Mine was 'Northampton Home Computer Centre' on Abington Square run by Ken Lower and Graham Wilson. We used to pile down there after school and see what new releases were out then hang about like a bunch of right geeks for hours just chatting away to Carl and Conrad who worked there. I saw 'Ghosts'n'Goblins' and 'Ghostbusters' on the 64 there and the great sound made me (momentarily) wish I had a 64 as well as my Spectrum. I worked there in the winter of 1986 and it was Graham who said I should go for a job at OCEAN. I didn't think I'd get it but I did. Graham was one of the best bosses I ever had. I bought my 1st 2 games from there 'Trashman' (class) and 'Mrs Mopp' (not so class, tried to take it back but Ken was having none of it!)
It was still there until about 2 years ago. I went back home to Northampton on one of my trips back from Manchester to see the family and it had been turned into a 'Subway'.
Shame! Whenever I smell proper made coffee made with a filter I have flash backs to working there.
computer world in penge S.London,around 1984. the bloke in there used to let us play games in our school lunch hour , he even stayed open late sometimes if a new game came in , i think he wrote ' the first computer joke book ' (found in the archive,
i remember he used to let you borrow games for the night somtimes.
On 2006-01-07 01:15, alchresearch wrote:
I'm another "Just Micro, Carver Street" devotee! Although in the early 80's I didn't frequent it as much because there weren't many Vic-20 games in. Lasky's and the basement of Boots in Sheffield were also popular on Saturdays. There'd be loads of kids playing games and showing off their programming skills. I recall Lasky's having an Atari (800 / XL?) with loads of cartridges chained to the bench!
I used to buy most of my games from a small electrical shop in my village called "Woodhouse Electrical". They did mostly budget stuff but had a good range for an electrical shop. They still - to this very day - still have a Spectrum +2 display stand in the window (but no +2 I'm afraid)!
alch ucking ell lol
i knew you were from sheff cos of both of us being on the sheffield forums............but not woodhouse :p
i used to visit woodhouse electrical too i think, on the corner at the top of station road? think thats where i bought atic atac and saboteur at least, the ones i can remember anyway
Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
First Byte Computers - Main Centre Derby. in the Early Eighties.
Great name.
Also in the late eighties there was a place in Nottingham -can't remember the name (Help please Fogartylee ?) Somewhere near paliament street and Maid Marion Way. Which was on a couple of floors.
There was also a bloke in the back streets of Burton who ran a "Game Club". Basically, you bought a game for full price, and exchanged it each week for a quid. Great way to increase your collection.
On 2006-01-07 20:01, murtceps wrote:
First Byte Computers - Main Centre Derby. in the Early Eighties.
Great name.
Also in the late eighties there was a place in Nottingham -can't remember the name (Help please Fogartylee ?) Somewhere near paliament street and Maid Marion Way. Which was on a couple of floors.
There was also a bloke in the back streets of Burton who ran a "Game Club". Basically, you bought a game for full price, and exchanged it each week for a quid. Great way to increase your collection.
There was also a place in Nottingham
maid marion way? LOOOOOOLL
how cheesy
Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
On 2006-01-06 14:46, RandySparks wrote:
Anyone from Stoke remember the Castle Computers shops that were in Newcastle-under-Lyme (near the Frog Inn), Burslem (round the corner from the Duke William) and Hanley (on Hope St)?
The burslem Shop - would that happen to be the one in St Johns Square, next to Woolworths?
I didn't live in Stoke in the 80s, but a friend of mine has that shop now (She sells baby clothes/accessories). Last year, when I went upstairs (It's really derelict up there), there was piles of old ST/Amiga disks, mainly infocom games and one room right at the top of the building covered in games posters.
Bit of a coincidence if we're talking of the same place.
On 2006-01-06 14:46, RandySparks wrote:
Anyone from Stoke remember the Castle Computers shops that were in Newcastle-under-Lyme (near the Frog Inn), Burslem (round the corner from the Duke William) and Hanley (on Hope St)?
The burslem Shop - would that happen to be the one in St Johns Square, next to Woolworths?
