Another Ironmongers shop closing after 87 years trading

[Mike-W]

Drews the Ironmongers who have traded near Reading town centre are closing down after 87 years.
Another victim to the Internet.
I for one will miss them - i have used them for the best part of 50 years and many of the 28 staff have been there for most of the years i have shopped at Drews.
Yes I use the internet more and more but you don't find that level of knowledge and help on the internet, If I was ever looking for something to do a specific job I would ask one of the guys who would generally come up with a solution.
Talking to one of the staff she told me the owners are closing down the business before they need to call in the Receivers
At least the staff should get a decent redundancy package.
They plan to cease trading 21st January 2019 or sooner if all stock is sold.

All stock is 25% off and its moving fast, so if you are local and looking for Ironmongery, plumbing, paint, finishing products, garden tools or general tools they may be worth a visit.

 

[devonwoody]

We have a store with the same name in Torbay, don't know if it is the same group but our local branch has not been keeping upto date with ironmongery stock for some years and running down on traditional stuff which you cannot get on the internet because of minimum purchase requirements etc.

 

[Mike-W]

devonwoody,
as far as i am aware they only trade in Reading.
Unlike your local Ironmongers they have always been reasonably well stocked, although when I herd they were closing i said i was not surprised.
BTW they got a local nick-name Drews for Screws- hence the screw head inset in the 'R'

 

[AES]

You're not alone in this sort of thing Mike. Here in Switzerland, down in my local "county town" (Liestal) we had a wonderful little back street hardware store which really was an Aladdin's cave of all sorts of useful stuff - AND the old bloke running it knew where everything was, AND if you wanted, say, a kilo of nails, he just weighed them out (on old-fashioned scales!) into a brown paper bag!

A couple of years ago the bloke got sick, apparently his family weren't interested in taking over the business, and now it's a hunter's/gun shop (but at least it's a private company and not part of a big chain).

We're not too bad for big chains taking over the High Streets here (compared to UK anyway) but it's getting worse every year here. The 2 big supermarket chains here now seem to own about 90% of every type of shop in just about every town.

A few years back my (Swiss) wife and I were in UK and were in several big towns we visited she remarked that you couldn't tell one town from another from the shops in the High Street - everything was all the same big chain names.

Pity.

Yup, nostalgia definitely ain't what it was

 

[AndyT]

I agree it's a bad thing to losee a well stocked independent. Round here we are fortunate to still have a handful of proper shops where there's a wide stock, sound advice and fair prices. I've personally shopped in one of them for 38 years.

But isn't there a downturn in the whole DIY sector?

We still have Wickes and B&Q, but in fewer stores. Yet I can remember shopping in plenty of others which have either disappeared or closed many branches - Homebase, Do-it-all, Great Mills, Focus, Texas, UBM...

 

[AES]

Andy, I don't know about a downturn in the DIY sector here. We now have (and always have had) a basic choice of 3 - Coop, Jumbo, and Migros. Plus Aldi and Lidl of course. But there are plenty of branches of all those all over the place, plus there are at least 3 or 4 DIY chains more over the border in Germany - Bauhaus, Obi, and a couple of others whose names I forget at present.

And although retailers generally are moaning about tough times and internet shopping here, just like in UK, we don't seem to have the branch closures and complete loss of well known names (like Woolworths) here that I keep hearing about on Radio 4.

In short "dunno, but seems not to be the case here I think"

 

[Keith 66]

We have a small independent Ironmongers near here, Macgregor Hardware near Vic house corner roundabout on the A13 at Hadleigh. Shop was owned by an old boy for years then bought by an english guy who if anything got it going even better, he moved oop north & sold the business to a young asian couple who have made it even better, the place is an absolute mine of anything you can imagine stacked to the ceiling. It does a roaring trade.

 

[merlin]

Hello Mike,

Yes what a sad day it will be when Drews for screws disappear as I like you have been going in there for years.
I first went in there with my Dad when they were down Broad Street, it will be the same as when Sarjent's tools disappeared all those years ago.

Merlin

 

[Nick.]

