Into Ironmongers

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!

Into Ironmongers photographs are featured this weekend as part of the Albert Drive Christmas Sale in Glasgow.  Check the website for times.

The June edition of Hardware Today included an article about DIY classes run by Alan Hancock who runs Headcom Hardware in Ashford, Kent.  The classes are popular, offering basic painting, papering, plumbing, tiling, brick laying and advice about wall fixings and power tools.  For those ironmongers that have the space, the classes seem an obvious form of diversification, bringing added value to what is such a potentially powerful community resource.

Around a year ago I visited David Sim Ironmongers in Alyth.  Gregor Rintoul stands in the festive doorway beside owner David Brough.  I’m not sure how long Gregor has worked at Sim’s but I know its a long time.  His knowledge and experience are precious to the business.  I’d love to attend a local course run by someone like Gregor, knowing I could trust his teaching and then pop back to the shop as my DIY skills improved.

Interestingly, and somewhat sadly for someone committed to championing local community ironmongers, B&Q has quickly picked up the idea of running DIY classes.  Selected stores are currently testing out courses for children in the first instance.  What a good idea!   And they’ve had publicity not just in Hardware Today but on the national news.

Surely some community ironmongers in Scotland would find this idea attractive?  As someone with links to the new school curriculum in Scotland and also to Scotland’s colleges, I’d be happy to offer support.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Burke at the Fobel Shop in Carnoustie.  Like most traditional ironmongers, his shop is a hub for community conversation, information and advice.    

You can buy local theatre tickets there as well as pick up DIY tips from the very experienced staff.  And Peter’s skills mean that he’s as likely to offer to fix a broken kettle, lamp or other small electrical items as to sell you a replacement.   Driving inland to Kirriemuir, the birthplace of J M Barrie, I found the ironmonger A B McIntosh fronted by a statue of Peter Pan.  I regretted not having taken my garden shears in the car when I heard that McIntosh’s still provides a mower repair service and, like the Fobel Shop in Carnoustie, will clean and sharpen garden tools.   

On Sunday I woke to discover that someone had been in my shed.  I might have thought I’d left the shed open overnight and let in a stray cat if the intruder hadn’t closed the door so neatly (with both swivel catches in place whereas I, lazily, only ever close one).  Happily, the nocturnal visitor wasn’t a thief as my bike was still propped behind the shed door.  But it made me realise I had to take action.  So it was, that I found myself, the self-styled champion of traditonal community ironmongers, driving to my local ‘big shed’ B&Q desperately seeking a hasp and padlock.  On my return, the job was a skoosh thanks to the detailed advice I received a few months ago when choosing a handdrill in Buick’s Ironmongers in Alloa.  

That quality of advice, alongside theatre tickets, electrical repairs and tool sharpening is something you’re unlikely to find in the big sheds.  But then, they are not community ironmongers.

From Philadelphia, Bill Coleman recommends Kilian Hardware in Chestnut Hill.  He says they will change the battery in your watch, deliver mulch to your backyard, fix your screen door and sell you a replacement kit for your leaky toilet.  This is a man who really recognises and enjoys all that his local store has to offer.  Bill’s story is a reminder that big cities are often a collection of individual communities.  Each community has its local shops and services which local people must use regularly if they don’t want to lose them.  

City centres are amongst the hardest places for traditional ironmongers to survive.  Sadly, George Street in Edinburgh’s city centre lost Gray’s the Ironmongers in February this year, after over 190 years of trading.   I have heard other ironmongers speak almost reverentially of doing their apprenticeship at Gray’s, a shop with longstanding and very knowledgeable staff who will be sorely missed.   Nowadays, George Street’s ‘community’ is a transient one, an endless flurry it sometimes seems, of business people, fashionistas and occasional tourists.  Community ironmongers flourish more easily where there remains a more visible and permanent community; they have an intimate knowledge of their local customers and know what they want and need.  For example, I believe Marchmont Hardware will be as valuable to its local Edinburgh community as Kilian’s is to the Chestnut Hill community in Philadelphia.  And feedback on West End Hardware on Great Western Road, at the heart of Glasgow’s student population, shows that it has a finger on the local pulse.  On the Yelp website, one reviewer writes, ‘Back in my student days, this shop had the window that I would stare at, looking for a new place to stay, usually after I had exhausted the company of my latest flatmates. These days, I actually buy tools to fix things, and do so with trepidation. I prefer coming here to using the big chains – first of all, they have quality stuff and secondly, they are always willing to help. In fact, I think that they enjoy showing me the error of my soft ways. ‘