I didn't live in Stoke in the 80s, but a friend of mine has that shop now (She sells baby clothes/accessories). Last year, when I went upstairs (It's really derelict up there), there was piles of old ST/Amiga disks, mainly infocom games and one room right at the top of the building covered in games posters.
Bit of a coincidence if we're talking of the same place.
MikeW
mmmmmmm
thats what i want to find
an old shop full of old games i can stuff into my pockets :)
Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
CHIPS in Worthing. They advertised on local radio, and made their own adverts, using synthesised speech. :D
I was just about their first customer, when they opened. We all used to stop by on the way home from school, it was in a sub-urban backstreet, away from other shops, in a converted hair-dressers. We used to play games for free every day. Then every Saturday, be in with our pocket money.
They mostly specialised in Atari's, but sold for all the machines of the time.
Spent hundreds there over the years.
Then, I switched to Acorn's, and bought by Master Compact from CJE Micro's on the other side of town. They are still trading, and still have a complete range of BBC's in the back of the stockroom for sale! :D
thinking about it , this is what retailers need today , game shops where all the popular systems are set up in the shop and you can try before you buy etc, also slag off other systems.exchange banter , meet your mates etc...am i sounding like an old git?
In my area (central scotland) I got most of my games from WH Smiths what you could do was discreetly put games in your pocket and nick them! (This was the pre-barcode days) I got Treasure Island Dizzy and Aliens this way! Had to watch the store detective wasn't around! I also got quite a lot from my library you could take them home and copy them ahh they were the days!
Lasky's and the basement of Boots in Sheffield were also popular on Saturdays.
Ian Stewart used to run Lasky's before setting up Gremlin Graphics if I'm not mistaken.. And I think he now runs a company on Carver Street called Zoo Digital or something
[ This Message was edited by: Rockford on 2006-01-08 12:23 ]
Lasky's and the basement of Boots in Sheffield were also popular on Saturdays.
Ian Stewart used to run Lasky's before setting up Gremlin Graphics if I'm not mistaken.. And I think he now runs a company on Carver Street called Zoo Digital or something
[ This Message was edited by: Rockford on 2006-01-08 12:23 ]
Lasky's and the basement of Boots in Sheffield were also popular on Saturdays.
Ian Stewart used to run Lasky's before setting up Gremlin Graphics if I'm not mistaken.. And I think he now runs a company on Carver Street called Zoo Digital or something
[ This Message was edited by: Rockford on 2006-01-08 12:23 ]
Basildon's toys'r'us was a prime place for me to get speccy games too, remember getting Pitfighter on the Hitsquad label out of a bargain bin for 79p and then being horrified at how trashy it was.
On romford market there used to be a guy that used to set up his stall just under the arcadey mall bit and he sold tons of speccy and c64 games, i managed to get Teenage Mutant Hero Turntables off him as well as Smash TV for ?5.99 a shot, most shops were bunging it out for ?12.99 at that time!
Bowmans in Newcastle, it was an electronics store but the old geezer used to have a fantastic selection of budget speccy games. Every saturday up from 86-89 I used to get a game on the way home from the swimming pool (or any day if I could). Sadly the shop is gone and I presume the owner must be dead by now.
There was another one called Xtra-byte which stocked mostly Amiga stuff but moved into console stuff and other things. they still sold speccy stuff until about 92/3 then they went bankrupt. Not surprising with their extortionate pricing and terrible part-ex rates. The budget games always seemed to be a quid more expensive than Bowmans and had a round price tag often sneakily stuck over the part of the inlay that said 1.99 range. However unlike Bowmans, Xtra-Byte did stock full price titles often more expensive than in town but it saved a journey if you were feeling lazy.
There was a good little shop in Airdrie (scotland) that i've forgotten the name of that sold new and second hand software really cheaply, i got Turrican for ?4 just after it was released. It was great shop, it's still there but its a fabric shop now.
We had
WH Smiths - never used
Boots - where I used to buy my c-15 tapes
Microtron - where I bought nearly all my games
and Keyzers - which was a shop which sold nearly everything for the home, it had a nice little computer department with armchairs to sit on and about 6 different computers all up and running, this is where I first saw an Oric Atmos, I thought they looked great and wanted one, I never bought any games here though for some unknown reason although my brother did pre-order Zaxxon but only beacuse he fancied the female shop assistant.
