Serving The Trade Back In The Day

[ms660]

Got to reminiscing with the family the other day about the firms I worked for in the trade, I tried to find some old photos of the various premises but there's not a lot available, however a lot of the buildings etc have survived in one form or another.

Fred Dawes, Manchester, this was the 1st place I worked at in the trade, the HQ, main workshops, stores, offices etc was on Granby Row, just round the corner was the main shop on London Road and more or less opposite the HQ was the garage for servicing the fleet of vehicles, the only old photo so far is in the link below, the HQ/workshops building is on the left, the view is looking along South Pump Street towards Fairfield Street showing part of the Fire Station (no comments on the bike please):

https://www.***********/photos/mrpb27...n/photostream/

Today the same site is occupied by a more recent building, Fairfield House, this shot is from 2008 if you rotate the view you can still see the single story garage building (now gone) and opposite that is a three storey building which was the the rear of the London Road shop premises, it was comprised of more offices, new stock control, new stock servicing and new stock deliveries:

https://goo.gl/maps/EaGmLuKM4woUfxBz7

The London Road shop building in 2021, it was a large shop:

https://goo.gl/maps/q8bNXwdXzKKPmKnU7

Later I managed to get a transfer to another Fred Dawes workshop which was a bit closer to home.

Lawrence.

[ms660]

This was Fred Dawes workshop on Ashley Road at Hale where I worked after I got a transfer from the Manchester workshops, it was actually in a basement below what is now Junipers cafe, the entrance was down the ally to the right, back then Junipers cafe was a florists:

https://goo.gl/maps/NuryNgMdkA3hc3LY9

Across the road from there was the Fred Dawes shop, it's now Hilditches an estate agents:

https://goo.gl/maps/SUZuoQECirvoG59p7

The shop manager was a Spitfire Pilot during WW2, above the shop was the service managers office, communication with the workshop across the road was via a mains transmission intercom which was made by PYE, I acquired my first German receiver there, it was given to me by one of the outside service engineers who got it from a German Pill Box in WW2, it was a DKE38:

https://antiqueradio.org/KleinempfaengerDKE38.htm

Lawrence.

[ms660]

Some might remember a TV rental firm called Visionhire, I worked for them for a short while in London, the branch I was based at was on Streatham High just down from the junction with Leigham Court Road, from memory I'm more or less certain that the shop was where the Chicken Trio outlet is in the link below, behind the building there was a row of lockup garages which still appear to be there, one of those was used for storage, at the rear of the shop within the building there was a small workshop area, the service manager used to do the bench repairs there and dish out the service calls to us techs:

https://goo.gl/maps/NzgCiqcwnMQpg7jN7

Lawrence.

[mark_in_manc]

Thanks for the Manchester links Lawrence. I know it around there a little, and I know London Rd had a reputation for shops and businesses to do with electronics (I have some old 78 sleeves from Mazel's Radio for example), but like Shudehill it was nearly all gone by the time I came up here in '89.

[ms660]

No problem, yes Mazels and those on Shude Hill and around Ancoats I remember too.

Lawrence.

[Bill]

Lawrence, I mentioned in another thread some time ago- there was a large Fred Dawes workshop at York St in Audenshaw, 5miles east of Manchester, later became Rumbelows.
I lived very close to there and used to acquire TV chassis that were thrown out in the street! There was a small emergency exit onto the railway embankment that frequently had scrap chassis outside too. I also got a mangled R1155 from there which I now regret throwing away. All this was in the 1960s, the site is now a waste paper re-cycling company and none of the old buildings remain.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by ms660

No problem, yes Mazels and those on Shude Hill and around Ancoats I remember too.

Lawrence.

New Cross Radio, WB Supplies,Globe Radio,Shudehill Supply Co,Godley's, RSC,Central Radio,Berwick Electronics(still going possibly?)........

[radiograham]

New cross radio was where i bought a 1155 in 1978,closed in 1993.globe radio was run by an american gentleman and rsc was on oldham st.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by Bill

New Cross Radio, WB Supplies,Globe Radio,Shudehill Supply Co,Godley's, RSC,Central Radio,Berwick Electronics(still going possibly?)........

You missed out my favourite emporium, Fred G3MAX, NW Electrics, on Gt Ancoats St, or had he already moved to Levensulme at the time?

[Graham G3ZVT]

Originally Posted by radiograham

New cross radio was where i bought a 1155 in 1978,closed in 1993.globe radio was run by an american gentleman and rsc was on oldham st.

