Mazels, London road.

[cabbyjohn]

Does anybody remember Mazels on London road/Downing St., just past the old fire station?. From memory it was a collection of single story sheds in a row. You could buy second hand valves or other components for radio and tv sets, second hand records, and various other bits and bobs. It was a Mecca for anybody with an interest in electrical components, (In those days lots of people used to try to make or repair their own radios, tvs, or other electrical gadgets. I used to always make my way down there on a Saturday in the hope of picking up records that had only just left the charts, for a fraction of the shop prices up in Piccadilly a few hundred yards away.

[OLLY]

I REMEMBER IT CABBYJOHN.....I THINK ALL THE GEAR HE HAD IN THERE WAS HOLDIN THE PLACE UP......
THEY HAD A PLACE ON BUTLER STREET ANCOATS AS WELL......

[elainegregory]

Stan remembers taking the accumulators, when he lived in paddock st, near initial towel

[ravydave]

We used to take our Accumulators to a shop on Ashton New Rd near the Red Rec.

[june]

there was a Mazels on Rochdale rd Collyhurst just before Queens rd

[ravydave]

June do you remember the ( junk ) second hand shop on Rochdale Rd opposite side to the Loco I think the ladies name that owned was Blanche,

[jnealedroylsden]

Nov 30, 2010 22:09:26 GMT -1 @ravydave said:

We used to take our Accumulators to a shop on Ashton New Rd near the Red Rec.

used to take my aunties accumulator to the same shop it was opposite calyton park on the same row as the newsagents (pillings) thinkthey were called..........

[Lisa]

Hi Jean, Those shops on Ashton New Road bring back memories especially Pillings. My dad used to call in there every Friday after work and buy sweets or chocolates for me and my mum. Every Friday my dad would buy me a Bounty bar and every time I used to tell him that I didnt like Bounty.....but I still got one every Friday.....bless him. To this day I cant eat Bounty bars. Wasnt there a wool shop on the same row that also sold baby clothes?

[jnealedroylsden]

Dec 2, 2010 7:59:00 GMT -1 Lisa said:

Hi Jean, Those shops on Ashton New Road bring back memories especially Pillings. My dad used to call in there every Friday after work and buy sweets or chocolates for me and my mum. Every Friday my dad would buy me a Bounty bar and every time I used to tell him that I didnt like Bounty.....but I still got one every Friday.....bless him. To this day I cant eat Bounty bars. Wasnt there a wool shop on the same row that also sold baby clothes?

Lisa next door to Pillings was the wool/drapers and then next door to that was a small chemist then I think it was called fergusons where we took the accumulaters and they sold radios and tvs

[ravydave]

My Dad used to call in at the Clayton Arms.

[benji]

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I used to get my 78's from Mazels and I still have one or two of them, especially the Little Richard ones like LUCILLE.
Happy Days!

[jonesg]

Nov 29, 2010 18:28:35 GMT -1 cabbyjohn said:

Does anybody remember Mazels on London road/Downing St., just past the old fire station?. From memory it was a collection of single story sheds in a row. You could buy second hand valves or other components for radio and tv sets, .

I remember that place, like a row of sheds.
Bought my first elec guitar there decades ago.
Moved to the USA in 1969.
I spent hrs looking in their windows.
There was another similar place called Johnny Roadhouse, I think it was on Oxford road not too far from mazels but I don't really know my way around m/c by memory any longer.

I'm thinking of retiring within 5 years and coming home, it looks like a mess from here.

[cabbyjohn]

Hi. jonesg.
Johnny Roadhouse is still going strong, it's on Oxford road opposite All Saints park. Johnny Roadhouse himself died last year aged 88, but I think his son is now running the place. His shop has always been a mecca for musicians. I doubt that there is any Manchester musician worth their salt who hasn't visited his establishment at one time or another.

If you type in his name you will find stacks of information about him, including some glowing obituaries from the Times, the Telegraph etc. Until you mentioned him I had forgotten all about him, but I remember going into his shop on a few occasions and it was always full of aspiring musicians hoping to pick up a bargain.
Before you sell up and come back to "Sunny Manchester", I would suggest that you come back for a visit first. You may be surprised at the changes that have happened to the old place!

John.

