I can recall most of the stuff I acquired in the 1970s as they were special to me at the time and I still have my first working jukebox I bought at Star warehouse Camden Lock from a guy Jimmy Broderick & put it on the train Red star parcels to Cheshire …Saturday Nov 5th 1977.. memorable day ! it remained on the platform at Crewe for a few days as tail lifts didn’t exist and it needed a two man delivery to lift it on a lorry for its final 20 miles (!a friend of ours saw it behind a cage area as it was not wrapped in any way just labelled to us) didn’t give transport much thought lucky a stranger called Clive was there with a trailer and ran it and us to Euston goods yard … big thanks and memory of him !!!
I found trade suppliers in the adverts paper Excbange & Mart there was a coin operated column near the back pages and I bought a few items from Brighouse Games in Yorkshire & Hazelgrove Music nearer in Stockport mainly pinballs
I ordered the weekly trade paper Worlds Fair incorporating Coin Slot & Market trader
I even got mentioned in it about 3 times? As a small op that was quite a lift (famous?)
No just because I was at the opening of Philip Shefras Spares Northern depot at Tony Tillotts in Eccles Manchester on the day and stuff like that photo bombing maybe?
This led me to local national distributor Associated Leisure who had a showroom in Warrington but also two or three big secondhand warehouses set up by ex employees of the collapsed Yorkshire based Melody Music in Leeds . They were Ansell& Barber who began making video quizzes and jukes and video games etc as did Tower Vision Alfie Katz who still hawks along seaside arcades last I heard of him a couple of years back buying from one and selling by exchange to the next and always had a Hadfields lorry with him so he could reap cash and leave the lifting to contract hauliers… his original pre sale engineer Kevin is still a friend of mine on Facebook and had his own ‘technical amusement services’ company and an arcade in Castleford town centre . had lots from both of them . Also Dial a Deal set up clearing old operator stock in bulk to supply parts mainly but some ok machines were available there real cheap especially if you dealt with Bob Hepworth bit less mercenary than his two partners Steve Robins and the othe chap I can’t recall his name? Coin Slot was the where to go bible for cheap stuff- we too ran small ads to clear surplus pinballs from £10 each ( I still have a cut out ad somewhere) recyclers dream but if only we knew one day collecting would trend ? !!!! .
Later on into the mid 80s and after I teamed up with my friend Colin who already ran a couple of arcades in North Wales as ClwydCoin we acquired lots of pre-owned equipment tendering for whole arcade occupation and often many of the previous tenants had left big items they couldn’t move , sell or store? We owned more than I could ever remember now.
Our 3rd associate Mark set up his pooltable business near us in 1982 and we took on more sites supplying rides outside shops , pool , jukes , quizzes to pubs and leisure centres etc and counting coins was a full time ‘ chore ‘
It’s safe to say I can’t list where many came from but Crown and other big national distributors have supplied hundreds of secondhand machines and a few new ones. often seen at trade shows in various locations nationwide.
My main thing like others here is I forget I have previously purchased small hardware items or tools and sometimes repair components but can’t find them amid the disorganised pile of junk I hoard so end up buying again as it takes too long to search out the thugs I do know I have hidden somewhere?
Now I am retired I am starting to uncover these lost artifice and most of what remains is here in my home workshop . Parts , manuals and a last few machines of course, some of which I have had 40 years and do recall exactly where several originated and where they have been during that time.
My wife and I moved to this house 40 years ago and one machine came here with us at that time awaiting repair , a1960s Brenco wheel of fortune multi slot bet now on old 1d coin , I got it in 1978 for £10 and converted it to new penny but the arrow drive motor was weak, I took it to a company Rodstock amusents in Lancashire who repaired amusement stuff for a rewind but they went bust and the motor was lost, sad to say I have spent a few days inside it but it’s never got fully restored or working as it kept getting buried behind more urgent projects…..
That year I gave up my career as a farm manager and took to amusements full time which is why we moved house from the farm property sacrificing loads of shed storage…. I even did a City & Guilds 224 to level lll digital techniques electronics radio and television servicing and followed it with a HNC ideal for basic repairs and also the coinslot c&g technical course which I still have in a binder tho it was also published in the coin slot paper most weeks in installments..
I wouldn’t change a thing . I was able to work for Associated Leisure for a while doing some Motorway service repairs and seeing many of the new release video games and played them for free having all the keys ….. brilliant !!!
