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What Toys Did You Buy From Redgates ?


Sheffield History

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I never visited the illustrated shop as a child but , rather, the one around the corner on the Moor. My parents never bought me anything from Redgates but went to Kenyon's on Bellhouse Road to buy my Dinky and Hornby toys. As a parent, my children visited both stores and everything they ever had, from Teddy Bears to Bikes came from there!

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To the left of the store was the Triang & Hornby train department. I bought a lot of trains from there. On the far right was the Britain's toy soldiers and small figures section. I always remember that things were expensive. So a lot of time I couldn't get what I wanted!

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Does anyone remember the Action Transfers that you could get from there? They were rub down figures of things like Knights, that you placed on a pre-made card scene of a castle or other scene. There was always too many figures to put on the scene.

They were made of the same stuff as Letraset - the rub down sheets of letters that you used for illustrating things. Obsolete now with computer DTP and Word-processors.

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Guest Steven Barker

I still have a Mamod Traction Engine bought from Redgates in 1973 for 8 quid. I still have the box as well.

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On 21 August 2014 at 13:28, History dude said:

To the left of the store was the Triang & Hornby train department. I bought a lot of trains from there. On the far right was the Britain's toy soldiers and small figures section. I always remember that things were expensive. So a lot of time I couldn't get what I wanted!

Ditto for me, plus quite a bit of Lego too!

My first proper train set came from there (or more precisely the old store on The Moor for Christmas 1965 (I was 6). It was the Triang Freightmaster set and I was spoilt because I also got several accessories (tunnel, level crossing, signal and station). After that I was hooked!

Used to love going in both stores but preferred the older one with the Helicopter ride!

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On 23 August 2016 at 03:58, Leonr2z said:

Ditto for me, plus quite a bit of Lego too!

My first proper train set came from there (or more precisely the old store on The Moor for Christmas 1965 (I was 6). It was the Triang Freightmaster set and I was spoilt because I also got several accessories (tunnel, level crossing, signal and station). After that I was hooked!

Used to love going in both stores but preferred the older one with the Helicopter ride!

Same here, right down to the year :) Still playing with the train sets to this day:ph34r:, but not that one, it died horribly years ago.

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I never bought anything for myself from Redgates ( my local toyshop which received my saved up pennies, threepenny bits and tanners was Kenyon's on Bellhouse Road) but the very first thing I bought for my young son, nearly 50 years ago from Redgates was a large brown TeddyBear...which he still possesses

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We bought our son a pedal car,.it cost about £14, which was more than a weeks wages for me in the early 60s

It was well worth it, as it lasted for years, serving another son and various other family and friends kids.

 

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Must have been  around 1956. My grandma took me there and got me a Corgi Studebaker Golden Hawk with a friction motor. I think it cost about 5 shillings, which she couldn really afford. Nevertheless her kindness to me prevailed. I have often thought I should have chosen something more modest.

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I thought Subuteo to be a little juvenile when introduced with the celluloid slot in players. However, once the moulded plastic players were introduced I was hooked.

 

Subuteo even had a bespoke mail service in the hay day. So you could order a player with hair and team colour. One rare order was dark hair and beard in Fulham kit, no prizes for guessing who this may have been ? As for me I had 4 teams Owls, Blades, Barcelona (Neglected Real and their boring all white strip) and Melchester Rovers with the blonde Roy Race the only player allocated blonde hair status. Loved the Melchester kit....Red and Yellow stripes, Red shorts and red and yellow hooped socks. I even scratched the hair off one of my blades baldies to represent Keith Kettleborough. My two blonde owls were Albert Quixall and Billy Griffin.

I had a Long Bow bought me one Christmas about 61/62 which was a Redgates Item it came with sheaf and 6 arrows. Don't know if this would be allowed now the weapon was a real killer with a flight nearing 200 yards. Never got much use out of it as dad always insisted on being with me when I demonstrated my Archery skills.

My other sporting needs were met by Darlows or Suggs as they represented far better value than Redgates.   

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We spent many a Saturday morning in town doing the shopping with mum and dad, and pestering them 'Can we go to Redgates?' Often just for a look around - it was a HUGE Alladins cave of everything toy related !

I remember getting Star Wars figures from there in 77 or 78. Lego, a Rubics cube, one Christmas I got a TCR racing set - like Scalextric, but the cars could change lanes.

Happy days :)

Wasn't there another area downstairs that you go to via a small 'tunnel' - think it may have lead to the prams and baby stuff?? or maybe its just the old grey cells playing tricks on me lol

Cant remember what was on the top floor

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On 21/08/2014 at 20:28, History dude said:

To the left of the store was the Triang & Hornby train department. I bought a lot of trains from there. On the far right was the Britain's toy soldiers and small figures section. I always remember that things were expensive. So a lot of time I couldn't get what I wanted!

I always remember Gordon Joel's was the main model train shop in Sheffield in the 1950s/60s especially for Hornby Dublo. It was somewhere above the cathedral just before you got to West Street.

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3 hours ago, grenoboy said:

I always remember Gordon Joel's was the main model train shop in Sheffield in the 1950s/60s especially for Hornby Dublo. It was somewhere above the cathedral just before you got to West Street.

 

Joel's, Church Street

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I forgot to mention the model plane kits by Airfix and others probably in the near the centre of the first floor.

On the basement floor didn't they have the bikes?

I think one of the upper floors had baby stuff such as prams etc, though I don't recall going up there!

They also sold Playcraft model trains.

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The sad thing about Redgates is that despite all of our happy reminiscences the shop closed because of a lack of demand...too many people looked around and then bought elsewhere to save a bob or two.

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On 15/04/2017 at 14:45, lysander said:

The sad thing about Redgates is that despite all of our happy reminiscences the shop closed because of a lack of demand...too many people looked around and then bought elsewhere to save a bob or two.

I would put it down to the end of the baby boom generation no longer into toys and things for kids, being all teenagers. Look at the growth of record shops in the late 70's and 80's in Sheffield, just as people like myself were teenagers. 

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Here is part of an Airfix price list from 1975. Check out the prices then compare them with second hand E-Bay current prices for them!

Airfix price list 1975 (part).jpg

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Indeed. I started making plastic kits ... Airfix Spitfire in a plastic bag bought from Woolies( only place that seemed to sell the original model range) in the 1950's and, sad to say, I still assemble the odd one nowadays. I suppose over the years I must have spent a small fortune on them but always found them therapeutic

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