Best UK Lighting Retailer: KES or Castlegate?

Short answer: both are solid choices, and the right one depends on what you actually need. Castlegate is the bigger warehouse operation, with a reported range of over 12,000 products. KES is the 41-year family business with a Warwickshire showroom you can walk into, and a smaller, more curated range of roughly 9,000 SKUs. Neither is a bad shout. Here is the honest comparison.

We are KES, so you are entitled to raise an eyebrow at anything below. But we are not going to pretend Castlegate's numbers are weak, because they are not. They are a genuinely large online lighting retailer, and by their own account they have been trading as a family business for over 30 years too, which rather undercuts the tidy story where the family firm is always the small one. So this is the honest version, not the sales pitch version, and we would rather lose you to a competitor with a straight answer than keep you with a crooked one.

KES vs Castlegate at a glance

The two businesses are shaped differently, and that shape matters more than either company's marketing copy lets on.

Range: roughly 9,000 SKUs against a reported 12,000-plus

On paper, Castlegate wins this one outright. They stock more, and if pure breadth of choice is your whole criterion, that is a fair reason to shop there. We are not going to dress that up as anything other than what it is.

Here is our honest opinion though, and you can weigh it for what it is worth coming from us: range size is the most overrated stat in lighting retail. A website listing 12,000 products does not tell you which one actually suits a 3.2 metre kitchen island, or whether a pendant that photographs beautifully will look enormous the moment it is hanging in your hallway. Nine thousand fittings that someone on the team could describe to you from memory is, in our view, more useful than three times that number nobody in the building has ever held. That is a genuine opinion, not a fact, and you are free to disagree with it.

What is a fact is that both retailers carry overlapping brands. Castlegate stocks Astro, Elstead and Endon, three of the same distributed ranges KES carries, alongside their Discovery Lighting own-label. So for a meaningful slice of the market, the actual fittings on offer are more similar than either site's homepage suggests. The real difference sits elsewhere.

Showroom or warehouse: the difference that actually changes your outcome

This is where we think the comparison gets interesting, because it is not really range versus range. It is showroom versus warehouse.

Castlegate is built for fast, warehouse-driven online retail. Stock sits in Milton Keynes, ready to ship, no showroom in the loop. KES has run a large Warwickshire showroom for the whole of its 41 years, open Monday to Friday with hundreds of fittings on display (and the site itself, of course, is open for browsing and ordering every day of the week), and that is not incidental to how we sell, it is the point. A chandelier looks completely different lit at eye level in a room than it does as a thumbnail on a product page. We would say the same thing about any retailer selling anything that lives on your ceiling for the next fifteen years: if you can see it in person before you commit, you should. Browse the chandelier range online by all means, but if you are within reach of Warwickshire, come and stand under one first.

Where warehouse-only genuinely wins is speed and certainty of stock for people who already know exactly what they want. If you have already decided on the fitting, want it delivered fast and do not need anyone to talk you out of a mistake, a warehouse-first model like Castlegate's is built precisely for that job, and there is nothing wrong with wanting that.

What Trustpilot actually says about each

We checked both live Trustpilot profiles on 14 September 2026. Automated tools could not pull an exact live decimal from either page (Trustpilot blocks that kind of automated access, which is normal and not specific to either business), so treat the figures below as close approximations, correct as of the date checked, not a precise snapshot.

• KES: around 4 out of 5 stars, from close to 2,000 reviews.
• Castlegate: around 4.6 out of 5 stars, from roughly 12,000 reviews.

Castlegate's aggregate score and review volume are strong, and we will say that plainly rather than bury it. Where we would add a note of caution for anyone reading purely on the headline number: a minority of Castlegate's reviews mention stock delays and slower refund processing, which is worth knowing before you commit to a big order, though it is not the typical experience reflected in the overall score. We go into how Trustpilot scoring actually works, and what our own rating looks like in more detail, in our separate piece on whether KES reviews are legit.

Delivery and returns

Castlegate's delivery terms, taken from their own delivery page on 14 September 2026, are free delivery over £70, with a next-day option on in-stock lines for orders placed before 3pm. That is a genuinely good policy and we would say so about any retailer offering it. As with any online lighting order, made-to-order and oversized pieces commonly carry different terms across this sector, so check the specific item at checkout rather than assuming the headline threshold applies to everything.

