury, vegan products which burn clean and don’t pollute or damage your home.

Local entrepreneur Drew Cockton, 31, began producing the candles in the back kitchen of his home with ingredients sourced from Amazon.

Now 12 months on, the business employs seven people and has been shortlisted for 'Start Up Business of the Year' at the Small Business Awards.

As well as burning bright in homes across the UK Drew’s candles are shipped worldwide to places like New Zealand, South Africa and Dubai.

Drew told the Globe: "We are so excited to be opening our first shop.

"While we are stocked in more than 25 independent businesses across the UK, this will be the very first dedicated Owen Drew store to stock all of our hand-made products."

Drew has accumulated a host of celebrity fans including Paris Hilton, Coleen Rooney and Maria Hatzistefanis, founder and chief executive of luxury skincare brand Rodial.

He added: "I decided that home fragrance could and should be better.

"I started making my own candles by hand using natural, vegan soya wax and pure essential oils.

"They burnt beautifully, didn’t give off black smoke and the fragrance throw was far better than any candles I had ever used.

"After giving them as gifts to friends and family, I started selling at small artisan fairs and then from our website.

"The demand for my candles literally blew me away and soon I was earning more than I did from my job in financial services, so I decided to leave my career and give my business a proper go if it.”

The Owen Drew flagship store (Unit 7, 254 Brook Street, Birkenhead) will be opening at 9am on Monday, March 12. 

For more information visit www.owendrewcandles.com