You might expect your flooring to be very hardest wearing feature of your interiors, even in spaces where foot traffic is particularly high. However, over time, flooring really succumbs to regular use. You only need to look at the flooring in old churches, tourist attractions and so on to see how even stone floors get worn down by foot traffic, carving hollows out of the material.

Of course, it’s only centuries-old buildings that suffer from this problem. Pubs and cafes serve high volumes of people every day and their floors suffer too. It costs an awful lot to address the wear and tear foot traffic does to the floor, whether it is stone, wood, carpet or tile. The sensible protection strategy to employ is to lay a rug over the floor where foot traffic is at its highest.

The best rugs to use here are the most hardwearing. Thick wool rugs work well in busy environments and you want to find those made from the coarsest material. Delicate rugs might succumb too quickly to wear giving you something else to replace too soon, but the hardier varieties should stand you in good stead.