Babyland
 

Anyone else remember this toyshop from thier childhood?Situated at the top of Warner street,it was surely the 60's equivelent to Toys r us.Sold everything from prams,cots,bikes,airfix kits,action men & just about everything else kids were into back then.Remember after a particulary brave episode at the dentist my mum would take me there,not for a toy but to put one old penny in the slot by the window so the train set inthe window would send the train a couple of laps round the track.Bought all the original Thunderbirds & Captain Scarlet models there(how i wish i still had those pristine in their original packaging).Come to think of it,is there a toy shop in Accy now or is it just Woolies & Argos?Wheres the magic gone for youngsters these days?

Re: Babyland
 

It's now the Doctor's surgery.

Re: Babyland
 

I also loved the place where Baileys is now

Think I'm too young to remember the other one

Re: Babyland
 

Ohhh used to love that place to ... used to buy all my marbles there but they never lasted long ... wasn't very good at that game :)

Re: Babyland
 

That was Toy and Model corner, later became Toymaster. Sadly no specialist toyshop in Accy now, have to trek to Mercer's in Blackburn. :(

Re: Babyland
 

lol...you lost your marbles??

Re: Babyland
 

I used to go in there. They had a Corgi and Dinky toys catalogue on the counter, which I used to thumb through going, Got, got, want,want,want. A delightful place. I feel really sorry for kids today, Argos and Toys R Us don`t have the same magic.

Re: Babyland
 

I got my first sledge from Babyland! Just after getting my hair cut at Kemp and Smiths. God how I hated getting my hair cut back then.

Re: Babyland
 

Wasn't there another shop just higher up than Babyland on the corner that just specialised in models, seem to remember they had los of Hornby Trains and accessories, or was it just part of Babyland:confused:

Re: Babyland
 

There was a good toy shop (Could it have been Wolstenholmes? . . Wolstencrofts?) just before the railway bridge on Blackburn Road close to the premises which were to become Accrington's first Chinese restaurant. I think E J Riley's (Little Blackburn Road) sold toys as well as sporting goods. I remember, in the late forties, word used to go around at school (Peel Park) that "So-and-so" have got Dinkies in". If we had any money, money boxes were emptied and we made a bee-line for the appropriate shop after school.

Re: Babyland
 

Don't remember the Warner St shop. Maybe before/after my childhood.

Do remember the place at the bottom of Warner st though, on the corner. Recall a shed type building. Parents took me in there to leave my Xmas list. Remember it having a very high counter...or seemed so then! :)

Re: Babyland
 

Wolstenholme's did have a shop down Warner St at one time, but it was not a toy shop. He had three sons, one became Wolstenholme's Funeral Parlour, 2nd had a shop near the bottom of Whalley Rd, where the hire mobility shop was/is, the other had a joinery business, I think it was where the frontage is set back from the road near the Abbey Friar.
E.J. Rileys at the corner of Bridge St & Blackburn Rd, mostly sold sporting goods, but did have Dinkies. Babyland was at the top of Warner St, its now Dr Kappenda's surgery.
Retlaw.

Re: Babyland
 

The only shed type building at the bottom of Warner St, was actualy in Church St, just a bit to the left of the Pals Memorial. Garth Dawson's father had it, thats where Garth had his first photographic business, before moving to Infant St, and then Blackburn Rd.

Retlaw.

Re: Babyland
 

Must be my memory playing tricks with me, maybe moulding two memories into one!

Was there not a newsagent type shop down there at some stage?

I'm thinking approx 1958, and that high counter sticks in my mind, coz I thought santa was hiding behind it! :D, And definitely in my memory at least, the other side of church St

Re: Babyland
 

Caz
Going back a little further than you were thinking, Barrett’s Directory for 1947 rather interestingly makes your recollection and mine coincide.
A firm called Wolstenholme and Broughton, who are described as “Toy dealers” are listed at both 98 Blackburn Road (about 4 premises past Edgar Street going towards Blackburn) and also at 35 Warner Street (apparently about 10 properties up from Church Street).

Re: Babyland
 

Getting confused a little now, did E.J. Rileys not sell prams too ? .. know I bought my daughter's pram from the the shop on Little Blackburn Road, they used to have them in the window. Thought this was called Babyland too.
Was a lovely streamline green and grey Silver Cross coach pram .. loved it .. suspension was good too .. didn't bounce her all over the place.

