Reality seldom lives up to expectation and after viewing the old Hamleys catalogue my dad brought home, in 1970, when I actually visited the store in 2007, I was seriously underwhelmed. Lewis has a similar experience, as he shows in his cartoon - visiting the Regent Street shop back in 1967 and seeing all the wonderful toys and displays as a kid and then going back recently to find the sterile, modern look which could have been any store along the high street. Its a shame, as toy shops have ceased to exist now, largely due to the bigger stores taking over, but also as kids have moved away from imaginative play, to video games and the delights of social media.
So to redress the balance, here's the 1970 Hamleys catlogue, chock full of all kinds of potentially harmful toys, waiting to be chewed, swallowed, shot at other children or generally enjoyed in the time honoured traditions that preceded the nanny state we now inhabit. I've left out all that dull girly stuff like fluffy toys and tea sets though!
I had the catapult plane! I'm not sure I ever mastered the technique though, or it could've been that it had the lift to weight ratio of a house brick!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean Kev, I had a similar Quercetti one (same company that makes the ace Mach X rocket) and it would fly off, loop and comeback and smack me innthe back of the head every time!
ReplyDeleteDuring school holidays I would go 'UpWest' with my mother on business. UpWest being the Londoner's phrase for the West End area where Hamleys was located.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1950's the store really was the Mecca for British Toy manufacturers. The widows always had displays of Tri-ang, Dinky Toys, and Britains. Ahead of the entrance were stairs down that led to the expensive Britains diecasts, toy soldiers pretty much forbidden territory for my families budget. The only purchase we ever made down there was a set of red rubber moulds to fill with plaster of Paris. Mine were animals. The Panda was round and solid so removed from the mould successfully but the owl left it's head in the mould every time!
The animal set was a lot lower in price than the one I really wanted which was Dan Dare. That set had a Mekon which like the owl probably lost it's head every time.
Up on the ground floor were stuffed animals etc, of no interest, but going up to the first floor there was the model railway display, in OO it ran around in a huge oval, with buildings and scenery at the back of the store it had a harbour with the large Tri-ang Passenger Liners.
My present train layout, 'Northern Heights' has accessories that I bought there in the 50's still in use.
In the early 50's British toy manufacturers were under government pressure to export and toys displayed in Hamleys often had to be purchased when seen as there were no future deliveries of that item. One such toy that has been featured on Moonbase Central was a Tri-ang Minic Watney's delivery lorry with a giant barrel as the trailer.
Having seen the real lorry delivering beer I really wanted that model when seen in Hamley's window. It wasn't to be as it was never back in stock. 15 or so years latter a friend gave me one for my 21st birthday. Best gift ever.
Once the British toy industry died more and more foreign made toys filled the displays. Early Hamleys catalogues were nearly all British made that slowly changed. Ownership changed and so did the Regent Street location. When I was last there it was a shadow of it's former self. I did buy two LLEDO vans, they have joined the 50's purchases on 'Northern Heights'
Small children might get a thrill going though the present store, especially if they like LEGO but there is nothing to make one feel proud to be British going in there now.
The above entry is mine, but working on a new laptop I've lost my Terranova47 ID.
ReplyDeleteThats a great reverie Terra. I ever knew the original Hamleys, so its great to hear first hand accounts of how it was.
ReplyDeleteAs I said pretty much everything was British Made in the store in the 50's. Sometime about 1955 there was a 'fad' for a Belgium made product that came in a fat metal toothpaste style tube. You squeezed a glob onto a small bubble maker wand and blew until your face was blue! (or purple or red)
ReplyDeleteAdults for some reason were obsessed with this. The result was a large sticky, chemical smelly balloon like bubble that was disgusting to touch which, if it touched the carpet would acquire a coating of fluff.
Years later when Monty Python sketches would make derogatory comments at Belgians I wondered if that stick, smelly product was the reason.
Terranova47
Ha ha - funnily enough, Looey recalled the very same thing too!
DeleteGreat memories, Terranova! Your Hamleys experiences were a little before my time, my memories are late 60's, I'm pretty certain I bought my Sgt. Storm Matt Mason set there!
ReplyDeleteThose plastic bubbles! They were smoke blue and amber in my day and just as toxic!
I didn't know about the address change, but that probably explains why the amazing atrium I recall as a child (with the railway running around the balustrade on the upper floor) is no longer a feature of the current store.
I tried time-travelling via Google to see if I can find photos of the Hamleys I remember, but so far I've drawn a blank. Have you tried doing this and have you had any better luck?
No better luck finding images of the old store. This was in Wikipedia: Hamleys expanded and moved its flagship store from No. 200 Regent Street to its current site at Nos. 188–196, Regent Street, in 1981, which is the largest toy shop in the world.
DeleteTerranova47
There must have been no health and safety regulations into the sixties if those toxic bubbles were still being sold.
ReplyDeleteI do remember a 60's window full of Action Man. By then British manufacturers were able to resupply stock as they were offshoots of US companies who eliminated the market for British exports. Yes, the atrium with the trains around the balustrade was the old store. Your Sgt Storm and Matt Mason could well have been from Hamleys as they were big on action figures and Daleks!
The Hamleys of yesteryear was indeed a star attraction of our trips to London, late 60s -early 70s. Best buy there was an Action Man Scorpion Tank in a huge box which I had proudly on my lap for the flight back to Holland - no way that was going to lose my view.
ReplyDeleteThe bubble-blowing putty I fondly remember as well (afaik it wasn't made in Belgium - I've lived there for decades and never seen any) as I do a little furry snake thingie with little eyes that fastens to e shirt button with a length of near-invisible nylon thread so you can weave it through your hands.
Modern-day Hamleys is meagre in comparison but my boys enjoyed it nonetheless when visiting this century. Both the tubes of bubble gunk and the fluffy snakes are still on sale. And they were demonstrating very neat little RC helicopters on the top floor so a pair of those came back with us.
Best -- Paul
In 1954 we took a summer holiday in Blankenberge, Belgium. After that the bubble gunk turned up in Hamleys. I remember an aunt saying it was made in Belgium but we didn't see it there. Possibly the country thought it too disgusting to sell at home? The bad smell didn't go with good French Fries or chocolate.
DeleteSmall world, we used to holiday in Blankenberg too!
DeleteKevin, did they still have the peddle Vespa style scooters with sidecars on the promenade?
ReplyDeleteWhile the town had a very long sandy beach they didn't mention that it was divided up to be private for the hotel it fronted.
I remember it being very windy.
Terranova47
I don't remember Vespas but we did go to the beach a lot. Didn't realise they were for specific hotels, but we did always stay at the same one (probably talking late 60s and very early 70s here). It was windy!
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