Before B @ Q, and all the other big DIY stores, we had Silversto nes on Campo Lane, you could get just about anything there. What year did it pack up?

My Grandad Albert Wharton opened a betting shop on Meadow Street when it became legal, My dad refurbished the whole shop with wood etc bought from silverstones, corrugated hardboard and dowelling. he loved going there and buying wood or some new tools.
I think it was still there in the early eighties, but I'm not certain.

I remember going with my uncle (who was a joiner) to fetch 8x4 sheets of formica. He would make kitchen worktops for people who were ripping out their pot (belfast) sinks, in the 60/70s.

How times have changed.

Now they can't wait to rip kitchens out, so that they can fit belfast (sorry butler sinks ) back in.

Incidently, the frontage of Silverstones shop was transformed in the 1990's, into a TV shop for a film. The title of which escapes me.

Pretty sure it was still there in the early 80's. It was never short of business so I can only wonder if the rent/rates got too steep.
Mind you it wouldn't take a new Wickes and B& Q long to have much impact.
I was always climbing on the No 52 bus with pieces of timber required at work.

Do you remember the hardware shop on Carver Lane or Carver St? it was in a prefab building with an arched metal roof. Nails, screws all sorts of fixings all sold loose. It was a bit like an Aladdin's cave for fans of ironmongery. It was more like walking into a cave than a shop. Those sort of places had at ouch of magic and mystery about them....well they did to me as a teenager.
What was it called? I think that the Dickens Bar was built on the site.

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
Those sort of places had at ouch of magic and mystery about them..
I did mean touch of magic. I didn't step on a rusty nail!

33 Carver st was Charles Constantine builder merchant,s it had a tin front onto an old school building was Carver st school in 1876. I think it is a bar now,

Hi
I'm really pleased to see Silverstones so fondly remembered. My Dad ran it until it went out of business (courtesy of MFI, B and Q onslaught) in, i think, around 83. I'd have to check with my Dad to be sure. I think he worked there for between 35 and 40 years so it played a big part in our lives when I was growing up. I was sad to see it flattened to the floor a few years after closing.
Sue

:) There is one pic in PICTURE SHEFFIELD TAKEN IN 1940 OF Silverstones.
Not all the small hardware shops have been lost to the likes of BQ, here in Dronfield there is a shop where you can get most smaller hardware thing at a reasonable price and he will sell loose screws etc in any quantity not bubble wrapped, as the saying goes use it or lose it. example I purchased the other day 20ft of grey 3 core cable 36 clips plus a light switch and box for £4.70,:thumbsup: notice the feet measurement, stuff metrication!!!

I believe the shop front was resurrected briefly a couple of years ago when Campo Lane was used as a location for a film set in the seventies. Can't remember the name of the film but it had Steven Fry in it (amongst others).

Just been told the film is either, about to be on telly or has just been on telly.

Film in question is Whatever Happened to Harold Smith.It was shown last year and is brilliant.I dont normally watch films but when it was shot I was asked if any of my classic cars could be used in filming;I agreed and was paid £100 a car (they used 3 of them).After a 6 year wait to see my cars on the set none of them can be seen!!Still glad I saw the film tho'...its excellent.:help:

:) There is one pic in PICTURE SHEFFIELD TAKEN IN 1940 OF Silverstones.
Not all the small hardware shops have been lost to the likes of BQ, here in Dronfield there is a shop where you can get most smaller hardware thing at a reasonable price and he will sell loose screws etc in any quantity not bubble wrapped, as the saying goes use it or lose it. example I purchased the other day 20ft of grey 3 core cable 36 clips plus a light switch and box for £4.70,:thumbsup: notice the feet measurement, stuff metrication!!!
Yep I remember Silverstones, the only place the DIYer could go in those days.
Bought balsa wood there as a kid to make boats with. All tried and tested in Roewoods on one of the seven ponds.
How about starting a directory of all the proper old Ironmongers type shops in the Sheffield area. The ones where you could still source a tin bath.
Hutch mentions the one in Dronfield and that is one of the best still around.
That is called Steels and is on Chesterfield road near Callywhite lane/ Green lane jnc.
There is another in Eckington village centre but do not know the name of that one.
I think Jennings is still at the bottom of Staniforth rd, Attercliffe end.
I love the feet and inches Hutch, what about pounds and ounces.

When the shop closed someone painted a face on the boarded up door. It was a really good image - anyone remember that?

:) There is one pic in PICTURE SHEFFIELD TAKEN IN 1940 OF Silverstones.
Not all the small hardware shops have been lost to the likes of BQ, here in Dronfield there is a shop where you can get most smaller hardware thing at a reasonable price and he will sell loose screws etc in any quantity not bubble wrapped, as the saying goes use it or lose it. example I purchased the other day 20ft of grey 3 core cable 36 clips plus a light switch and box for £4.70,:thumbsup: notice the feet measurement, stuff metrication!!!


Hi Hutch,

On visits to UK (and of course, Dronfield), I always stop to look in Steele's window when I'm out for my daily run, to see what's new. It certainly is a well stocked shop.

I've just finished watching "Whatever Happened To Harold Smith?" and the late, lamented silverstones was featured as a backdrop when they filmed that in 98.
le sigh!

PT

Really enjoyed the film on tv on friday night. Thanks for flagging that up. I'm sending the video to my Dad! He'll be so pleased to see it again, I think he misses it. Sorry I missed the face on the door though, sounds fun.

SILVERSTONES.

I was a saturday lad around 1976-1977 at the campo lane shop.
I remember:
albert the woodcutter,
mabel, christine, barbara- shop assistants,
paul, gary(curly haired one, not the later obnoxious one)
alan haynes who also worked at the rotherham shop (I never did find out where the rotherham shop was)
the delivery driver- whose name escapes me, as does the name of another saturday lad who was contempory - doing his a-levels at the time.
then there was john the manager and Mr. alan himself(silverstone).

I wonder what has happened to all these people?

Hi to everyone who has posted stories of Silverstones on Campo Lane.

I used to help my grandfather in the shop when I was a kid.
Although I lived in London I always looked forward to holidays in Sheffield when I would help out in the shop sometimes carrying timber around or helping out at the till.
Cheers David Berg

SILVERSTONES.

I was a saturday lad around 1976-1977 at the campo lane shop.
I remember:
albert the woodcutter,
mabel, christine, barbara- shop assistants,
paul, gary(curly haired one, not the later obnoxious one)
alan haynes who also worked at the rotherham shop (I never did find out where the rotherham shop was)
the delivery driver- whose name escapes me, as does the name of another saturday lad who was contempory - doing his a-levels at the time.
then there was john the manager and Mr. alan himself(silverstone).

I wonder what has happened to all these people?
Hi to everyone who has posted stories of Silverstones on Campo Lane.

I used to help my Grandfather in the shop when I was a kid.
Although I lived in London I always looked forward to holidays in Sheffield when I Would Help Grandpa Nathan in the shop sometimes carrying timbetr around or helping out at the till
cheers David Berg