#090

Not so long ago people rented their televisions from high street stores such as Rumbelows and Radio Rentals. At this section of Ilford High Road Colorvision also had a branch through the 80s and 90s. The proliferation of electronics equipment hire shops from the 1940s can be paralleled by the growth of betting shops since the 1960s when the UK ban on them was lifted. But while the former has disappeared from town centres, the bookies have expanded. Betfred is one such success story and features here in place of the former and once ubiquitous Rumbelows.

[@Roamingree]

Another great video. Remember all the businesses. Especially Mare St, business was so good there. Was there last week. All changed 😢

[@IlfordRetro]

I'm with you on that 100%

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

From my childhood I remember my father hiring TV's, and having engineers come round when there were problems, But I am not sure which company he used. In later years he bought a TV and one year when my parents were on holiday I took the TV somewhere to be converted to stereo. It already had two speakers and was designed for easy conversion. Re: Mercury, I feel sure that we used them - you had to dial an access code and then the full number, which took a while on phones with dials but was quicker when multi-frequency (MF) (musical tones) were introduced. I also used Mercury public phones because they charged by the minute and hence quick calls were cheaper than BT. I think they mostly had pre-purchased phone card (and maybe credit card) phones with coinbox (cash) phones coming later. As an aside, re: MF dialing, I bought a push button telephone which at first would not work with MF dialing so I contacted British Telecom and they adjusted the phone line to allow both the new and the old dialing systems to work.

[@IlfordRetro]

I think that one of the perks of renting a TV was the 'free repairs' (no doubt factored in to the hire cost) and I also remember the repair man coming round with his colour fixing gadgets and the like. One thing that's definitely improved is the reliability of TV sets, do TV repair people still exist? I didn't know one could have a set converted to stereo; you had a model with forward planning.......... I remember being told by someone (BT?) that I couldn't have a push button phone because of the line I had. I will still using a dial into the early 2000s when it conked out, by which time an upgrade to a push button phone was thankfully no issue. I was probably only 20 years behind you! Can't argue with your Mercury experience and it sounds about right that an access code would have been needed. It was disruptors like them which made BT sit up, because as you say things like charging per minute was unheard of by them.

[@rajnirvan3336]

Rumbelows we help save you money. And serve you right😂😂. Harvey's was Harris Furniture if I recall. Had another branch in East Ham too.

[@IlfordRetro]

well remembered with the slogan! You may recall the "Don't pay any more Mrs Moore" from the early 90s TV advert too

[@ClydebridgeStation]

Radio rentals didn't buy out Rumbelows. In fact, both, along with DER, were in the same ownership, Thorn. It was Thorn who closed all the branches in 1995, although the Scottish operations were sold a couple of years before, to ScottishPower. Incidentally, in Scotland, Rumbelows also had some retail patlrk units, called Atlantis. The one in dunfermline, which is now Dreams, had an electronic sign at the front, giving the latest news!

[@rajnirvan3336]

@@IlfordRetro yeah vaguely remember that

[@IlfordRetro]

@@ClydebridgeStation it was too much to get into the nitty gritty in a caption, but it was Radio Rentals which 'took over' Rumbelows' brand. Yes, Thorn was the parent company but they used the Radio Rentals division to instigate the swallowing up and conversion of Rumbelows, changing its business model as part of the process. You are right that Thorn as parent, made the decision to close all the branches in 1995. Very interesting to hear about Atlantis - I didn't know that! Pretty futuristic too if they were displaying the news on an electronic board.

[@rajnirvan3336]

@@IlfordRetro there were so many other electronic shops from the past that we have forgotten. Remember Granada, Laskys a blast from the past. If I recall didn't have 1 in Ilford or anywhere around the borough.