Redgates loved that shop

[willybite]

As echo beach wrote, Redgate's originally sold furs, and the 1905 directory describes the Nottingham-born Edwin Walters Redgate (1839-1909) as a "furrier and perambulator manufacturer" at 19 Fargate. Earlier census returns show Edwin variously as a "watchmaker" and "sewing machine manufacturer", with a business in Church Street in 1881. The 1925 directory (compiled in 1924) describes the firm as "Furriers, blouse & coat specialists & perambulator manufacturers; children's chairs, cots & every nursery requisite", still in Fargate. The following year they moved to 5-7 The Moor, and by 1936 "toys" was included in the description of their business. They were bombed out in 1940 and moved to temporary accommodation at 10-12 Ecclesall Road. By 1953 they were at 11-13 The Moor, near where they had been before, and in the late 1960s moved around the corner to Furnival Gate.

 

I once did some research into Wilson Gumpert's. In case it's of interest, here are some notes based on what I wrote on a different thread. The firm was founded in c. 1908 when J. Wilson & Son, toy importers and dealers of Snig Hill and Fargate, went into partnership with Ernst Gumpert. He had been a representative of a German firm of toy manufacturers whose products Wilson's had imported. He settled in Sheffield and in 1901 married Francis Wilson's daughter, Eleanor. The firm prospered, despite some anti-German sentiment during both World Wars. It was not ideal to have two separate shops and in 1935 the firm obtained a long lease on part of the "White Building" in Fitzalan Square. I would guess that the shop closed in the mid-1960s. Ernst Gumpert died aged 83 in 1950; the last local member of the Gumpert family, Ernst's son Dr Traugott Gumpert of Ranmoor, died in Sheffield in 1992 aged 88.

 

hiya hillsbro, wonder if you can tell me the name of the prefabricated pub at the top of the moor in the 40s, it was just before the mooorhead on the righthand side going up, seem to think it was a temp licence for another pub.

[hillsbro]

..it was just before the mooorhead on the righthand side going up, seem to think it was a temp licence for another pub.

It must have been the Devonshire Arms, which was in that location - No 11 The Moor - before the blitz and is still shown there in the 1942 directory, though now without a street number (perhaps because it was a prefabricated structure). Here is a link to a picturesheffield.com photo of the bomb damage.

[Blackbeard]

It must have been the Devonshire Arms, which was in that location - No 11 The Moor - before the blitz and is still shown there in the 1942 directory, though now without a street number (perhaps because it was a prefabricated structure). Here is a link to a picturesheffield.com photo of the bomb damage.

 

Good job I checked, you beat me to it.

[oldrowley]

Mike, I don't remember a toy shop on Church St. and I was a kid in the 50's. Could you, or someone could you enlighten me?

 

 

Hi stpetre, yes there was a toyshop on Church Street. It was on the Cathedral side just before the junction with Townhead Street in a block of shops since demolished and rebuilt. It was named L.Gordon Joel and like Mike G, I used to spend hours in there. They too, had a model railway which ran around the shop downstairs at high level and actually came through a 'tunnel' under alongside the staircase as you walked down. They also stocked 'hobby' magazines such as Trains Illustrated, Buses Illustrated and Meccano Magazine.

[hillsbro]

...It was named L.Gordon Joel...

I also remembered this shop and when I saw stpetre's query I looked in old Kelly's directories (I have quite a collection of them). The entries for 42 Church Street are rather puzzling - for example 1942 "L. Gordon Joel & Co. athletic outfitters", 1951 to 1957 "L. Gordon Joel & Co. sports outfitters", 1965 "Fred Shaw, toy dealer" and 1971 "Gordons, model supplies". So perhaps the business started out selling sports clothing and equipment, and then changed to selling toys and models. I remember buying fireworks there in 1972 (why do I remember odd things like that and forget what I had for lunch?.)

 

One nice thing about Redgates was that you could buy odd Meccano bits. If your 'Outfit No 7' didn't have enough flanged sector plates or you needed two more angle brackets, or if the spring broke in your "Magic" (clockwork) motor, all you had to do was save your pocket money, pop down to the basement and buy whatever spares you needed..

[hulkhogan]

I remember going in redgates to look at all the model railway , there was a chap who worked there in a wheelchair who used to build layouts in store and it seemed there was nothing he didn't know about model trains.he used to do all the repairs to on the counter too.he used to always ware a brown smock.