DSD Slater Ltd: So many of the city's small shops have gone

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Gone are the days when you took a faulty pressure cooker to the factory in Derby and waited while it was repaired. Former warehouse manager of a Derby hardware wholesaler, Graham Hall, now living near Lincoln, recalls some of the small businesses he used to supply back in the 1960s, most of which have now disappeared.

I WAS very interested in the feature about Freeman’s Drapery and Hardware Store featured in a recent Byones. My working life began back in August 1967 at DSD Slater Ltd, of Franchise Street, a hardware wholesaler.

I started in the usual way, sweeping up etc, progressing to warehouse manager in 1973. They used to supply shops in and around the Derby area and neighbouring counties.

These included several of the larger stores like the Midland Drapery, the Co-op in Albion Street, Ranby’s, and Bennetts but the majority of the business was with the smaller shops, many of which sadly no longer exist.

One of the memorable names were Rowditch Homecrafts whose owner, Ted Ottewell, was always in a hurry. He used to visit the warehouse regularly, always at around 2-30pm when he was due to reopen after lunchtime.

There was also Pat Lawless, of Minprof Supplies, who, I think, became a car dealer when he closed the shop; Sid Boulton on St Thomas' Road; Mrs Richardson on Walbrook Road; G S Upton on Kedleston Road; Tomlinson’s on Friar Gate, who also had shops at Allestree and Spondon.

My friend Joe at DSD always looked after the Allestree orders, while I did the Spondon ones.

I remember Mike Tomlinson had a bit of a reputation for being very fearsome, but I always found him nice to deal with.

Haslehurst’s on London Road were very good customers, too. They employed a couple of the Brewin brothers from the Gerard Street area. Occasionally, we would have a visit from Col Haslehurst, a charming man.

Going a little further afield, there was Lilian Ward at Melbourne; Mr Jones in Borough Street, Castle Donington; and Mrs Sanders in Duffield, another one with a reputation but, again, very nice to deal with. Taylor and Hadfield in Long Eaton were good customers. I used to see Barry Hadfield at Long Eaton Speedway occasionally.

In Mickleover there were a few shops we dealt with – Tony Warner, Mr and Mrs Topham and the infamous Pat Mooney at Homemaker Supplies, who gained fame by giving away paint etc to get around the Sunday trading laws we had in those days.

The shop was taken over by a Mr and Mrs Woolley who, I believe, eventually took over a post office in the Somercotes area.

There were many others, of course. Very few of them are still in business today. The hardware trade has changed and we have cookshops, aimed more at the kitchen area of the business.

We have also lost a lot of the big name brands that were around, although some of them, like Prestige, still exist.

But gone are the days when you could take a faulty pressure cooker to the factory on City Road and they would repair it while you waited, often with no charge.