That's sad news that they are closing after all this time - I used them a fair bit when I lived in Reading 25 years ago whilst doing up my first house, they always had the gidget I needed - I was also their Elu salesman at that time. Decent people.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Very sad to see another retailer disappear, I am sure it will be a loss to the local community.

 

[Mike-W]

I first went in there with my Dad when they were down Broad Street, it will be the same as when Sarjent's tools disappeared all those years ago.

Merlin

Drews moved from Reading town centre Friar street 40 years ago, (one of the staff reminded me how long they have been in Caversham road last Friday).
Sarjents who were opposite what is now Broad street Mall closed down about 10 years later.
They continued trading in Oxford until about 25 years ago when I believe one of the Sargents tool salesman moved into the tool department of Drews- an indication of just what knowledge the staff have in Drews.

 

[DannyEssex]

We have a small independent Ironmongers near here, Macgregor Hardware near Vic house corner roundabout on the A13 at Hadleigh. Shop was owned by an old boy for years then bought by an english guy who if anything got it going even better, he moved oop north & sold the business to a young asian couple who have made it even better, the place is an absolute mine of anything you can imagine stacked to the ceiling. It does a roaring trade.

I live just a few minutes walk from Mcgregors which has been handy over the years and the couple who run it now are lovely and helpful

 

[Benchwayze]

In my 'paper-round' days, my father got me a part time job in an ironmongers, a welcome change to delivering papers. I did get tired of re-stacking paint tins after customers had sorted through, but apart from that it was a great little earner; and I loved the smells of the place.

Lots of items you now pay inflated prices for in plastic bottles, came in five gallon drums, and I liked to serve stuff such as linseed oil, soft-soap and powdered Lysol; especially the linseed and soft-soap! My boss never missed a trick and he used to save pop bottles, for customers who hadn't brought a container with them. He charged threepence for the bottle! My, you had to be careful with the Lysol; the paper bags weren't very strong! :lol:

John (hammer)

 

[John15]

I remember Drews of Reading very well. I worked for a contractor in nearby Henley in the 60's and 70's and regularly visited them. They had a fantastic range of carpentry tools - all good quality, mostly made in the UK.

John

 

[Harbo]

I worked in Reading for 12 yrs and remember Drew’s very well - a sad loss.

Rod

 

[Benchwayze]

According to Google Earth there is still one in Sutton Coldfield in Holland Street. Namely Adams. There's no parking though, so it looks like a taxi job if you're not too good on your pins.

They will sell you one of anything and they were very good repairing my Tilley Lamp; which disappeared after the guy I loaned it to passed away!

I'm the last of a trio the pub wits called 'Last of the Summer wine!' :mrgreen:

 

[Mike-W]

Drews finally closed shop just before Christmas ( AFAIK all staff were paid at least until the scheduled close date of end of Jan '19)
I spent quite a bit with Drews in the last few weeks, some of the ironmongery to finish off my shed built from a tree we felled and planked in my village and some stuff that might be useful in the near future. (hammer)
All stock in the last week was selling at 75% off marked prices, but most of the tools had been cleared at 25% off a month or so before.
I lasted cycled pass the shop a month ago when a sold sign was displayed, I bet a developer has snapped it up planning to turn it into 8~12 town centre apartments- its certainly handy for Reading Station.

 

[luke.wiseman]

I lived in Henley for some years and occasionally went to Drews. One simply wonderful thing that they had which has not been mentioned was their 'GKN Screw Display'. This was the most amazing board with a display of a lot of the different screws, bolts and so on produced by GKN. The individual pieces were held to a large wooden board, and were arranged in a rather pleasing circular fashion.
I hope that this piece has gone to a good home or a local museum!

 

[artie]

Old thread, but it reminds me how lucky we are to have a small hardware store in town.

Yesterday i bought a pack of 5 impact driver bits for £1.26 less than ebay price.

 

[Blister]

When I lived in Dagenham Essex we had a big store with a huge showroom , They had everything , It was amazing , Then a statment that said " All good things must come to an end " That was it .