_________________
Winners don't use pokes
[ This Message was edited by: chop983 on 2006-03-18 15:56 ]
there was two in blackpool, in the early eighties (84, 85), i used to frequent when i was down there on holiday .....
got a few games there too, like BATMAN and GOING FOR GOLD ..... one we could test run games as well
and i used to get mastertronic and other budget games out of my local newsagents, and it was a goldmine!!! i think, every thursday, new ones came out .....and waited very impatiently (by continually asking the poor women behind the counter, when they would be coming in)
otherwise i would just go into paisley to get games (get this ..... i bought RASTAN SAGA from wh smith for ?8.99, and i took it back because the RRP was actually ?7.99!!!! it was an outrage i tell ya!!!)
then there was freddy's shop in my hometown of renfrew, a brilliant wee shop ..... where he made these wallracks, so that he could put all the games in! i used to go in every week, at least twice, and bugged the hell out of him ;), and watching him play kick-off 2 .....
On 2006-01-06 14:46, RandySparks wrote:
Anyone from Stoke remember the Castle Computers shops that were in Newcastle-under-Lyme (near the Frog Inn), Burslem (round the corner from the Duke William) and Hanley (on Hope St)?
The shops were proper sh*tholes - litter on the floor, games stacked up everywhere - but they sold games cheaper than anywhere else (and if you took a copy of one of their ads from YS or SU in, they gave you a discount).
Ah happy days!
Not been in those but I did spend some time in the one at the top of Town Road (which now sells bongs or is it the "pawn" shop?)
I used to spend hours in there testing driving the latest Speccy titles and scoffing at the C64 and Vic20 games.
I remember the bloke who run it used to be a right miserable bald chuffer (but his assistant was much nicer - Brenda, I think)
On 2006-01-06 14:46, RandySparks wrote:
Anyone from Stoke remember the Castle Computers shops that were in Newcastle-under-Lyme (near the Frog Inn), Burslem (round the corner from the Duke William) and Hanley (on Hope St)?
The shops were proper sh*tholes - litter on the floor, games stacked up everywhere - but they sold games cheaper than anywhere else (and if you took a copy of one of their ads from YS or SU in, they gave you a discount).
Ah happy days!
yes! I remember them, also there was a great shop in Cheadle had loads of Spectrum stuff in cheaper that Castle Computers.
On 2006-03-23 21:01, xenomorph wrote:
Not been in those but I did spend some time in the one at the top of Town Road (which now sells bongs or is it the "pawn" shop?)
I used to spend hours in there testing driving the latest Speccy titles and scoffing at the C64 and Vic20 games.
I remember the bloke who run it used to be a right miserable bald chuffer (but his assistant was much nicer - Brenda, I think)
Remember it well. The shop sold a fair bit of business software too (that's what the bald bloke dealt with).
I clearly remember buying a copy of Jack the Nipper from there. I'd just upgraded from a 16K Spec to a shiny new Speccy +, so a whole new world of 48K games was suddenly open to me :)
There was another great game shop in Hanley, next door to Fantasy World in that grubby shopping arcade. Can't remember what it was called though. Micro something I think??
On 2006-03-23 21:01, xenomorph wrote:
Not been in those but I did spend some time in the one at the top of Town Road (which now sells bongs or is it the "pawn" shop?)
I used to spend hours in there testing driving the latest Speccy titles and scoffing at the C64 and Vic20 games.
I remember the bloke who run it used to be a right miserable bald chuffer (but his assistant was much nicer - Brenda, I think)
Remember it well. The shop sold a fair bit of business software too (that's what the bald bloke dealt with).
I clearly remember buying a copy of Jack the Nipper from there. I'd just upgraded from a 16K Spec to a shiny new Speccy +, so a whole new world of 48K games was suddenly open to me :)
There was another great game shop in Hanley, next door to Fantasy World in that grubby shopping arcade. Can't remember what it was called though. Micro something I think??
I remember the bald guy getting stroppy once because he'd repaired a Spectrum for some woman and she brought it back saying it wouldn't work and that she wanted a refund. He refused and she mentioned trading standards and he suddenly became very compliant!
