BUCK & RYAN

[spamcanman]

It's with sad news that one of the longest and probably the best in its time model engineering business is closing down, most will remember the shop in Tottenham Court Road then they down sized a couple of times to there final store in Southampton Row, Holbourn, London.
I remember as a kid going with my best friend and dad to Tottnnham Ct Rd he was probably the one who got me hooked as a youngster into the hobby going up to his workshop watching him machining parts for a traction engine he was building.

I spoke with the owner who is retiring he told me that Selfridges will be stocking some of his items the rest will be sold off, at the moment there doing a sale to clear most of it.

www.toolbankexpress.com/shop/buckandryan/

[alanstepney]

Wow, that is sad.
I can remember going there with my father not long after the war, and whilst I lived in London, I often used to call in the Tot Crt Rd shop and buy tools
I have also been there since then, and always found the staff helpful and knowledegable.
(I also found that I spent far more than I intended whenever I browsed around there!)

As they are one of the oldest ironmongers / tool shops around, no doubt many others have also dealt with them.

[spamcanman]

Yes a sad day Alan, the owner told me it was not due to the current recession but due to retirement only, I do recall my friends dad purchasing his Myford ML7 from Tot Crt Rd

[andrewsleigh]

Another piece of History gone.
Got one of their myford lathes sitting in the conservatory

[Deleted]

That was a good shop and I am sorry to hear that they have bit the dust. 10 years or so ago I was up in London most days and used to browse there. Swiss Army knives was one of their lines. I took one in for repair to a minor fault and without hesitation they gave me a brand new knife free of charge on the basis they said, that Swiss army knives had a lifetime guarantee. Class indeed !

Regards

Jim

PS Cross pens also have a lifetime guarantee

[jackrae]

There was also a great tool shop in Euston Road and of course Gamages in Fleet Street (or there abouts) during my student days in the mid 60s.

And also Proops of course for all those useful pieces of ex-MOD junk

Wonder when todays ex-MOD military kit will come onto the retail market !!

[alanstepney]

Some of todays ex-military kit is already on the market, but usually in wholesale lots, and often things that are of little use to anyone.
For example, the electronics is so specialised that it cant be adapted for anything else.
Two guys I know have just bought aerail masts, that came from a destroyer or similar.
Massive and superb engineering.

[greensands]

The shop in the Euston Road traded under the name Bonds of Euston Road but they moved out sometime in the late 1960s or 70s and transferred down to Midhurst in West Sussex. They were certainly there until a couple of years or so ago selling model engineering tools, screws and the odd casting etc from the rear of a hardware shop but I gather they were in the process of running it down due to a general lack of support.

[alanstepney]

Also remember Bassett Lowke.
I'm sure I cant be the only one who used to stand a drool at all the models and parts in their window.

[ianholder]

Would not have called Buck and Ryan a model engineering supplier, just probably the best tool shop around, had a copy of their tool catalogue which we regarded as the tool bible, bigger than most bibles as well.
After Bonds closed down in London I visited them in Midhurst and asked why they had moved there, "its where we live" was the reply. All those years the shop was in London they had commuted there, regards Ian.

[greensands]

I have a copy of the red Buck & Hickman "Bible" and would not part with it. It comes in most useful when investigating an old tool or what ever picked up at a carboot or secondhand tool dealer. It knocks all other tool catalogues into a cocked hat.

[alanstepney]

Bonds ('o Euston Road) started in 1887, so were also one o fthe "old established" companies.

There is always confusion over the "Buck & Ryan" and "Buck & HIckman" companies.
From memory, (I read it, not from personal memory), both originated from the original Mr Buck, who was an engineering supplier. in the East End of London.
It was, I believe, his sons who split the company when each took on a partner.
Buck & Hickman remained in that area (my massive 1935 copy of their catalogue gives their address as Whitechapel Rd.).

[greensands]

My 1971/2 Buck & Hickman Tool Buyer's Guide still shows White Chapel Road as their London address but also gives offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Watford and Dublin. The catalogue is a superb reference source.

[Deleted]

Dec 3, 2012 9:14:29 GMT alanstepney said:

Bonds ('o Euston Road) started in 1887, so were also one o fthe "old established" companies.

There is always confusion over the "Buck & Ryan" and "Buck & HIckman" companies.
From memory, (I read it, not from personal memory), both originated from the original Mr Buck, who was an engineering supplier. in the East End of London.
It was, I believe, his sons who split the company when each took on a partner.
Buck & Hickman remained in that area (my massive 1935 copy of their catalogue gives their address as Whitechapel Rd.).

I used to get quite a few bits from their store here in Southampton. They might be wholly on-line now.
www.buckandhickman.com/
JB

[Malcolm]

Anyone remember the big tool shop in Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham (I think it was Pool's)? Sold everything. My first visit was in 1952 to buy a slide rule for Tech. There were still trams running past the door then.

[Tony K]

Nostalgia aint what it used to be but....

Attachments:

[Tony K]

And on the back...

Attachments:

[kwil]

Buck and Hickman still definately alive, 29 Branches as well as online.

[Boadicea]

Yes, Buck & Hickman still alive. They have an excellent range of products. They only stock fast moving items such as consumable safety stuff, screwdriver, hacksaw at most stores - anything more complicated like an endmill is delivered to stores overnight for next day collection and I think the price is red hot. We can get anything delivered to home next day from other suppliers.

Being in London yesterday I diverted past said B&R shop, now moved further down the road. I had a look and obviously the full range is not now available but it looks as though said shop had deteriorated to the status of market stall traders - sadly it is where the demand is. I could not find a bargain.

[ettingtonliam]

Dec 3, 2012 16:28:45 GMT Malcolm said:

Anyone remember the big tool shop in Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham (I think it was Pool's)? Sold everything. My first visit was in 1952 to buy a slide rule for Tech. There were still trams running past the door then.