I remember having a bit of an argument with said American (or was he Canadian)
He was of the opinion that NTSC must be better than PAL, because you don't get a hue control to adjust the colo(u)rs properly with PAL.

[ms660]

Freds on Ancoat Street was there back in my day, I often called in there, there was also a components shop towards the Ancoats end of Tibb Street, RSC had a shop on Brown Street which was off Market Street.

Lawrence.

[ms660]

Granada (TV Rentals) Wilmslow Rd, Withington, Manchester, as far as I can remember when I worked there the shop was where Boozy Busters is now, behind the shop was the service managers office, small workshop and stores:

https://goo.gl/maps/VYmUF5zV4nLbHX1J9

More locations to come...

Lawrence.

[ms660]

For change of scene, off to the seaside now, Falmouth....

Arwenack Street, Falmouth was where Radio Engineering Services was located where I worked, it was where the Grey fronted shop in the link is which is now a Burger place:

https://goo.gl/maps/LknPebRb9V98UcJy8

That and the shop to the right (Camelots) was known back then as Arwenack Arcade, I did both bench and field service work for the firm, the workshop was above the Camelots shop and access was via the dark Blue door that's to the right of Camelots, great views of the harbour/Carrick roads etc and a glimpse of the docks, the Methane Princess and the Methane Progress figured large back then both at Falmouth docks and further up the river moored just short of the King Harry Ferry, the Cornish colour TV boom had just started to take off when I was there so was kept very busy.

Lawrence.

[ms660]

Originally Posted by Bill

Lawrence, I mentioned in another thread some time ago- there was a large Fred Dawes workshop at York St in Audenshaw, 5miles east of Manchester, later became Rumbelows.
I lived very close to there and used to acquire TV chassis that were thrown out in the street! There was a small emergency exit onto the railway embankment that frequently had scrap chassis outside too. I also got a mangled R1155 from there which I now regret throwing away. All this was in the 1960s, the site is now a waste paper re-cycling company and none of the old buildings remain.

Bill, I remember the workshop at Audenshaw, never worked in it but visited it a couple of times when I was out on the vans from Granby Row as an apprentice.

Lawrence.

[ms660]

Telefusion, the Altrincham branch and sometimes the Macclesfield branch is where I was based as a field service tech, Altrincham was where the service manager and small stores and a service bench was, the Altrincham shop was on Stamford New Road, the shop was where the Narali Yoga Studio is in this link:

https://goo.gl/maps/yY5BXjhEp3oWbLebA

The service managers office etc was on the floor above, the operation there was run tighter than a submarines hatch...."A resistor, what do you want it for?"

Lawrence.

[G6Tanuki]

I remember back in the 70s "Telefusion" as cheap-and-nasty 'contract' UHF TV-antennas - the sort that had a reflector made from a thin aluminium stamping and generally made-down-to-a-bargain-price construction, so ideal for TV-rental companies to install as part of a colour-telly deal.

After a couple of years atop a shared chimney-stack being subjected to corrosive sulphur-gases from the anthracite- or coal-fires that were still commonplace back then, the reflector had a tendency to detach itself from the boom and flop about in a way that really did nothing to enhance the antenna's gain.

[ms660]

I don't remember Telefusion brand antennas but I remember the two Telefusion antenna riggers that worked from the Altrincham branch where I was, one of them was taking his driving test in the firms van, come emergency stop time the antennas and just about everything else he had in the back of the van shot forward and hit the examiner on the back of the head fail was the result, next time round he passed the test no problem having learned the lesson.

Lawrence.

[dazzlevision]

Telerection?

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by rambo1152

I remember having a bit of an argument with said American (or was he Canadian)
He was of the opinion that NTSC must be better than PAL, because you don't get a hue control to adjust the colo(u)rs properly with PAL.

I am pretty sure he was american,remember him talking about the states and think he was an ex GI,might be recalling this wrong as it was about 1975!

[radiograham]

Originally Posted by rambo1152

You missed out my favourite emporium, Fred G3MAX, NW Electrics, on Gt Ancoats St, or had he already moved to Levensulme at the time?

I first went in new cross radio and globe radio mazels etc in about 1973 dont remember Fred G3MAX but did go to a shop in levenshulme about 1978 so that might have been him,bought a rs deluxe output transformer for about 3 quid. Graham.