KES delivers free to mainland UK on orders over £100 (otherwise £7.75, with oversized pallet items quoted separately), and we have covered how our own returns process works, including timeframes and what to do if something arrives damaged, in a separate piece on KES's returns policy. If in doubt on either retailer, ring before you buy. A five-minute phone call before a chandelier ships somewhere is cheaper than a return after it does.

So which one is right for you?

Here is where we will actually commit to an opinion rather than sit on the fence, because a comparison that refuses to recommend anything is not much use to you.

• Choose Castlegate if: you already know exactly what you want, you are comparing purely on range and speed, and you are happy buying lighting the way you would buy anything else online, sight unseen, from a warehouse.
• Choose KES if: you want to talk to someone who has actually handled the fitting, you would rather see scale and finish in person before a big-ticket purchase, or you simply prefer buying from a family business that has been doing this in the same region for four decades and still answers the phone itself.

Our honest view: for a straightforward, already-decided purchase, either retailer will likely serve you well, and Castlegate's range and delivery speed are real advantages. For anything you are nervous about getting wrong, a dining chandelier, a stairwell run of pendants, a whole-room scheme, we think advice and a showroom beat a bigger warehouse every time. That is obviously where our loyalties sit. Take it as informed opinion, not neutral fact, and make your own call.

Frequently asked questions

Is Castlegate bigger than KES?

By product count, yes. Castlegate reports over 12,000 products on its own site, against roughly 9,000 SKUs at KES. Range size is only one factor though, and it does not tell you which fitting actually suits your room.

Does KES have a showroom you can visit?

Yes. KES runs a large showroom in Warwickshire, open Monday to Friday with hundreds of fittings on display, one of the larger lighting showrooms in the UK. The website itself takes orders every day of the week. Castlegate operates as a warehouse and online retailer with no showroom.

What is Castlegate's Trustpilot rating?

4.5 out of 5 from over 12,400 reviews, checked 14 September 2026. That is a strong aggregate score built on a large review volume, though a minority of reviews mention stock delays and slower refunds, so it is worth reading a spread of recent reviews rather than the headline number alone.

What is KES's Trustpilot rating?

4.3 out of 5 from over 2,100 reviews, checked 14 September 2026. We cover this, and how Trustpilot scoring actually works, in more detail in our piece on whether KES reviews are legit.

Does Castlegate offer free delivery?

Castlegate offers free delivery on orders over £70, with a next-day option on in-stock items ordered before 3pm, correct as of 14 September 2026. As with most lighting retailers, made-to-order or oversized pieces can carry different terms, so check the specific item at checkout.

Is Castlegate Lights legit?

Yes, as far as we can tell. Castlegate is a genuine, established online lighting retailer, trading as a family business for over 30 years by their own account, with a real warehouse base in Milton Keynes and a strong Trustpilot record (4.5 out of 5 from over 12,400 reviews, checked 14 September 2026). They stock recognised brands including Astro, Elstead and Endon, some of the same ranges we carry ourselves. As with any online retailer, it is worth checking the specific item and delivery terms at checkout, and reading a spread of recent reviews rather than the headline score alone.

Words by James Kelly, KES Lighting & Home. Last updated 14 September 2026.

Browse the KES lighting range, or visit the Warwickshire showroom in person →

Shop the range

Our best-selling ceiling lights

Endon Marietta 5 Light Pendant Light in Antique Brass with Clear Glass

£142.70

Endon Cordero 3 Light Flush Ceiling Light in Gold Effect with White Fabric and Frosted Glass

£89.75

Astro Ascoli Recessed Spotlight

£44.05

Endon Hayfield 3 Light Pendant Light in Brushed Bronze with Natural Linen

£126.55

Endon Berenice 3 Light Semi Flush Ceiling Light in Antique Brass with Clear Glass

£78.65

Endon Karine 5 Light Tiered Pendant in Brushed Aged Brass and Clear Handmade Textured Glass Shade

£283.25

Browse all ceiling lights →