When was the last time you saw a toy shop in a town centre. In fact with the demise of Woolworths, how easy is to buy a toy nowadays when we aren't in the run up to Christmas ?Luckily for Banbury, they have Trinders. Downstairs it is a proper traditional toy shop with a big Lego display, dolls, Playmobile and other stuff. The sort of place I would have loved as a child (we were lucky, our town had a similar shop called "Toytown" and it was heaven) and still feel drawn to because I've never grown up properly.
Upstairs though is modellers paradise. If you want plastic kit, games workshop, model railways (OO and N), a small selection of model boat kits, diecast vehicles and aircraft stuff then you are in luck. Best of all there is a huge range of materials such as steel rod in various thicknesses, balsa, plastics etc. All the glues and fixings, of which there is a huge range, are behind the counter. On the cabinet by the stairs were displayed radio gear (27mhz, 40mhz and 2.4ghz) and brushless motors. Yes, high performance brushless motors in a shop 5 minutes walk from M&S. That and three flavours of enamel including specialist fuel proff versions.
The owner knows his stuff too. Guiding my Dad through the racks of little bits for some fixings, he also managed to flog me a radio set plus paint and glue. We chatted for quite a long while and he's genuinely interested.
As we came out I said, "I had forgotten just how good it is in there." and I still think that. Banbury is a nice town. Trinders makes it worth the visit on it's own.
No website, but here is a link to a map.
2 comments:
I think, too, that this is Trinder as in Bill Trinder, one of Tom Rolt's colleages in founding the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society.
When I was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford in the 80's Trinders was my go-to haunt for RC and plastic models. Glad it's still up and running.
Revell Walker
Lancaster, CA
Post a Comment