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Walter wragg motorcycles

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I've been reading an old motorcycle magazine and noticed the BSA dealer in Sheffield was Walter wragg ltd , Stanley works on Wellington st.

I was wondering if someone might know where on Wellington street it was or better still if there are any pictures of it out there..

 

Richard

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Ah yes Walter Wragg Wellington Street, back in 1959 (I think) my dad bought me a brand new B.S.A. 500cc Shooting Star motor bike from the said W.Wragg. I can see it now, there was a large showroom window full of these very desireable gleaming new machines. The showroom stretched from Carver St. to Cambridge St. (or thereabouts). If you were to stand in wellington St. facing the ramp up to the car park of the hotel (is it still there?) you would be just about looking at where the showroom window was.

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Just about where the Wapentake was,try google.

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Old directories show Walter Wragg also on Pinstone Street and Attercliffe Road, as well as having a "warehouse & garage" at Stanley Works on Wellington Street. As owdsmiffy noted, this was near the junction with Cambridge Street. Here is a link to a photo on the picturesheffield.com site, and another link showing a fine array of BSA motorbikes inside.

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Old directories show Walter Wragg also on Pinstone Street and Attercliffe Road, as well as having a "warehouse & garage" at Stanley Works on Wellington Street. As owdsmiffy noted, this was near the junction with Cambridge Street. Here is a link to a photo on the picturesheffield.com site, and another link showing a fine array of BSA motorbikes inside.[/QUOTE]

 

How i would love to be able to go and buy one of those now.:)

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...How i would love to be able to go and buy one of those now.:)
Me too!.:) Here's a photo of me on my BSA Starfire, taken in 1971. I think Wragg's were still in business then but I bought the bike from Leather & Simpson. When I'm home tomorrow I'll look in 1970s directories to see if Wragg's were still on Wellington Street at that time.

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Old directories show Walter Wragg also on Pinstone Street and Attercliffe Road, as well as having a "warehouse & garage" at Stanley Works on Wellington Street. As owdsmiffy noted, this was near the junction with Cambridge Street. Here is a link to a photo on the picturesheffield.com site, and another link showing a fine array of BSA motorbikes inside.

 

Hi hillsbro and everyone,

 

Like the photo of you and your BSA Hillsbro. One to be treasured eh? The fairing, rack and panniers look good. I always prefered weather protection.

 

I bought a new Lambretta TV175 in 1961 from Walter Wragg on Gibralter Street. Still have the payment book! Did pay it off in 1964 though. :)

 

Just for info. re the BSA bike showroom pic. You may note that the picturesheffield web page address is across the middle of the pic. ( at least it is on my screen). I contacted them recently as it seemed that it was on all their pics. Subsequently I received a message from them kindly advising that they had a number of people contacting them about this, and that they were in the process of reversing this procedure. I have noted since that most of their pics now have just a small entry at bottom of pic.

 

Regards, Peter.

 

---------- Post added 19-01-2014 at 12:51 ----------

 

 

 

---------- Post added 19-01-2014 at 12:56 ----------

 

Hi hillsbro and everyone,

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added 19-01-2014 at 12:51 ----------

 

[/color]Here are a couple of pics of my Lambretta TV175 taken by my then girlfriend, a few weeks after I bought it from Walter Wragg on Gibraltar street in 1961. The second one shows my attempt at early bling with chrome tape. Thought it looked good at that time :)

IMG_0490_zps90e6844c.jpg

 

IMG_0752_zpsd661d344.jpg

Edited by PeterR

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...Like the photo of you and your BSA Hillsbro. One to be treasured eh? The fairing, rack and panniers look good...
Yes - I treasure the photo in particular because the bike was written-off the following year (along with me, almost) by a "lady" who ignored a give-way sign at a crossroads and put me in hospital for three months. The fairing was the same type that the police used, and was adapted to allow for the radio etc. Often I would be in a built-up area and the driver of a car in front would look in his mirror and slow down to 29·9 mph..;)

 

To judge from the entries in Kelly's directories, Wragg's must have moved to Gibraltar Street some time between 1957 and 1961, and they are not shown at all in the 1971 directory.