Course years later, when I had my son, saw the sense of buying one that did all purposes .. e.g. main body would come off the bottom to put in car, etc., and fold down .. much more economical.

Re: Babyland
 

that shop on little blackburn rd kate was nowt to do with Babyland.:)

Re: Babyland
 

So was it E.J. Rileys that had the shop with the prams in the window Cashy ?
Or another shop ?

Re: Babyland
 

Just going off at another angle, does anyone remember the shop on Blackburn Road between Willows Lane and Scaitcliffe Street? Think it was called Lightowlers - they sold prams and I'm sure they sold toys too, as I seem to recall my dad buying my Tri-ang train set from there in the 50's.

Re: Babyland
 

Yes it was next to the Baptist Chapel that moved to Cannon St, just before the traffic lights, he had loads of prams out on the pavement in good weather, if you did that today they'd be gone in no time.

Retlaw.

Re: Babyland
 

Where do members but their toys now?
Not IT stuff but regular toys?

Re: Babyland
 

woolworths,wilkinsons asda or argos.. tk maxx usually have some good stuff as well

Re: Babyland
 

Would you consider buying online?....I ask this question because I buy many items online being a collector of diecast toys....The toys I buy are only available on line unless you are prepared to pay silly prices on the High Street?

Re: Babyland
 

i buy quite a bit online Roy, but E-Bay is my very last resort.;)

Re: Babyland
 

Humph .. bet you selling on there though ... :D

Re: Babyland
 

If I need to order a lot i.e for birthdays or Christmas I'll order online from Toys r us.

If it's just the odd thing I'll go to Woolworths or Argos.

Re: Babyland
 

Selling on Ebay for the odd item is fine but expensive.
Buying on Ebay I find is the best way to add to your collection but be careful of the postage cost.
Its the bottom line that count's.....discounts mean nothing.
If you are buying multiple items ensure the postage is charged at cost + a few bob for packing and time to pack....£2.00 Max + Postage.
Many people sell as a living on Ebay but I know from experience that the margines are very tight after listing and Paypal costings.
Buy and it cost's nothing in fees to Ebay or Paypal.

Re: Babyland
 

ya would lose yer dosh,,,,,,,,,again, never sold owt on e-bay.:)

Re: Babyland
 

Ok .. sos .. :o

Re: Babyland
 

The shop on Blackburn Road on the town side by the railway bridge was Gibson's.
It was primarily a sports shop - I can remember getting football boots there - but rather strangely it also sold Hornby Dublo trains and Dinky Toys.

Babyland in Warner Street - I too can remember putting money in the slot to make the model railway work!

rgds
45378

Re: Babyland
 

By eck , I remember a shed on church street , clean forgot about it. Wolstenholmes on Whalley rd was a really good model shop , spent a lot of time in there and occasionally upstairs at Wardleworths. Good memories.

Re: Babyland
 

Was it Coops? They had two shops together one set back where you bought sweets and then one sticking out which had tobacco stuff and trains etc

Re: Babyland
 

twas Tommy Taylor who had a newsagents hut at the bottom on chuch st
and it was indeed a wooden hut

Re: Babyland
 

I remember that store, and E J Riley's (think that there was a real good book store just up the road from E J's:confused:) ... used to stand in front of the wndow and drool over the Hornby locos ... and I had my first chinese meal in that restaurant .... I think it was my 18th birthday .... threw up after .... not the food, but all the booze I'd packed away in the Australian:D But, the days of that kind of toy store are gone ... replaced by the Toys R Us bs. The closest thing to a real toy store that we have in Kingston is "Leading Edge Hobbies" ... still lots of model train stuff and model kits.

Re: Babyland
 

The book shop must have been Wardlesworths Eric

Re: Babyland
 

That's the one ... "Wardlesworths" .... back in the bad old days when books were printed on paper, and books that were "old friends" were dog-eard and marked up with comments and notes.

Re: Babyland
 

Wardlesworths moved about a bit Eric, they moved to the corner of Broadway and Union Street, then back to little Blackburn road across from where they were originally, that's before they shut for good, shame really