Does anyone have any photos of this old computer shop on carver street - spent many hours in this shop usually during school time.

Think the guys that ran the shop where tony and greggs - and they where a few demo groups that use to go in -

I have started a web site about the retro computer, just mirco and gremlin graphics - any input would be fantastic (you will get a mention and credit for photos etc.

post memories here or send to antzz@**********

regards to all who where there

What is the website address?

Originally posted by retroboy
Does anyone have any photos of this old computer shop on carver street - spent many hours in this shop usually during school time.

Think the guys that ran the shop where tony and greggs - and they where a few demo groups that use to go in -

I have started a web site about the retro computer, just mirco and gremlin graphics - any input would be fantastic (you will get a mention and credit for photos etc.

post memories here or send to antzz@**********

regards to all who where there


I used to go in regularly...

There was also Alligata Software in Sheffield at the same time as GG (just round the corner from Carver St, on Orange Street).


Got no pix though. :-(

alchresearch on these boards might be able to help with some GG stuff ;-) As he (used) to hold rights to re-distribute GG software - and others!

I used to knock about with a bloke called "Fungus the Bogeyman", who programmed for Gremlin (I think).

He changed his name and I can remember looking it up in the phone book and it being there.

I think he has since "done one" to Spain with a birdos l'espana he was seeing.

As for those shops, I remember them well. I can remember going in the one on Division Street and watching the 'juggling man' demo on the Amiga for ages.

What a geek.

Lots of ex gremlin/infogrammes guys still around, probably some on this board.

Incidentally Zoo Digital are run by ex gremlin MD Ian Steward and were based near the old offices until a few weeks ago.

Plenty of ex gremlin peeps at the various game devs in sheffield who may remember the shop.

Before my time up here tho.

I worked at Just Micro for many years before my stint at Gremlin/Infogrames, I've got a nice black and white pic of the shop front somewhere but you'll have to bear with me cos I have no idea where it is...
I still feel sad when I walk up Carver Street and see where the shop was, many happy times were had there. :(
The shop on Division Street was Gemsoft, which is still around but totally different to the Div Street shop, it's now on Furnival Gate near where Redgates was.

Hello Sonic

How's tricks

do you mean this pic on this website?

http://www.crashonline.org.uk/18/images/just_micro.jpg

Thanks for that. Brought back some memories. :)

Whoo! And Sinatra's next door! :D

Just Micro was really for Spectrum users wasn't it?

I was sadly left out of all the games "action" with my ORIC (48k I'll have you know) - purchased from Laskeys on Leopold Street for the princely sum of £149. :)

No, I would say C64 and Spectrum mainly. They did have a host of other computers around the work bench but those were the 2 most popular with the biggest space allocated to games.

Eyup Jingo, that's the pic :) My bloody memory, completely forgot to dig it out!
I'm good thanks, will PM you my new number, hope all is well with you mate.

that picture brought back memories :)

i too used to spend hours in there, for a tiny shop half of sheffield seemed to have hung out there.

i can visualize the layout now.....
as you go in, up the steps where the counter was, turn left, then speccy games in the window (i used to play the speccy games), and on the far wall were the computers to play, upstairs was gremlin graphics, i believe you could get to gremlin from behind the counter??
i saw my first ever atari st game there too......."mousetrap" or something

Just micro was mainly C64 no doubt about that.
You could buy a game, take it home and take it back about a week later and say it didn't work!! It was a great place to hang out. You could ask to test the games and they would give you the tape and load it up. Great place and good memories.

Then in about '88 or '89 Gemsoft opened just around the corner and it was the first time I saw an Amiga 500 in the flesh and they had Defender of The Crown and some flight sim playing in full stereo sound!! We were awestruck.

Amazing to think that most of those games can now be downloaded in seconds and played on a modern PC without the PC even thinking about breaking sweat.
I've got over 3500 C64 games and about 150 titles on my hard drive. Not because I still play them but just for nostalgic reasons.

I remember Gremlin next door and a mate and I tried sneaking in one Saturday afternoon and having a look around. We said we wanted a job as game testers but they said "No Thanks Lads" and showed us the door!!.

Happy Days.

ps If any one worked there then "How come they closed?"

Gremlin was taken over by Infogrames (French company) and was closed down in 2002 at the same as a few other sheffield game studios. Ian Stewart opened Zoo Media which is next door to where the old Gremlin place on Carver Street used to be.

FYI I recently saw a new crash magazine with all the major platforms and a load of games reviewed, think it cost around a tenner... Loads of memories came flooding back, but only one mention (i think) of just micro - jack the nipper!!

Originally posted by comet
FYI I recently saw a new crash magazine with all the major platforms and a load of games reviewed, think it cost around a tenner... Loads of memories came flooding back, but only one mention (i think) of just micro - jack the nipper!!
I think your talking about the recent games tm retro anthology mag, which has an ollie frey crash cover

Originally posted by comet
FYI I recently saw a new crash magazine with all the major platforms and a load of games reviewed, think it cost around a tenner... Loads of memories came flooding back, but only one mention (i think) of just micro - jack the nipper!!