[june]

Dec 1, 2010 19:22:53 GMT -1 @ravydave said:

June do you remember the ( junk ) second hand shop on Rochdale Rd opposite side to the Loco I think the ladies name that owned was Blanche,

hi Dave yes i do remember it used to pass it often going to osbourne st Baths .. my mam an dad used to go in the loco

[ravydave]

June you must remember Gracie then, the lady who used to wander up and down Rochdale Rd

[june]

hmmm not sure about Gracie Dave i remember Val who used to wander about beating his drum/biscuit tin..

[june]

Dave just asked my Hubby and he remembers Blanche's and gracie wondering about he went to St Pats and lived near there

[ravydave]

Ruth, Has your Hubby got a St Pats old boys tie, My Brother still wears my Dads tie.

[june]

Ruth? did you mean me Dave fraid he has'nt still got the tie no ..

[ravydave]

Sorry about that June...

[tony38337]

I remember the Mazel Depot. As a 15 year old it was like an Aladin's cave.

[jonesg]

Nov 29, 2010 18:28:35 GMT -1 cabbyjohn said:

Does anybody remember Mazels on London road/Downing St., just past the old fire station?. From memory it was a collection of single story sheds in a row. You could buy second hand valves or other components for radio and tv sets, second hand records, and various other bits and bobs. It was a Mecca for anybody with an interest in electrical components, (In those days lots of people used to try to make or repair their own radios, tvs, or other electrical gadgets. I used to always make my way down there on a Saturday in the hope of picking up records that had only just left the charts, for a fraction of the shop prices up in Piccadilly a few hundred yards away.

Heres what it looks like now.

wikimapia.org/#lat=53.4752542&lon=-2.2305465&z=18&l=0&m=b

[tony38337]

WOW what a change, I wonder if the old place ust fell down?

[Charlie Hind (Female)]

Hiya. Remember Mazle radios very well. Used to get all my old vinyls from there. Some for a pitance others not so cheap. Loved browsing. Good days them
Charlie

[bluemikeaway]

;)As i post this i am looking at pile of 78s a lot which are in
Mazel Radio cardboard sleeves(tel Ard 3505!).
Used to go a lot in early 60s,funnily i recall that the last record i bought there was His Latest Flame by Elvis,cost me 6 bob.

[jonesg]

Better burn those vinyls to CD before record players go the way of the dinosaur.!

[Charlie Hind (Female)]

Don't think record players with leave us. I hear on the radio this morning. That one group are bringing out a new track. ONLY on Vynl. Watch this space.
Charlie

[cabbyjohn]

Feb 21, 2011 9:49:35 GMT -1 Charlie Hind (Female) said:

Don't think record players with leave us. I hear on the radio this morning. That one group are bringing out a new track. ONLY on Vynl. Watch this space.
Charlie

You are right Charlie. Vinyl is the new CD!

www.computerworld.com/s/article/9124699

[Lisa]

Well I should be in for a jackpot then because I've kept all my old 45's, 78's and LP's. Some of them must be worth a fortune by now.

Feb 21, 2011 10:03:14 GMT -1 cabbyjohn said:

Feb 21, 2011 9:49:35 GMT -1 Charlie Hind (Female) said:

Don't think record players with leave us. I hear on the radio this morning. That one group are bringing out a new track. ONLY on Vynl. Watch this space.
Charlie

You are right Charlie. Vinyl is the new CD!

www.computerworld.com/s/article/9124699

[tomuk]

Mazel's - a magical place. They didn't initially have the whole row of shops. There was also a motor scooter spares shop (JAK's), a sweets & tobacconists and Forster's, which supplied items for the restaurant trade. Mazel simply took those shops over when their owners moved on. Mazel's hung on to the very end before being compulsory purchased for the expansion of UMIST. A couple of years ago I wrote a piece for the M.E.N. all about the place. I will try to find it and post to Manmates. I used to cycle from Wythenshawe every Saturday (weather permitting) to buy my halfcrown 78s and the needles to play them with! Later on they started selling used guitars and bikes as they took over the extra shops. There are a few pictures of Mazel at www.images.manchester.gov.uk - just enter London Road in the search window, they appear around pages 281-320. When I started work as an apprentice compositor in 1958, the firm, Warburtons Printers was situated in Echo Street off Granby Row around the back of Mazel's - brilliant! I could browse to my hearts content every lunchtime! Warburtons was compulsory purchased a year or so before Mazels in the early 60s.
I also still have all my old vinyl (including those from Mazel's) and still have a record player and music centre that play 78s. However, values plummeted somewhat when much of the old stuff was re-issued on CD. More recently, the ability to search, find and play all the old records (including 78s) on YouTube has further cut values.