Monthly Archives: January 2011

The Into Ironmongers exhibition of photographs of contemporary community ironmongers in Scotland will be displayed in Penicuik Town Hall from 10.00am – 2.00pm on Saturday 12 and Saturday 19 March, courtesy of the Penicuik Community Development Trust (PCDT).  The PCDT community cafe will be open and you can find out more about the organisation which is run by volunteers and aims to promote Penicuik heritage, buildings and history, arts and science.

Can anyone help? 

We’ve had a query for information about an ironmongers in Edinburgh called Buchanans.  The shop was around in the early to mid 1900s (not so long ago, codgers, so rack your brains!) and situated in central Edinburgh around the North or South Bridges. 

If you can remember Buchanans or have any information about the shop, please contact IntoIronmongers through the comments page and we’ll pass it on.  Thank you.

Thanks to all those who have sent me pictures of their favourite ironmongers shops.  But why so many in places beginning with B?

Jade McLachlan sent two pictures from Brooklyn which she says just ‘rocks hardware shops’.   I like the everyday dustbins and flowerpots standing outside B&G Hardware reassuring me that wherever you live in the world, life isn’t so very different.  

Well … maybe its a bit different.  The touch of Banksy mischief in the graffiti on the shutters at Bedford Industrial products, also in Brooklyn, is a delight and I’ve not seen its like in Scotland.  I can’t decide whether its clever advertising or real graffiti. 

Anie Knipping, an artist from New Jersey, sent a picture from her visit to Scotland in 2009.  The Citilink bus from Buchanan Street Bus Station took her to Ballachulish Tourist Office.  Stepping off the bus, the Hardware Shop was just across the street, its stained glass panels and window boxes just begging to be photographed.  I might not make it to Brooklyn this year, but I hope to make it to the Hardware Shop in Ballachulish.          

Streets, the ironmongers in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, is a favourite of Henry Mellor.  It wafts a richly patinated scent that evokes a trail of memories for him.  Moreover, ‘every visit uncovers something I really need’, he says, ‘even when I didn’t know it.’  So true, Henry! 

I love the way Streets could be in Brooklyn, B&G Hardware could be in Ballachulish.  Forget the politics, city versus rural life, the cultural differences.  Wherever you live, you need a cooking pot, a rubbish bin, a plant pot for some herbs or flowers in your home.  Community ironmongers rock!