Of our collection of period pictures of moped shops, most are no longer there. Some of the businesses are no longer trading, others have moved on to bigger things. Aplins of Bristol however is one that is still in the business in its original premises. The business was founded in 1959 and the picture (right) shows the shop in the following year. The second picture shows the shop, little changed, in 2010.
(Period picture supplied by Brian Aplin. There are more period pictures of Aplins on the Aplins page of our Directory.)
A delivery of 50 Raleigh mopeds was being made when this picture was taken in 1962. As well as selling direct to the public, H O Cox would also supply the machines to smaller retailers in the town. David Denny, Raleigh's Sales Manager (and who supplied several of the period pictures on this page), is among those in the picture, as is Mr H O Cox himself. The picture's not too clear and it's difficult to indentify who's who. However, judging by height, David is on the extreme left.
In 2013, the scene hasn't changed much. The buildings have had a lick of paint, the trolleybus wires have gone and the Thames Trader has been replaced by a 4×4. Cox's showroom has becone a Coffee Lounge but Cox Motocycles is still trading on the site as the sign on the end wall shows.
This picture of Dan Crosland's shop in Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham was taken in 1956, after a fire in the shop.
The fire started in the afternoon of April 26 when the shop was shut for half-day closing. Outside are bikes that have been dragged from the burning shop. Nearest the camera, a Mercury scooter lies on its side. Several Power Paks can be seen in the stack of bicycles.
The area looks rather run down fifty years later (second picture) and Crosland's bike shop has gone. (There is, however, still a shop selling bridal gowns, though it's moved a couple of doors down the street.)
Mr A Jacobi is pictured moving a new deliver of Mobylettes into his shop. The shop was at 74-76 Norwich Road, Ipswich.
By 2012, the shop is completely gone. Although all the other shops in the row are still standing, the one that used to be occupied by Jacobi's has been demolished.
The picture (right) shows Kenistons of 5-6 Station Chambers, Victoria Road, Romford in July 1962 having just received a delivery of Raleigh RM4 Automatic mopeds.
This picture was taken by David Denny, sales manager at Raleigh. Kenistons remainind in business into the 21st Century but, by 2007 when the second picture was taken, the premises were occupied by an estate agency.
Another picture from David Denny, this one shows D Osborne's shop at 53 North Station Road, Colchester in May 1964. Again, the picture was taken at the time of a delivery though, this time, the bikes are Hondas.
By 2013 the scene has changed and Osbourne's shop has become a Pizza take-away, the old Service Café is now the Ocean Supermarket and Ind Coope's Railway Tavern has been converted to shops and flats.
H V Powell's cycle shop was at 96 Birchfield Road, Birmingham 19. Mr Powell built his own mopeds, called the Joybike. Joybikes were available in 75cc and 50cc versions. A Joybike can be seen in the right-hand window in the picture.
The shop has gone now. Birchfield Road is about three times wider than it was in the 1960s and all the even-numbered premises were swept away by the road widening. As far as we can tell, the shop used to be where the car is in the present day photo.
Our third picture dates from 1960 and shows Mr Powell himself (on the left) outside the shop along with one of his Joybikes.
Tinkler & Co had their shop at 66-70 Dereham Road, Norwich. The photo shows a display of brand-new Raleigh RM6 Runabouts on the forecourt. Other period features are the hoardings in Douro Place advertising Players cigarettes (that wouldn't be allowed today) and Bullards & Tolly beers (Bullards were brewed in Norwich, Tolly in Ipswich, neither is still in business). The other poster is for Hovis bread - although Hovis is still with us, they no longer give a 'serving suggestion' of frying a slice with bacon.
When David Denny took this picture, he would have been standing outside The Eldorado Coffee Bar on the other side of the road. David took a close-up (bottom picture) of Tinkler's window display showing another RM6 with legshields fitted, and an RM8 Automatic Mark II.
By 2008, Tinkler's shop had become a Blockbuster, a tree has grown large enough to obscure the church tower that can be seen in the 1960s' picture, but there are still advertising hoardings on the corner
January 2013
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