Vintage UK Home & DIY Adverts (Vol.4)

[@anauthor1440]

watching old ads while blocking the new ones🤣

[@RetroSteveUK]

Pretty standard! 🤣

[@garrylawless3550]

Another great collection Steve, they just don't make adverts like they used to do. Brought back some happy memories. 👍🏻🙂

[@newsbender]

Take me back there...

[@craiguk82]

If I remember correctly, in the film Demolition Man, jingles from old commercials were classed as entertainment, and now I'm sat remembering old ads 😂

[@RetroSteveUK]

Yes! This has come up before in the comments. We thought that seemed ridiculous, but now here we are sitting & choosing to watch old ads. 🤷‍♂️

[@RetroElijah1982]

Another one in the books 👍🏽😎👍🏽

[@gwheregwhizz]

I never understood why they named a poker game after Texas Oldham.

[@haydengribble1577]

Bravo!

[@ModelsExInferis]

Oh, very good!

[@ModelsExInferis]

I'm absolutely loving these compilations! We used to call MFI "Made For Idiots", but my Mum still has the bedroom suite she bought when we moved back to the UK from Germany in 1981! Believe it or not I just found that exact Black and Decker screwdriver in the garage a couple of weeks ago. What are the chances it'd turn up in a YT video?! Haven't tested it yet, but I've no reason to think it won't work. And the amount of stuff I bought in Texas! I've still got my Black and Decker drill (that came with a light too, oooh, fancy!), a Bosch angle grinder that's had the most use it's had in 30-odd years just these past few weeks doing some rust spots on my car, a bookcase that's currently housing my Gojira collection, and probably the best thing I've ever bought from Texas, an, "Everything I know in life I learnt from Star Trek" poster! 🤣 You really could buy practically anything in that shop back in the day! Godess the nostalgia! Thanks for putting these together!

[@RetroSteveUK]

I always wondered what MFI stood for. Thanks for clearing that up! 🤣 I'd bet that screwdriver does still work; a lot of stuff was built to last back then. There was a Texas Homecare in my town too, back in the early 80s. It eventually changed into a Do-It-All and I had a cleaning job there for a while as an adult. There's a MASSIVE Sainsbury's on that plot now (different - newer - building though).

[@jwb52z9]

As someone actually from Texas, I can't help but laugh seeing a home store with that name

[@RetroSteveUK]

I can imagine. Out of interest, how do you feel about those old chewy chocolate bars called Texan? - 30 Second mark on this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKa1Ya2get9-hbcsi=uLlkT1laHERt7GeG&t=30

[@El-Ritmo]

Apparently the producers of that Zanussi advert took their cues from every crappy, low budget sci-fi movie ever (the sort you'd see on _Best of the Worst_ ): "let's just glue a corrugated vacuum hose on to the back of this office chair and, et voilà, THE FUTURE!"

[@RetroSteveUK]

I was getting Red Dwarf vibes from that ad.

[@bobbiescrisps9208]

MFI massively underrated and I believe could have gone a lot further if they had the right management at the top . It’s a shame as IKEA has taken over the world and it could have been MFI

[@RetroSteveUK]

I seem to remember a few furniture shops with three letter names from back then, DFS being another.

[@bobbiescrisps9208]

@@RetroSteveUK yeah but I think MFI was purely flat pack furniture whereas DFS is mainly sofas and ready made furniture. If made correctly and wood glue on the joints used MFI was quite good. Unfortunately their designs didn’t keep up with the times

[@RetroSteveUK]

@@bobbiescrisps9208 Vague memory now, but I think there was a DFS and an MFI right next to each other in my town during the 80s. I seem to remember my stepdad driving us up there to shop for furniture.

[@bobbiescrisps9208]

@@RetroSteveUK I seem to remember DFS kind of took over MFI’s customer base, I’ve just looked up MFI on wiki and it’s now Victoria Plumb the plumbers and bathroom business

[@RetroSteveUK]

@@bobbiescrisps9208 That's quite interesting. I've seen the ads for them locally.

[@nellyfett2681]

Hang on - Easy Roof to fill holes in your driveway?!!! Edit - Was that Minnie Driver in the coloroll wallpaper ad?

[@RetroSteveUK]

Looks that way doesn't it? I think that's a flat garage roof, with foliage off to one side at ground level.

[@nellyfett2681]

​@@RetroSteveUK good shout there, it's been a long day haha. I should also finish watching before I comment, because I always add something else! I'm too busy googling pictures of Minnie now!

[@RetroSteveUK]

Looks a bit like her. Probably an age discrepancy though. I thought she looked a bit like Felicity Kendal.

[@AndRewUK24]

Is feels weird watching Texas adverts, the company that brought them is now closing their stores down. Homebase.

[@RetroSteveUK]

I know the Homebase in my town went years ago. I'd presumed they were all gone. There's a "The Range" in the old Homebase location now. They sell similar stuff, ironically.

[@ModelsExInferis]

@@RetroSteveUK The one in Lincoln went a couple of years ago, there are student flats there now as it's right by the science building. Oddly, the one in Sleaford is still there, I think perhaps because there's no other DIY place in the town, unless you count Yorkshire Trading Co., but they don't do big items like baths. So there's at least one Homebase still in operation! Honestly I'd happily swap the Sleaford one for a B&Q, much better value!

[@RetroSteveUK]

Interestingly, the best hardware store near me now is in the next town - it's a small independent shop that's been running since before my wife lived there as a child. It has the vibe of the hardware shop from the Two Ronnies Four-Candles sketch. Wood floors, and drawers containing all the different types of hardware bits and bobs you'd ever need. I find the stuff they sell is of a really reliable quality compared to our local Wickes or B&Q.