• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Hardware Shops

Bill Parker

master brummie
I dont know if its just me or there may be others but I do love browsing in proper hardware shops. There are so few around now mainly thanks to the likes of B&Q, Focus et all, who then subsequently close down leaving the local hardware browser with nothing at all :(
Real hardware shops have shelves full of things that you think you might need but probably never will and if you buy them or it, you probably wont be able to find it when you do need it, but thats not the point these shelves have screws nuts bolts, hinges often loose and not in fancy packs and if you cant find it them someone will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

All sorts of polishes sieves door handles, you name it they will have it but as I said these places are rare now and often can only be found in small towns like Bewdley and there is one, I believe, in Church Stretton and another in Tenbury Wells.
These emporiums are excellent places for browsing and buying things that you dont really need but thats not the point this is a retail outlets that provide hours of entertainment, its usual courtesy to buy something as well !

Now where did I put that bottle of boiled linseed oil I bought and ermmmmmm why did I buy it??
 
Bill we have one on the corner of Summer Lane and Lower Loveday St "Whites" go inside and it,s like going back in time although the building is 40-50s built the firm has been on the site since the mid 1800s. Dek
 
Bill we have one on the corner of Summer Lane and Lower Loveday St "Whites" go inside and it,s like going back in time although the building is 40-50s built the firm has been on the site since the mid 1800s. Dek


hi dek..i am sure that whites has been gone a few years now but i stand to be corrected on that..i did go in there a few times when i lived in newtown...lovely place..a proper hardware shop and i loved the smell inside...

lyn
 
hi dek..i am sure that whites has been gone a few years now but i stand to be corrected on that..i did go in there a few times when i lived in newtown...lovely place..a proper hardware shop and i loved the smell inside...

lyn

Still there Lyn:):)Dek
 
we have one on the corner of Summer Lane and Lower Loveday St "Whites"


Was this the place that had a gigantic nut and bolt in the window, with a tiny nut and bolt sting on top?


I have to admit to being a ‘proper’ hardware shop admirer too, there is quite a good one in Ludlow.
 
Still there Lyn:):)Dek


oh thats great dek....could have swore they had packed up...they didnt move by any chance did they..i remember it as big double fronted place...mind you me memory is not what it used to be lol
 
Was this the place that had a gigantic nut and bolt in the window, with a tiny nut and bolt sting on top?
Not so sure about that but the best shop in brum for nuts & bolts was Pirriams (not sure of the spelling)Aston St one of the shops in the Fire station building the man used to wear a brown cow gown and stocked everything brilliant guy. Dek
 
Here in Spain they still have them in every town and village, called ferreterias. For years we wondered why there was so much demand for ferrets ;-)
 
El-stano, what a great name for this sort of shop - one that you ferret round in for what you want!!!
We used to have Colemans and Wallbanks in Tamworth that you could get allsorts in, and Dad and hubby loved Tuckleys in Coleshill.
The nearest I can think of now is Toolman on the Cov at Yardley, dad would spend hours there if we let him lol, and we found another one last week in Preststyn, but that's a bit far to travel.
Sue
 
Not exactly the old hardware store but Jefferies in Acocks Green is close, lots of little drawers with things in and can buy single nuts and bolts, even a few Whitworth sizes!
 
We have one in Brighton that sells everything under the sun,staffed by the most knowledgeable people.
Every one who gets a job there has to do 6 months training and then do an exam before getting a full-time position, you can ask any of them what you like and they will come up with an answer, Dockerills is the name of the shop in Church Street.
I used to go in Whites in the late 50's and also Perriams and the guy with the brown cow gown was brilliant.
 
I remember a hardware shop in Perry Barr called Dodds. They seemed to have everything, but a man in the brown cow gown (maybe the owner) always seemed in a bad mood when an assistant could not find what you wanted.
 
There used be such a shop in Highgate Rd Sparkbrook on the corner of Woodfield Crescent. It was called Stockfords, by the time I was old enough to appreciate the wonders of the shop it was owned by the son Arthur. Inside the shop you could hardly move for stock it was everywhere hanging from the ceiling on hooks on shelves and on every available inch of floorspace.

No matter what you wanted Arthur or Mick his assistant would know exactly what it was and more important where it was. As with all these old types of shops nothing was too much trouble or too small a sale. Arthur or Mick would spend as long as was needed over the sale of one coach bolt or nut and bolt as they would over a much more expensive item.

When the shop closed in the 70's due to demolition, Arthur bought the ironmongers at The Green, Kings Norton, but his heart was never in it and after a couple of years he sold out to his assistant Mick and went in to property renovation and sales. I believe Mick died a few years back, so I have no idea who owns the shop or what its like today.

Phil
 
As a boy i used to walk round Essex`s of Stratford Road Sparkhill and the smell of paraffin still lives in my memory today, not sure what type of outlet there is now as the whole area has alterred beyond recognition but here in Watchet there is a local hardware shop but no paraffin smell, ah well
 
I have no memories of this shop, in fact other than being on Wheeler st in Lozells i have no idea where it is, but it looks to be the sort of hardware ironmonger shop under discussion. Incidentally the newsagent / confectioners next door looks to be real old school as well.

Phil

WheelerSt.jpg
 
Phil
It was at no 157 , between Gt King St and clifford St and was listed in 1966 as E. & E.N. Hill furnitures brokers
 
Hi there
there used to be a big huge ware house type hard ware iron mongers
at the bottom of the old summer lane end
close to shadwell street it was massive he had every think there
they was there right up until the late eighties
just across the rd from the old ambulance service station
cannot remember the name t this point ; does any body recall it
just along from the transport offices and the old meb electricity board
it as a big white stores astonian
 
Dek,

I use White's in Summer Lane, still alive and kicking. White's still stock essentials such as genuine Eclipse Junior hacksaw blades, BA taps and dies, and hand-tools that don't bust the first time you use 'em. In fact I phoned yesterday to ask about a BA tap, a question that usually brings blank looks at places like B&Q, and the guy on the phone made my day when he asked me if I wanted high-speed or carbon steel! Proper stuff to a model flyer like me. I hope White's outlast me.

An amazing hardware store is R Bunner Ltd in Montgomery, Powys. They'll literally sell you anything from a packet of pins to a tractor. It's like entering a dream-world in some respects - just like White's they stock tools and equipment that should have faded away years ago. Lovely place, a maze of departments on two or three floors, and lovely people too who couldn't be more helpful.

Big Gee
 
I have made notes of all these various emporiums:) what is pleasing is the fact that many seem to be surviving maybe even thriving.
There was until a few wekks ago a "Focus" at Kingwinford, near were we live and was quite handy of course it isnt a real hardware shop but was close but it closed and is now empty so the nearest place for any DIY items is probably Wicks in Brierley Hill.
For some reason I dislike Wicks, I think its down to their TV adverts and that voice over with the cockney accent. For reasons that i dont quite undestand they seem to think a cockney accent is going to sell DIY products, well in my case it isnt and I only enter a Wicks store as a last resort.
 
I bought a brand new, English manufactured genuine linseed-oiled chamois leather from Rickard & Sons in Ludlow. (6-7 Bull Ring, Ludlow, SY8 1AE).It's a proper hardware shop that hasn't really changed in over a hundred years. It's well worth a visit if you're in that area.
 
Back
Top