Jack the nipper was not a bad game with him running around with his nappy.

Originally posted by LedZeppelin
Just micro was mainly C64 no doubt about that.
You could buy a game, take it home and take it back about a week later and say it didn't work!! It was a great place to hang out. You could ask to test the games and they would give you the tape and load it up. Great place and good memories.

Then in about '88 or '89 Gemsoft opened just around the corner and it was the first time I saw an Amiga 500 in the flesh and they had Defender of The Crown and some flight sim playing in full stereo sound!! We were awestruck.

Amazing to think that most of those games can now be downloaded in seconds and played on a modern PC without the PC even thinking about breaking sweat.
I've got over 3500 C64 games and about 150 titles on my hard drive. Not because I still play them but just for nostalgic reasons.

I remember Gremlin next door and a mate and I tried sneaking in one Saturday afternoon and having a look around. We said we wanted a job as game testers but they said "No Thanks Lads" and showed us the door!!.

Happy Days.

ps If any one worked there then "How come they closed?"

Defender of the crown was awsome when it was first released, a very playable game which was had a story.

great piccy!!!!!!!!!!!!. used to go in there for my commodore vic 20 games (very very rare). remember it being such a tiny shop but it was always busy.

Originally posted by LedZeppelin

ps If any one worked there then "How come they closed?"

Gremlin used to own the business but sold it in around '91 to another shop, Custom Games - some of you might remember the sign changing to 'Just Micro incorporating Custom Games'. That was when half of the shop was changed to cater for the Games Workshop crowd, with the RPG boardgames and lead figures. It was sold on again before it finally closed, which I guess was around '97. I think what killed the place off was dwindling interest in Japanese imports and competition from the chains like Virgin Megastore, HMV and Dixons, who all opened dedicated videogame sections in the early 90s. ********. After that most of the independents in Sheffield disappeared, most notably Just Micro and Game Station (previously Pleisure World [sic] on Mappin Street).
Any of you who were JM regulars in the 90s might remember me, I was the scruffy kid who worked there on Saturdays and used to do 50/60Hz mods on MegaDrives for a tenner. :)

I will always remember the day that The Last Ninja 2 was released for the C64..........................ACE!!!!

The shop was packed that day!! :headbang:

A friend of mine used to work at pleaseure world, Sal was a great guy! I used to bunk off school n play super ghouls n ghosts on the Super Famicom!

Ah memories. . . . . .

Yep, the best game and music on the C64 IMO.

Without a doubt! :clap:

I used to love the ocean loader music too :thumbsup:

I spent way too much time in there.

I tried to get them to convert my Gremlin Games to the ZX Micro Cartridge. They did try as well.

Originally posted by karl101
I spent way too much time in there.

I tried to get them to convert my Gremlin Games to the ZX Micro Cartridge. They did try as well.

really? which games did you do? any that got released?
ever been on http://www.worldofspectrum.org

top site for the speccy

Originally posted by melthebell
ever been on http://www.worldofspectrum.org

Been there quite a few time.

A bit disappointing though, as they've only got one of my demos on there:( and none of my utils, though I wrote many.

http://www.zxdemo.org/ have got more of my stuff though;).

Originally posted by sccsux
Been there quite a few time.

A bit disappointing though, as they've only got one of my demos on there:( and none of my utils, though I wrote many.

http://www.zxdemo.org/ have got more of my stuff though;).

really? maybe thats all theyve come across, know exist

theres lots of mia titles they are still trying to locate.
and WOS only use files of stuff that arent denied distribution like codemasters stuff and ultimates.

contact em and tell em what you wrote, any details you have and if you have the actual programs, they will want em if theyre actually available

Originally posted by segasonic
I still feel sad when I walk up Carver Street and see where the shop was, many happy times were had there. :(
The shop on Division Street was Gemsoft, which is still around but totally different to the Div Street shop, it's now on Furnival Gate near where Redgates was. Gemsoft has now moved to Attercliffe.
I'm actually annoyed coz even though Gemsoft is a bit on the expensive side, at least it wasn't Maplin or Dixons, and it was in the City centre.
Now Gemsoft has moved to Norfolk Bridge which is 1/ in the sticks and 2/ far. A bit of an inconvenience as the City Centre is pretty easy to go to, Attercliffe is not (not even on the 52).

Anyway, I got my cable from Maplin actually !

Originally posted by segasonic
I still feel sad when I walk up Carver Street and see where the shop was, many happy times were had there.
The shop on Division Street was Gemsoft, which is still around but totally different to the Div Street shop, it's now on Furnival Gate near where Redgates was.




I remember a shop near where redgates was, i bought my original atari 520st from there with my first student grant.

We used to meet up and bunk off school in just micro, ahh super
mario bros used to allways be on the nintendo 8-bit in the corner, That wierd tune burbling away.

