In praise of....hardware shops!
- Thread starter dellzeqq
- Start date
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Over The Hill
Guru
- Location
- Ridden off into the sunset
Just been in one today for some fire lighting fluid. I always like a look around while I am there.
On Oz and James this week they went to Ireland and the hardware shop there had a bar in it or it was a pub that sold hardware.
Just imagine the smell of a hardware shop and the smell of beer together. Heaven!
On Oz and James this week they went to Ireland and the hardware shop there had a bar in it or it was a pub that sold hardware.
Just imagine the smell of a hardware shop and the smell of beer together. Heaven!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
We used to have a great one, Stubbs, I think it had been in the building for decades (possibly a 100 years). Three floors of hardware, and men in brown coats behind the counter dispensing countersunk screws and the like. Sadly, they moved, to an industrial estate, and have become a glorified builder's merchant. The building (still with Stubbs advert painted on the gable) is now a Loch Fyne restaurant.
Luckily, there is still Pextons on Bishopthorpe Road, which also has pretty much everything, although it's not so big. They have the advantage of being able to have stuff outside on the pavement, like a greengrocer.
Luckily, there is still Pextons on Bishopthorpe Road, which also has pretty much everything, although it's not so big. They have the advantage of being able to have stuff outside on the pavement, like a greengrocer.
jpembroke
New Member
- Location
- Cheltenham
My Granddad used to own and run a hardware store - the type with lots of little wooden draws full of every type of screw, nail, and other fixing. These were weighed out and sold in paper bags like sweets.
These days I like to walk in to hardware stores and inhale deeply.
Ahhhhhhhh.
These days I like to walk in to hardware stores and inhale deeply.
Ahhhhhhhh.
User76 said:We had one in Buckingham, where I grew up. When we were 13/14 we would go in during the school holidays to buy the days 'supplies' and the one shop (Marriots I think it was called) would supply us 500 Bulldog air-rifle pellets in a yellow box, a bag of plaster of Paris, a bottle of meths, some fishing floats, dart flights and loose batteries of varying sizes
Thank the Lord some of these great shops survive.
The one in my village would also have supplied you with penny sweets!
Arch
Married to Night Train
- Location
- Salford, UK
Spizz 23
Senior Member
- Location
- Daventry, Northants
Hardware
The one in our town you can only just fit down each Aisle, and when you are in its one way traffic, but you can have your photos printed within an hour ! you even select your own pics by sitting in the 'back room' on a computer, and the smell is great!
The one in our town you can only just fit down each Aisle, and when you are in its one way traffic, but you can have your photos printed within an hour ! you even select your own pics by sitting in the 'back room' on a computer, and the smell is great!
GilesM
Legendary Member
- Location
- East Lothian
There's still a really good one in North Berwick, like all others, there is not much room, but they always have what I need, I can even top up on my saucepan stocks when I buy a bag of anchor bolts
Aperitif
Meme bar
- Location
- ...I don't have much idea - really.
Fred Collins in Earlham Street London was my favourite. He was always there among the inflammables, pipe permanently fumigating the shop. Not so much an Aladdin's Cave, more an Aladdin's 'heap'!
He had everything in that shop - as anyone who remembers will agree...
Big old scales with brass weights for measuring the nails which were strewn everywhere...he used to tip them into a page of a telephone directory if they were panel pins or suchlike, bigger stuff got the broadsheet treatment.
His son took it over and cleaned everything off the floor eventually - it was never the same.
He died. And probably there are many articles about him and his shop dotted across the web.
When his son cleared up, he probably found a council Health & Safety rep. buried under a pile of galvanised buckets and mop heads...
He had everything in that shop - as anyone who remembers will agree...
Big old scales with brass weights for measuring the nails which were strewn everywhere...he used to tip them into a page of a telephone directory if they were panel pins or suchlike, bigger stuff got the broadsheet treatment.
His son took it over and cleaned everything off the floor eventually - it was never the same.
He died. And probably there are many articles about him and his shop dotted across the web.
When his son cleared up, he probably found a council Health & Safety rep. buried under a pile of galvanised buckets and mop heads...
A combination of things I suspect. Notably being able to ask knowledgeable staff a question rather than the spotty kids you find in the superstore.
Also, is it just me or are the likes of B&Q and Homebase ridiculously overpriced in comparison to a proper hardware shop? You have to pay a couple of quid for a silly little bag of maybe ten screws when you can buy 1/2LB of the same screws in a proper hardware shop for the same price. The same goes for electrical fittings and plumbing joints.
It is my opinion that the only people who shop in places like B&Q don't know any better. Same as Halford with their car parts. You can buy them cheaper in the local motorfactors and get served by someone who knows what's what.
Also, is it just me or are the likes of B&Q and Homebase ridiculously overpriced in comparison to a proper hardware shop? You have to pay a couple of quid for a silly little bag of maybe ten screws when you can buy 1/2LB of the same screws in a proper hardware shop for the same price. The same goes for electrical fittings and plumbing joints.
It is my opinion that the only people who shop in places like B&Q don't know any better. Same as Halford with their car parts. You can buy them cheaper in the local motorfactors and get served by someone who knows what's what.
Freewheeler
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Warrington
The hardware shop near my house upped sticks and moved 3 miles away last year, they sold the site which is being redeveloped as a Tesco Local 
There's one in Harehills in Leeds which has been there for at least 30 years, most likely many more.
Now it is run by a couple of (I think) Polish blokes. How they manage to grasp the language of a small shop selling such things as a hasp and staple, escutcheon plates, twin horn cleats, and spring assisted hinges is beyond me.
I'm damn sure I wouldn't be able to manage the same in Poland.
It is always busy.
Now it is run by a couple of (I think) Polish blokes. How they manage to grasp the language of a small shop selling such things as a hasp and staple, escutcheon plates, twin horn cleats, and spring assisted hinges is beyond me.
I'm damn sure I wouldn't be able to manage the same in Poland.
It is always busy.