Sad to report, British Hardware Federation organisers have pulled the plug on the ’supplier showcase’ planned to coincide with their Scottish conference in October.   It seems the number of people signing up to attend the conference is lower than expected.  The expense of a conference might seem a bit of a luxury in the current climate but I can’t help feeling that its sometimes an investment to spend a couple of sociable days with colleagues in the same line of work, especially when times are hard.   Time spent out of the shop is precious but a good conference should be invigorating through the exchange of professional experience and ideas.  And the support of others in the same business, even if it starts as a shared grumble, can lift the spirits.  So I can only encourage them to assemble in this virtual world instead and share some ideas through IntoIronmongers.

I’m particularly disappointed because I had been invited to exhibit photographs as part of the showcase.  I was so looking forward to being part of an assembly of ironmongers and, selfishly, to what I was going to learn.   

By the way, what is the collective term for a group of ironmongers?  A bristle of ironmongers perhaps?  A clanging of ironmongers?  A forge of ironmongers?

Hamish Jack, manager at Farm and Household Stores in Inverness, started his ironmongery career as an apprentice in Elgin, sweeping up and running errands as well as riding a delivery bicycle that sometimes had a drum of paraffin strapped to it.  I’m grateful to Hamish who not only took time to talk but also gave me detailed written notes about his experiences and about the development of wholesale and retail ironmongery in the north of Scotland.  The day before, on the drive down from Thurso, I stopped in Helmsdale to visit AR McLeod & Sons.  It’s a small shop in Dunrobin Street and I was surprised to see a list of Kinks’ recordings for sale posted in the window.   I know I shouldn’t really be surprised by anything I see in an ironmonger’s window – they provide an ever growing range of services and their windows are often plastered with small ads and community events.  But this caught my eye because I’d been listening to the Kinks in the car, thinking that their music has really stood the test of time.  It turns out that around the same time that Hamish was pedalling his precarious bicycle around Elgin, Ian McLeod was working with the Kinks supporting their Scottish tours.   He still helps Ray Davies from time to time but he also runs a great little ironmongers.  See ironmongers?  Full of surprises.

Nina came to the exhibition (which has now closed) telling me about her research into Scottish women painters and decorators of the nineteenth century.  She’d unearthed some female ironmongers too but its up to me to find out more about them, an investigation I’ll start pursuing as autumn turns to winter.  I’ve also learned that I come from three generations of Hammermen in the City of Glasgow and should go to the Trades House to find out more – were/are there Hammerwomen I wonder?  Is this why I’m so comfortable hanging out in ironmongers?  Is it in the genes?  Alongside this rich historical thinking, I’ve been given names of ironmongers shops from Dalbeattie to Anstruther and from Stornoway to Paisley so I must start planning a few trips.  And there’s another exhibition opportunity.  The British Hardware Federation would like the exhibition as part of their Scottish Conference in Edinburgh in October.  Meanwhile, pottering in this welcome sunshine today, I painted the shed using, of course, weather proofed exterior paint and quality brushes bought from a splendid ironmonger!

Many ironmongers diversify well beyond nuts and bolts to attract customers.  Some are renowned for their efforts.  Janet sent me this story from Killinchy in County Down. 

‘Killinchy Post Office is a bit of a modern day Aladdin’s Cave in the middle of County Down. As the name suggests, it serves the village’s postal needs but beyond that it caters for almost every need and even whim of the local inhabitants from wheaten bread to Christmas trees.

A few years ago I was on a course in Connecticut which was being taught by an American who asked where I was from. I started off with “Ireland”, working my way down as far as “Near Belfast” as Killinchy is not a large place and mostly is unknown even a few miles away. He persisted with his questioning, pressing me for a more precise location saying that he’d been to Ireland on vacation and wouldn’t accept my wider area descriptions. “OK”, I said, preparing my smug face, “Killinchy”. His whole face lit up: “Killinchy! Is that the place where you get the coffee AND the hardware under one roof?” I had to concede that this was in fact exactly the place and eat my slice of humble pie. They probably sell that in the Post Office come to think of it.’

In Scotland, you will find good coffee at TG Allan’s in Helensburgh and delicious homemade soup at MacKenzie & Cruickshank’s in Forres.