Garland Bros. Ltd. – gone but not forgotten
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 12:17AM;)
In better days: Garland Bros. Ltd advert 1970 [click to see]Whilst trawling through my archives of Practical Electronics magazines – I was compiling some PDFs of the 1970/ 71 PE Gemini amplifier for a reader – I stumbled across an advert for a supplier named Garland Bros. Ltd. who were located in London. Their black and white ad showed an impressive shop storefront, enhanced by signs overhead sporting a shopping list of many of the electronic components that they sold. 'South-east London's leading component store', their ad. exclaimed.
Before the Internet made the world a whole lot smaller, independent component stores like these were a critical part of the hobby electronics scene. Apart from serving local trade, many of them offered a valuable postal service that enabled constructors to obtain parts by mail order. At one time, there were so many such suppliers jostling to advertise that Practical Electronics magazine had to turn them away due to insufficient page space.
That 1970’s advert got me thinking... could I find the store today? What had become of it? A major clue was provided in the address: Deptford Broadway, corner of Brookmill Road in London. Thanks to Google Maps I located it here, open for business (2008): https://goo.gl/maps/YV33qjYSDtJNMCcn6
It has, sad, to say, gone the way of pretty much every independent electronics store in Britain, as well as larger retail chains like Maplin. It is looking very sorry for itself and boarded up here: https://goo.gl/maps/cQsfAuKehk71o2QX9
Companies House showed the limited company was established in 1951 and dissolved in 2012 after a good run of 60 years.
No doubt legions of enthusiasts passed through their doors during those decades when business was brisk. Here’s a ‘thank you’ to all those hard-working independent stores that diligently served hobbyists for so long, supplying all their component needs during the halcyon days of hobby electronics. I salute you all!
- If you have any memories of this or other stores, feel free to leave a comment below. (Post a Comment link at top ^)
- Search my site for details of Maplin Electronics and Watford Electronics, two stalwarts of the 1970s-80’s- 90’s electronics scene.
- How times are a-changing: just around the corner on Brookmill Road on Google Street View there was a tatty old car wash and electricity sub-station which ten years later had become this. [Unfortunately Google has deleted the earlier street scene so I can no longer show it.]
Reader Comments (4)
First went in there with my dad when I was a child to buy a reel of quarter inch tape for our new fidelity tape recorder. This was about 1967. Then a few years later I went in with a blueprint for a practical wireless 4 channel mixer and ordered all the parts I needed. I remember when it came to the knobs for the mixer they brought out a board with all kinds of different designs of knobs stuck to it so you could choose the style you wanted. In the 1980s I bought a wooden case for twin deck disco console which was later fitted out as a radio studio for a station called London rock that was on the air in from crystal palace in 1982. I lived fairly close to the shop in Sydenham and was always dropping down there to buy a components I needed to build transmitters and bits and pieces. Sad it's gone now
Bought my very first component there ( circa 1975 ), me and my cousin used to go there most Saturdays for all sorts of components.
The guys behind the counter were really helpful and knowledgable and always willing to help, big shout out to them!
Sad to see it's gone but I guess that's the way of things now, people don't make when they can buy from ebay :(
This was interesting to find. I worked at Garland Bros as my first job after leaving school. I worked with Ernie who had many joke responses but my favourite was if somebody brought in a cloudy valve and asked for it to be tested he would bang it on the counter until it smashed and say ‘ I think it’s buggered’ This was 1975 so I also worked with Alan the boss, Norman and Steve. Happy times for my first foray into working life. I was probably there for over a year and then had the opportunity to go and work in Theatre Lighting.
There used to be a giant replica circuit board with components on it in the window. I made that!!
Thanks for the memories
Colin Smith
I lived in St John’s, Deptford from 1980s onward before moving away, bought my first components from there about the same time. Live in Canada now. Just arrived in Deptford for the first time in a long while and see that the shop is still empty and the reversed upside down Garlands sign still indicating it once existed there. Shame.