Woodworking shops in Warrington?

[pooka]

Hi all,
Based on a spur of the moment decision (well, 2 days in advance, but that counts as spur of the moment for me usually!), I will be travelling to Warrington on Saturday. I am mainly going to IKEA, but as the local selection here is so poor I wondered whether there are any shops there that sell decent woodworking tools (hand or powered) that might be worth having a look at?

After all, if my credit card is on the slippery slope of household goods, I may as well give it a helpful shove

Thanks.

 

[Neil]

Hi Pooka,

I don't think Warrington would be classed as a tool-buyers Mecca, but I guess you could pop to Taylor Bros in Liverpool (They run the diytools.co.uk/.ie site as a joint venture with Lenehans of Capel Street). I have been told, though, that the dogs have to go around in pairs in the area of Liverpool where their shop is located! 8-[ There is a Machine Mart in central Liverpool as well if that is of any interest.

If you have a van with you, you could pop to Ambrose McGrath in Liverpool docks, its supposed to be a good timber yard.

Sorry not be be of more help,
Neil

 

[tombo]

all the way from dublin to warrington for ikea you must be mad! i limit my visits there to mid week mornings cause its so frustratingly busy. If you are flying why not visit ikea in amsterdam its cheaper than the UK and they take euro's.

I buy stuff at taylor bros from time to time, they have a reasonable selecton of machine tools and hand power tools, but i think they close at 12 on a saturday or at least they used to. I get all my hardwood from Ambrose, but i would not recommend a visit (just a smelly old wharehouse) unless you actually wanted somthing, again they close early on saturday

still think you are mad but enjoy yourself anyway

Tom

 

[pooka]

Thanks guys. I reckoned it was a long shot alright, that there would be an aladdins cave of woodworking treasures in the one place that I'd be (and for the one short period that I'd be there), but it was worth a shot. Well, at least my credit card will be relieved!

The trip to a UK IKEA arose out of a desire to buy a new sofa which would fit in the car (we are travelling over by ferry, assuming we can haul ourselves out of bed around 3.30am on Saturday morning...). As an unreformed shop-a-holic, the prospect of going to a large "toy" warehouse like IKEA soon overrides any practical considerations - most of those practical considerations will hit me when the alarm goes off on Saturday morning though

 

[Mcluma]

First check on-line if they have it in stock, over the christmass and new-year period they run dry of stock. and was told that a lot of stock will only arrive in the first week of Feb!!!

I was in croydon just after christmass (boxing day) and the shop was empty. but also their stock. so came home empty handed (thank god for that :wink: )

 

[frank]

pooka are you going via holyhead their must be some tool shops in north wales and branches of ikea .
look in the returns dept :wink:

frank

ps i hope the wind isn't blowing a force 10 from the north :shock:

 

[Scrit]

If you have a van with you, you could pop to ...
... Ambrose McGrath in Liverpool docks, its supposed to be a good timber yard.

It's actually some warehouses off Regent Road just over the bridge on Stanley Dock (where some of the rave warehouse scenes in 51st State were filmed) as you drive away from the Pier Head, not on the docks, but they are knowledgeable and stock some interesting stuff. Just watch out for some of the potholes down there! However, I have them down as open Mon to Fri only (they are a trade place - anyone care to correct?) so you'd best ring.

In Warrington T E Hughes used to be good for engineers tools, etc. but other than that when I lived there it was a virtual tool desert. Pity Alan Holtham isn't still going at Wistaston (Crewe), but if you drive over to Manchester there's Bogle & Timms in a big warehouse on Eccles New Road in Salford (about 3/4 mile down from Jct 2 on the M602 - Ikea is 18? miles down the M62) - really good selection of power tools and tooling (trade orientated, so the better stuff).

Another possibility is Entwistle & Joynt in Wigan - haven't been there in years but they used to be good on power tools (they are a trade distributor and major supplier to the trades). They own Little Sheffield in Blackburn who do carry a range of Jet/Veritas/Kreg/Sorby/lathe type stuff in a retail shop at the front of the premises with a trade tool cave at the back.

A word of caution - I normally visit these places mid-week, so check if they are open. Little Sheffield certainly closes at around 1pm on Saturday as do E & J.

Scrit

 

[pooka]

Thanks a lot for that Scrit. That info is very useful. Depending on how long the drive takes, I may not have time to make it far from the immediate area of Warrington, but if I do I'll certainly consider some of the options you listed. If Mcluma's warning proves correct (thanks for the advice Mcluma - I didn't see any mention on the website of lack of availability but I didn't think to check either - yikes!), then I guess there will be more time available. ...and more carrying space available in the car too!!

Frank, yes we are travelling via Holyhead alright. I'm not sure how many places we will see on the route to Warrington, but I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled.

