Quartermasters At The Angel (London, UK)

**Composite** · 09-12-2018, 02:13 PM

'remember it?

I don't know if this is the right place to post this one but I recently found myself in discussion with another old bloke about this long-closed shop. Based just around the corner from the Angel tube station, having one of the largest ads in Exchange and Mart rivaling that of Blunderbuss Antiques it was one of those places you'd pray for nowadays. Since that chat I've found my mind drifting back to those days...and with every thought the place gets bigger, better stocked...and, strangely, darker......so now it's about the size of an aircraft hangar, barely lit and one would expect a large spherical rock to roll down towards you through the cobwebs any minute...oh how the mind plays tricks....

Does anyone have have any pics of that wondrous place?

**Pauls1970** · 09-12-2018, 02:36 PM

Hi mate, I remember the advert, too I seem to recall it being located in Torrens Street, just into City Road, a dead end ! Never went there,I was a bit young then, but the Exchange & Mart was where I got Military Antiques details & so began a source of where to buy TR related items, then the fair on a Saturday morning in Camden Passage & a few trips to Regimentals just up the road, that shop awed me as a youngster, then Blunderbuss, those 2 brothers were spot on, especially on the WW2 US side of things !
Regards
Paul

**Composite** · 09-12-2018, 02:45 PM

Torrens Street?...you've got me there...but having just Google Earthed it (is that a verb?) I think you're probably right. 'trouble is, every time I think more about it it gets better and better......that's why I hoped there were pics out there....my memory needs grounding!

Re the others, Malc and Bob are still dealing of course though the shops have long gone....and one of the Greenaways (Blunderbuss) is still at a few Fairs I go to (sadly, he lost his brother I understand). ......actually you've made me think...I think I still might have ten bob outstanding on Blunderbuss' annual mailing list....I wonder if I could call my marker in? :-)

**Composite** · 09-12-2018, 04:01 PM

...being a bit dim here.....but why isnt this thread showing in the main "New Posts" list?

**Jb4046** · 09-12-2018, 04:06 PM

For me it does appear in the latest posts??

the system Could be conspiring against you composite, better get a tin foil hat on!

**Composite** · 09-12-2018, 05:10 PM

thank you....it's still not there for me...just checked...but hey!....now, where's that foil......

oh, and JB, all this stuff happened about 40 years ago...and in London.... :-)

**Jb4046** · 09-12-2018, 07:03 PM

77E05641-6F90-43CC-B6F5-C4D71C8428B9.jpg
Ah i see what you mean, thats quite odd it doesn’t appear. I have never used the “whats new” bit before, I normally just use the latest posts.

Im pretty sure that justifies wearing a tin foil hat so i have correctly acquired one

.

Oh yeah and about your original thread topic, i shall shut my mouth as i am way to young

.

**Pauls1970** · 09-12-2018, 07:13 PM

I remember the advert in the Exchange & Mart (which my Dad used to buy),I seem to recall it was a small boxish shaped advert with a picture (all the other adverts were typed) but always remember the street name. The other adverts that stick out were 'Third Reich in Sound', they sold cassettes of period songs ( I've got one in the loft somewhere !) & Ulric of England. That was sad news with regard to Chris's brother, those guys were spot on & I bought a few bits from them over the years, especially the US gear.
Regards
Paul

**William1** · 10-10-2018, 09:28 PM

Blimey, this is a trip down Memory Lane! I remember QMs at the Angel very well; I began collecting WW1 British militaria 1980-ish and was a regular visitor. After a while I got pally with them and was allowed to look in the upstairs rooms. Like you, Composite, in my memory that place is an Aladdin's cave of goodies we didn't recognise at the time but would kill for now! I bought crap that I thought was real, and really good stuff that I didn't value. If only I'd had the knowledge then that I have now....

I too did the Saturday circuit from QMs to Camden Passage and Regimentals, and sometimes on to Alan Beadle's shop when it was there. Chris Farlowe's Call To Arms was also well worth a visit but closed down fairly early on. But the absolute best place in London was Charing Cross Market on Saturday mornings. I well remember gettiing up at 0530 on cold, damp winter days, shivering in my coat on the Tube and thinking, why the **** am I doing this?! And often I did come away empty-handed, but sometimes it paid off in spades. Even if there was nothing to buy, there'd always be two or three people I knew and we'd end up talking for an hour over coffee, then maybe a couple of us would nip over to Blunderbuss, before I finally got back home sometime around midday with my head spinning from lack of sleep. It was a severe blow when Charing Cross closed and the market moved to Islington. The new venue was smaller, less accessible for out-of-towners and nowhere near as good.

The guys who ran QMs weren't all lucky. Mike Ross died, IIRC of a heart attack. Micky Boniface was killed in a car accident. Barry Thomas, "Baz", who helped out there died from longstanding medical problems four or five years ago. I believe Danny and Badger are still around but I no longer live in London and don't tend to run across people. It was a great shame also about Phil Greenaway. I had some cracking stuff from Blunderbuss over the years, but you had to know what you were doing. I always enjoyed a natter with them, likewise with Tom Smith at Military Mood somewhere in West London, I forget where. He, too, is sadly no longer with us. Time marches on for us all! Those were the days, we shall not see their like again.