Any good electronics shops left in London zones 1/2 ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: theHWcave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 04:29:22 pm
content: Being normally stuck in the province and reliant on online purchases of electronic parts, & gear, I have the opportunity to be in London this Thu,Fri and Sat with some time to spare while my significant other is shopping for cloths. I was wondering if there are any shops left selling this stuff. Think Maplin but hopefully better. Any recommendations would be great.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 04:53:18 pm
content: I live in zone 1.There's nothing left that I can think of I'm afraid. I notice that even Henrys has disappeared.When Maplins was around, at one time there were about half a dozen branches a few minutes' trip away, some located in seriously prime retail areas like Kensington High Street and Oxford Street.I always found it remarkable that I could still buy a resistor in such places. When you can buy complete resistor kit on Amazon Prime for same day delivery for less than the price your return Zone 1 tube fare, regrettably the writing was on the wall.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 05:25:23 pm
content: What happened to all of the electronics stores on Tottenham Court Road?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 05:36:00 pm
content: I think the days when the bottom of the edgware road or tottanham court road were meccas for component shops has long gone,if you can escape a bit further afield cricklewood electronicshttps://www.cricklewoodelectronics.com/in zone 3 maybe worth a look .

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 05:58:06 pm
content: ++ for cricklewood electronics.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 07:02:12 pm
content: +++ Cricklewood Electronics. Also its nearest tube, Willesden Green on the Jubilee line is zone 2/3 so its only barely outside your requested area by half a mile or so.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 07:17:31 pm
content: If Cricklewood is still going (I have no reason to think otherwise) it might be worth a visit depending on what you want.I wouldn't make a special trip unless you particularly want something. It seems to cater to those interested in components for the DIY audio/disco/CCTV crowd. They do have an extensive component stock for a bricks and mortar store made out of a couple of adjoining terraced houses, and prices aren't too stratospheric either. That said, the parts tend to be discretes plus ICs of a certain era, shall we say. It's certainly a go to place if TO99 packages are your bag ;-)Parking is difficult if you're in a car.I've only been there once, maybe six or seven years ago. I did walk away with a high voltage power transistor I was looking for to fix a CRT line transformer driver, which gives a further indication of how long ago it was.When I went, I thought that they were missing a trick somehow. It's not really a place that allows you to browse like Maplin or Radio Shack or Jaycar: you have a parts list, and sure enough they'll dig around the gazillions of parts drawers, but that's it. You don't go in there for a £1 part and walk out with £50 of stuff you never went in there for. Maybe that's a good thing ;-)One visit was enough to fulfil my life's bucket list needs: I think I'd need to be pretty desperate for a part to make the effort to return, a TO99 opamp maybe :-)

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 07:21:45 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on August 09, 2021, 05:25:23 pmLong gone, even most of the video/hifi places have disappeared.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2021, 07:25:02 pm
content: Tim Hunkin's Novelty Automation near Holborn is well worth a visithttps://www.novelty-automation.com/

author: Sighound36
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2021, 08:06:28 pm
content: I would also say Cricklewood have got me out of jam on many occassions by have some obscure transistors in stock worth the trip via a40 into the big smoke

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2021, 08:27:53 pm
content: I started a reminiscence thread about this one wet Sunday afternoon about 5 years ago. Sigh, happy days.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/nostalgia-time-who-remembers-lisle-st-tottenham-ct-rd-in-their-prime-(uk)/

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2021, 09:52:41 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on August 09, 2021, 07:25:02 pmHave been to his show on Southwold Pier too and it is highly recommended. The beach is pretty too.

author: theHWcave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 10, 2021, 10:27:57 pm
content: Thanks to everyone. Indeed its a sad story ...I had a look at Cricklewood's website and its ok, but nothing that's worth doing the trip. I used to go to Singapore a lot and there is Sim Lim Towerhttps://www.simlimtower.sg/which I always visit when I am there. Something like 8 stories of market stalls selling electronics in all shapes and forms. Some big and branded and in small back-alleys tiny one-man hole-in-the-wall places... I hope they still exist. I haven't been there for 4 years ... I assume that Tottenham area was something like it?But I will definitely check-out Novelty-automation for some fun.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2021, 01:04:31 pm
content: Quote from: theHWcave on August 10, 2021, 10:27:57 pmMaybe, although Edgware Road was never up to the standard of Asian electronics markets in terms of shear size or selection. Tottenham Court Road (TCR) had always been more end consumer focussed, mostly on AV, then gradually it became more PC & PC component oriented. Only half a dozen shops remain, with most of the store fronts now seemingly fast food chains pandering to the office worker... which is ironic, considering office workers actually working in offices are such a rarity now!Over the past 30 odd years, they've all been squeezed out by gentrification, ever increasing rents, and Amazon.I haven't been to Sim Lim Towers for about four or five years, but there were quite a number of empty units on my last visit, and most of it seemed to be more consumer electronics and PC related stuff rather than components.Akihabara similarly is a shadow of its former self, although there are four or five hard core component/tool/test gear shops I go into every time I'm over there, plus the Radio Center market, which is a bit "Cricklewood" in terms of era. The hard core component shops continue to be very busy: they've kept up with trends, you can pick up modern stuff in there like FPGAs and recent MCUs etc.