 

[pooka]

Well, I didn't manage to make it to anywhere outside of Warrington, but I did manage to get to a local B&Q there, where I picked up the last of their PP HVLP Paint Kits as reviewed by Philly some time ago. I have been trying to get one of these for a while, but depending on which B&Q here that I dealt with, the person that I spoke to, the phase of the moon and the angle of the sun, I was told anything from "that will take 4 to 6 weeks to deliver" to "that product is no longer available". So at least I pandered a little to my credit card's insatiable appetite for woodworking-related products!

Mind you, IKEA itself has some useful things for the woodworker too. I bought myself a set of four 2.5" castors (not lockable though) for around £8, and this angle-poise lamp, with clamp, for £8.99. Having said that, for anyone trying to make a living out of woodworking, it could be a bit disheartening to see some of the wooden furniture being sold by IKEA at prices which sometimes seem too low to even cover the cost of the raw materials.

As for our sofa hunt, we found something to suit, but ruled out the option of trying to drive back to Holyhead with it sticking out the back of our hatchback car. Just as well too, as the weather ranged from cold and rainy to cold and snowy on the way!

I'll keep the above recommended places in mind for future visits to the UK though.

 

[Scrit]

Having said that, for anyone trying to make a living out of woodworking, it could be a bit disheartening to see some of the wooden furniture being sold by IKEA at prices which sometimes seem too low to even cover the cost of the raw materials.

It is! Especially when customers expect it to be installed at similarly low prices - same guys who don't blanche at paying £50 to £60 per hour to have their BMWs serviced (can't wait for BMW to move producytion to China)...... :shock:

Scrit

 

[pooka]

It is! Especially when customers expect it to be installed at similarly low prices - same guys who don't blanche at paying £50 to £60 per hour to have their BMWs serviced (can't wait for BMW to move producytion to China)...... :shock:

Scrit

I have to admit that I was impressed, in general, with the quality of the furniture that IKEA sell, but of course that is really only when compared against the likes of other retailers of supposedly high-quality mass-produced furniture, such as Habitat. When compared to those, IKEA comes out very well due to their reasonable prices.

However, the day after being in IKEA I stumbled upon a local store here which sells some handmade wooden furniture, some of it made in Ireland. The memory of the IKEA products was still fresh in my mind. In particular, I had briefly looked at a cheap, functional, and okay-looking, small wooden table in IKEA, and this local store had one of similar dimensions and design. They were as alike as chalk and cheese - the local table was very well balanced, solidly built while retaining a very fine look, and the way the grain was matched was very attractive. The IKEA table was something like the equivalent of 12euro, I think, the local table was about 120euro - a big difference in price, but 120euro for a table that will almost certainly look just as good in a few years time, and be still in one piece, seems like a bargain.

I am as guilty as anyone of restricting my furniture buying to a budget that precludes much of the available high-quality handmade furniture, but fortunately I am at least aware of the existence of quality crafstmen and know that their products are not just priced for the wealthy (I was at a furniture show a few months back that opened my eyes even further to this reality). It is a shame that so many people are not interested in looking beyond the mass-produced options, or want the best of both worlds by squeezing the makers for top-notch furniture for warehouse-level prices.

 

[Scrit]

I am as guilty as anyone of restricting my furniture buying to a budget that precludes much of the available high-quality handmade furniture, but fortunately I am at least aware of the existence of quality crafstmen and know that their products are not just priced for the wealthy....
....It is a shame that so many people are not interested in looking beyond the mass-produced options, or want the best of both worlds by squeezing the makers for top-notch furniture for warehouse-level prices.

It's one of the reasons why, unlike the USA, many good craftsmen here end up making kitchens and doing other more mundane works. Unless you are in the right part of the world and have the good fortune to hit on the right clients you can just end up going to the wall so easily. Someone is going to jump in and shout "marketing" right about now - I'll leave you to imagine my ripost Hope you can find the time to look around a bit more next time you're over

Scrit

 

[frank]

pooka did you not take the good lady just up the road to the trafford centre :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: .she could have had a field day :lol: :lol: :lol:
all them shops and open till late . :wink: :wink:

frank

 

[Scrit]

Yeah. Should have mentioned that the Trafford Centre is only 3 miles from Bogle & Timms...... Personally, I prefer Manchester city centre.

Scrit

 

[pooka]

Looking for the B&Q Superstore, and wandering through IKEA, took up all of our available time on the day, so we couldn't really have got to anywhere else unless we wanted to miss the ferry and swim home. Of course, we could have saved time if I had taken the "North side of Junction 9 on M62" directions to B&Q Warehouse literally - I presumed that meant "somewhere north of junction 9", and therefore potentially hard to find without a local map, whereas it really meant "ON the north side of the junction ye daft git!".

So, having actually passed within yards of B&Q Warehouse at junction 9, we then spent half an hour looking for the B&Q Superstore instead. In my defense though, we didn't go far enough round the junction 9 roundabout to actually see the B&Q Warehouse, but that didn't make me feel any less stupid when we saw it laughing at us on our way round that roundabout on the way home.