IF BURNLEY businessman Brian Rourke was any more laid back, he would be horizontal. He runs a thriving company, whose decorative wrought ironwork is sought-after throughout the world.

His hand-crafted gates guard the luxury homes of celebrities such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bianca Jagger, Mike Tyson and a bevy of real-life footballers' wives.

Brian has built decorative gates and fencing for Disneyworld in Florida, Disneyland in Paris and the Bob Paisley memorial gates at Anfield.

But despite his international business credentials, he remains a 'Lancashire lad' at heart and rejects the trappings you would normally associate with success.

More than 40 years in business has seen his turnover grow from just £433 a year to more than £4.5 million.

A £1 million extension is now being built at B. Rourke & Co. on Accrington Road, Burnley, where he employs more than 110 people.

So, what is the secret of his success? "Luck" is Brian's simple explanation of how he has gone from a Bacup school-leaver with no qualifications to become one of the UK's leading wrought iron specialists.

"I have never really planned anything," said Brian. "Things have just happened and everything has eventually fallen into place."

He says he became a blacksmith by accident. At the age of 15, his father died and he moved to Nottingham where his brother was a policeman. He took a job at a small engineering works and was sent to the smithy where his lifelong love affair with wrought iron blossomed.

After national service with the RAF, he decided to start his own business and he opened his first forge in a hen cabin on his sister's farm on Deerplay Moor, between Burnley and Bacup.

He is quick to point out, however, that he has been no overnight success. "I was a financial disaster for the first 20 years," he cheerily admits. "I spend three days standing the markets at Todmorden, Rawtenstall and Burnley and the other four days making things for sale.

"Every year, my accountant would shake his head and tell me to get a proper job and I always used to say 'one of these days'."

Brian's big breakthrough came in 1979 when an Australian arrived by chance at his shop just off Yorkshire Street in Burnley.

"He wanted some big gates and fencing for his horse ranch in New South Wales and I just plucked the figure £15,000 out of thin air," he recalled.

The rancher was happy with the price and Brian's designs and B. Rourke & Co. had its first export order.

"That deal started me thinking about moving up-market. It gave me the confidence that we could take on the world and we have done that ever since."

Brian, though, has an unusual approach to marketing and still does not have a single salesman on the road. "We don't go out to find customers -- they find us," he said.

Brian's breakthrough into the lucrative Far East market is another classic example of ripping up the business manual and letting Lady Luck take control.

A Japanese customer had seen some ornamental gates in Solihull in the Midlands and was forced to hire a private detective to discover they had been made by B. Rourke & Co.

The company is now big in Japan and regularly receives orders worth up to £250,000 for gates and fencing from hotels, wedding chapels and funeral parlours.

"The Japanese really appreciate traditional English craftsmanship," said Brian. "We have even done all the wrought ironwork for a replica they built of a church they had seen in the Cotswalds."

America is another big market for the company and a collection of 'Top Job' awards from the American Federation of Ornamental Metalworkers fills one of the walls in the visitor centre.

Typically, his first customer in the States was the Disney Corporation which wanted decorative gates and fencing for Disneyworld.

Brian's gates also featured in the Hollywood blockbuster Beautiful Minds which starred Russell Crowe. "I wrote to them saying that we should have had an Oscar for our gates," he said. "We didn't get the prize, but the publicity was good for business."

At the age of 63, when most people would be planning to retire and spend more time on the golf course, Brian is investing in the business.

"A couple of years ago, I had an offer for the company which would have given me more money than I could think about," he said. "But as long as I am enjoying myself, I shall stay on. I have got good staff who can run the business without me, but I honestly enjoy working too much to retire."

Steelwork for his new three-storey extension is now almost complete and Brian is looking forward to the next stage in the company's development.