A year or so Later on we used to go to Lasky's sometimes and put a demo on the Amiga which played a tune with the disk drive by spinning the heads at different speeds, unfortunately they used to break sometimes.

LoL.

Went past Gemsoft yesterday and saw they have left the premises.

They seemed to have gone in a rush - there were still boxes in the window!

A sign in the window says "we've moved", but it doesn't say where - just a sheffield phone number.

Real shame as I trusted them. Don't fancy PC world!

(edit : they're at 180 Attercliffe Road, Sheffield, S4 7WZ, but it sounds like not in a shop but an office).

Yep,I Remember "Just Micro".The Good Thing About The Shop Was They'd Let You Play Games Before You Bought Them.
In Them Days There Was Some Ropey Games For The Spectrum.Oceans' Kong And Hunchback To Name A Couple.
Monty Mole Was Good,But Never As Good As The Legendary "Manic Miner".I Eventually Managed To Finish It After Years Of Frustration.Sure Did Love That Game,Way Ahead Of It's Time.

Originally posted by retroboy
and they where a few demo groups that use to go in

We were a demo group that went in, the group name was x-rayz.

Originally posted by Freebird
Yep,I Remember "Just Micro".The Good Thing About The Shop Was They'd Let You Play Games Before You Bought Them.
In Them Days There Was Some Ropey Games For The Spectrum.Oceans' Kong And Hunchback To Name A Couple.
Monty Mole Was Good,But Never As Good As The Legendary "Manic Miner".I Eventually Managed To Finish It After Years Of Frustration.Sure Did Love That Game,Way Ahead Of It's Time.

i used to quite like hunchback, kong AND the monty mole games :P

Originally posted by segasonic
Any of you who were JM regulars in the 90s might remember me, I was the scruffy kid who worked there on Saturdays and used to do 50/60Hz mods on MegaDrives for a tenner. :)

Thats you innit Jody?

Get them bleedin bins emptied :)

Ok, but you'll have to wait til I've done the sarnie run, cleaned the bog and helped you carry half a dozen tellies through town... ;)

Originally posted by Lickszz
Yep, the best game and music on the C64 IMO.

It was great but 'IK+' had the better music IMO.

Originally posted by chri5
It was great but 'IK+' had the better music IMO.

Crazy Comets has better music than both ;)
Closely followed by Phantoms of the Asteroid, Warhawk, Monty on the Run and Thundercats :D

I'm a bit of a Rob Hubbard fan in case you can't tell.

Originally posted by segasonic
I'm a bit of a Rob Hubbard fan in case you can't tell.

Yes Rob Hubbard was a fantastic musician. I've just bough a sound card for the PC with the old SID chip on. If you enjoyed the C64 music I can't recommend 1 of these cards enough.

Originally posted by chri5
Yes Rob Hubbard was a fantastic musician. I've just bough a sound card for the PC with the old SID chip on. If you enjoyed the C64 music I can't recommend 1 of these cards enough.

There was a Retrogamer meet last weekend with Rob Hubbard and his band playing!

Originally posted by retroboy
Does anyone have any photos of this old computer shop on carver street - spent many hours in this shop usually during school time.

Think the guys that ran the shop where tony and greggs - and they where a few demo groups that use to go in -

I have started a web site about the retro computer, just mirco and gremlin graphics - any input would be fantastic (you will get a mention and credit for photos etc.

post memories here or send to antzz@**********

regards to all who where there


My oh my, used to spend hours in that shop. I remember seeing a BBC computer with Elite running on it, that shop gave my the inspiration to go out and buy my fist computer which was a 16k Sinclair Spectrum with the old rubber keyboard. Incidentally, Magnetic Fields created many games for Gremlin Graphics. Games like Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge, Supercars and Kid Chaos on the Amiga, I ended up working with the authors of those titles 'Shaun Southern' and 'Andrew Morris' when we created the number one selling 'NetworkQ RAC Rally Championship and International Rally Championship for the PC.

I often wondered what happened to Shaun Southern, his finest hour was Tutti Frutti on the C16/+4. A cross between Mr Do! and Pengo. :thumbsup:

This months retrogamer (May 06) has an 6 page artical about Gremlin Graphics and the just micro shop.

I'll have to break my habit of not buying magazines for many years for this. :D

you may have seen this already but..

www_crashonline_org_uk/18/images/just_micro_jpg

replace _ with .

I can't post a URL on this rubbish board..

Dear all

Spotted manic miner on a local lancs site try it, brings back the memories

www.sthelens-connect.net/forums/index.php?showforum=244

its on the top banner under arcade, not sure if you have to be a member, worth a try. Ah!!! that music drives you mad.
Sue

Dear all

Spotted manic miner on a local lancs site try it, brings back the memories

www.sthelens-connect.net/forums/index.php?showforum=244

its on the top banner under arcade, not sure if you have to be a member, worth a try. Ah!!! that music drives you mad.
Sue

if you want to play manic miner etc why not visit www.worldofspectrum .org

you can download hundreds :)