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Yes - I treasure the photo in particular because the bike was written-off the following year (along with me, almost) by a "lady" who ignored a give-way sign at a crossroads and put me in hospital for three months. The fairing was the same type that the police used, and was adapted to allow for the radio etc. Often I would be in a built-up area and the driver of a car in front would look in his mirror and slow down to 29·9 mph..;)

 

To judge from the entries in Kelly's directories, Wragg's must have moved to Gibraltar Street some time between 1957 and 1961, and they are not shown at all in the 1971 directory.

 

Hi hillsbro,

 

Like your storey about speed limit :) Shame about the bike.

Co-incidentally, not as bad as your escapade, on the Saturday of Easter Weekend, March 1960, on my NSU Quickly (which I had only a week and was all I could afford at the time, the Lambretta pictured in my quote earlier today was my third bike) I turned right at Firth Park roundabout from Firth Park Road, and when leaving left from the roundabout to go up Bellhouse Road, a "lady" driving a car onto the r/bout from Sicey Ave. and who subsequently said that she hadn't seen me, hit me in the side at an angle and wrote the bike off. I went over and under, my knee pushed along the road a little by her locked front wheel. I was dragged away by the crowd to a chair outside the shops to await a blue ambulance with a chrome bell.

 

In the interests of not appearing to be sexist, I would say that I was a Driving Instructor between 1990 and 2002, and found that there were some "good driver" lady pupils as well as some "bad driver" male students. :)

 

I'm pretty sure that Wraggs were in the location which Brooke Shaw were in when I bought a new Ford Escort series 2 Linnet in 1980. Maybe some rebuilding was done by then..

 

Regards, Peter.

Edited by PeterR

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Hi PeterR - I also had an NSU Quickly, or rather two - a two-gear (top & bottom) model and then a posh 3-speed one. I don't think Wragg's sold them - got my two-speed Quickly from Roper's on London Road, and the 3-speed one secondhand (29 guineas) from Gray's. Happy days!

 

I think you could well be right about Wragg's on Gibraltar Street; I also had a feeling that they were there in the 1970s and later. In mid-1960s directories they are shown at 196/206 Gibraltar Street, but this address doesn't feature at all (maybe demolished?) in the 1971 directory. Kelly's directories were not published after 1974 (I wish they had been!)

Edited by hillsbro

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Hi PeterR - I also had an NSU Quickly, or rather two - a two-gear (top & bottom) model and then a posh 3-speed one. I don't think Wragg's sold them - got my two-speed Quickly from Roper's on London Road, and the 3-speed one secondhand (29 guineas) from Gray's. Happy days!

 

I think you could well be right about Wragg's on Gibraltar Street; I also had a feeling that they were there in the 1970s and later. In mid-1960s directories they are shown at 196/206 Gibraltar Street, but this address doesn't feature at all (maybe demolished?) in the 1971 directory. Kelly's directories were not published after 1974 (I wish they had been!)

 

Mine was a 2 gear as in your pic., bought second hand from, I think, just off London Road. Can't remember who. My Dad took me there after first getting me to sit on, I think, an ex WD Norton 500cc. at Alf Smith's on Spital Hill. There was more meat on a rack of coathangers than on me, so no chance of me holding it up :) . It was just 6 months before dad died, so I never found out in later years where exactly the Quickly came from.

 

I had it, as I say, only a week, then it was written off, but remember once travelling home from work at Firth Browns on Saville Street up Hinde House Lane, which is long and steep, and pedaling hell for leather in 2nd before giving up and selecting 1st. It took forever, hence the longer and marginally easier route up Bellhouse Road :) .

Dragged it down to Bill Beevers at Page Hall when my leg had healed enough. Thought he might repair it, but it wasn't to be, so bought an Alpino 75cc bike from him. Never seen another one!

 

Pity about the directories.

Edited by PeterR

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... bought an Alpino 75cc bike from him. Never seen another one!....
My uncle actually had one! Then when he got married he bought a Russian "Jupiter" 350cc two-stroke twin with a sidecar. Bill Beevers was a great bloke - he loved motorbikes and bikers. When my Honda 50 needed a new silencer his was the only shop that had one in stock. It cost me all of £3/15/-.

 

I found an old thread about Wragg's here: http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=879347 It seems there are some former Wragg's employees among us!

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