As to the one in the arcade next to FW, I know which one you mean - my m8 used to go there to trade in his console titles for a while. There were two others of that early console (Megadrive, SNES) era the we used to frequent, too...one in the arcade just across from the bus station (behind where Maplin was) and another opposite Tesco just down from Debenhams.
What was it with Chemists selling software in the eighties? If it wasn't Boots (probably the biggest seller of games at one stage) it was the other local chemist/pharmacy shops selling Speccy games too. Instead of games, these days they just have 500 different varieties of hair gel taking up space or sandwiches. Not a bit of software in sight.
As to the original poster mentioning Software Plus in Gt. Yarmouth, there used to be a shop of the same name in Cambridge, were they a small chain of shops perhaps? I only heard about the place in about 92, and by that stage they were selling off all their Speccy games for cheap. That was always a bittersweet thing to see: you get loads of games for cheap, but you know at the same time your beloved Speccy is dying and the shops won't be selling any more games soon.
Comments
It was still there until about 2 years ago. I went back home to Northampton on one of my trips back from Manchester to see the family and it had been turned into a 'Subway'.
Shame! Whenever I smell proper made coffee made with a filter I have flash backs to working there.
It was a pleasure.
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i remember he used to let you borrow games for the night somtimes.
happy days
alch ucking ell lol
i knew you were from sheff cos of both of us being on the sheffield forums............but not woodhouse :p
i used to visit woodhouse electrical too i think, on the corner at the top of station road? think thats where i bought atic atac and saboteur at least, the ones i can remember anyway
Great name.
Also in the late eighties there was a place in Nottingham -can't remember the name (Help please Fogartylee ?) Somewhere near paliament street and Maid Marion Way. Which was on a couple of floors.
There was also a bloke in the back streets of Burton who ran a "Game Club". Basically, you bought a game for full price, and exchanged it each week for a quid. Great way to increase your collection.
There was also a place in Nottingham
maid marion way? LOOOOOOLL
how cheesy
I'm from Walsall originally so I can't help I'm afraid..
The burslem Shop - would that happen to be the one in St Johns Square, next to Woolworths?
I didn't live in Stoke in the 80s, but a friend of mine has that shop now (She sells baby clothes/accessories). Last year, when I went upstairs (It's really derelict up there), there was piles of old ST/Amiga disks, mainly infocom games and one room right at the top of the building covered in games posters.
Bit of a coincidence if we're talking of the same place.
MikeW
mmmmmmm
thats what i want to find
an old shop full of old games i can stuff into my pockets :)
I was just about their first customer, when they opened. We all used to stop by on the way home from school, it was in a sub-urban backstreet, away from other shops, in a converted hair-dressers. We used to play games for free every day. Then every Saturday, be in with our pocket money.
They mostly specialised in Atari's, but sold for all the machines of the time.
Spent hundreds there over the years.
Then, I switched to Acorn's, and bought by Master Compact from CJE Micro's on the other side of town. They are still trading, and still have a complete range of BBC's in the back of the stockroom for sale! :D
Fap away at this, mel, a 30 min vid of Twilight Princess taken at a show somewhere with a camcorder. Effing awesome.
_________________
Walkthrough recordings of speccy games: www.rzxarchive.co.uk
[ This Message was edited by: Daren on 2006-01-08 00:52 ]
Ian Stewart used to run Lasky's before setting up Gremlin Graphics if I'm not mistaken.. And I think he now runs a company on Carver Street called Zoo Digital or something
[ This Message was edited by: Rockford on 2006-01-08 12:23 ]
yup
ive seen you fapping away at twighlight princess vids on a regular basis :p
Zoo Digital Group plc
http://www.zoodigitalgroup.com/article.asp?id=76860&sec=3
hmmmmmmm just noticed tho - i found it by googling for "zoo media" + carver street
but in the contacts bit on the page it says Furnival Street, sheffield
lol
_________________
chaosmongers "That's enough to make me empty my ferret"
[ This Message was edited by: mel the bell on 2006-01-08 12:29 ]
Looks like they moved last June...
http://www.zoodigitalgroup.com/splash.asp?sec=75&style=4
Basildon's toys'r'us was a prime place for me to get speccy games too, remember getting Pitfighter on the Hitsquad label out of a bargain bin for 79p and then being horrified at how trashy it was.
On romford market there used to be a guy that used to set up his stall just under the arcadey mall bit and he sold tons of speccy and c64 games, i managed to get Teenage Mutant Hero Turntables off him as well as Smash TV for ?5.99 a shot, most shops were bunging it out for ?12.99 at that time!
There was another one called Xtra-byte which stocked mostly Amiga stuff but moved into console stuff and other things. they still sold speccy stuff until about 92/3 then they went bankrupt. Not surprising with their extortionate pricing and terrible part-ex rates. The budget games always seemed to be a quid more expensive than Bowmans and had a round price tag often sneakily stuck over the part of the inlay that said 1.99 range. However unlike Bowmans, Xtra-Byte did stock full price titles often more expensive than in town but it saved a journey if you were feeling lazy.
WH Smiths - never used
Boots - where I used to buy my c-15 tapes
Microtron - where I bought nearly all my games
and Keyzers - which was a shop which sold nearly everything for the home, it had a nice little computer department with armchairs to sit on and about 6 different computers all up and running, this is where I first saw an Oric Atmos, I thought they looked great and wanted one, I never bought any games here though for some unknown reason although my brother did pre-order Zaxxon but only beacuse he fancied the female shop assistant.
_________________
Winners don't use pokes
[ This Message was edited by: chop983 on 2006-03-18 15:56 ]
got a few games there too, like BATMAN and GOING FOR GOLD ..... one we could test run games as well
and i used to get mastertronic and other budget games out of my local newsagents, and it was a goldmine!!! i think, every thursday, new ones came out .....and waited very impatiently (by continually asking the poor women behind the counter, when they would be coming in)
otherwise i would just go into paisley to get games (get this ..... i bought RASTAN SAGA from wh smith for ?8.99, and i took it back because the RRP was actually ?7.99!!!! it was an outrage i tell ya!!!)
then there was freddy's shop in my hometown of renfrew, a brilliant wee shop ..... where he made these wallracks, so that he could put all the games in! i used to go in every week, at least twice, and bugged the hell out of him ;), and watching him play kick-off 2 .....
ahh, those were the days .....
Not been in those but I did spend some time in the one at the top of Town Road (which now sells bongs or is it the "pawn" shop?)
I used to spend hours in there testing driving the latest Speccy titles and scoffing at the C64 and Vic20 games.
I remember the bloke who run it used to be a right miserable bald chuffer (but his assistant was much nicer - Brenda, I think)
yes! I remember them, also there was a great shop in Cheadle had loads of Spectrum stuff in cheaper that Castle Computers.
Remember it well. The shop sold a fair bit of business software too (that's what the bald bloke dealt with).
I clearly remember buying a copy of Jack the Nipper from there. I'd just upgraded from a 16K Spec to a shiny new Speccy +, so a whole new world of 48K games was suddenly open to me :)
There was another great game shop in Hanley, next door to Fantasy World in that grubby shopping arcade. Can't remember what it was called though. Micro something I think??
I remember the bald guy getting stroppy once because he'd repaired a Spectrum for some woman and she brought it back saying it wouldn't work and that she wanted a refund. He refused and she mentioned trading standards and he suddenly became very compliant!
As to the one in the arcade next to FW, I know which one you mean - my m8 used to go there to trade in his console titles for a while. There were two others of that early console (Megadrive, SNES) era the we used to frequent, too...one in the arcade just across from the bus station (behind where Maplin was) and another opposite Tesco just down from Debenhams.
:(
As to the original poster mentioning Software Plus in Gt. Yarmouth, there used to be a shop of the same name in Cambridge, were they a small chain of shops perhaps? I only heard about the place in about 92, and by that stage they were selling off all their Speccy games for cheap. That was always a bittersweet thing to see: you get loads of games for cheap, but you know at the same time your beloved Speccy is dying and the shops won't be selling any more games soon.
It was like a computer boutique, quite popular too back in the 80's.