Another one bites the dust

[Seth]

I hereby declare notice of the passing of a small independent car spares shop. How it survived for so long I do not know but it had long been a landmark ever since I used to drive that way into town over 20 years ago and in more recent years as I passed by on the bus. I'd never been in and always wondered if there was a room full of useful/less old spares out the back. I guess not enough other people had ventured inside either as in the last week it has been cleared and is now another empty shop looking for new tenants. Maybe it will become a much needed* coffee shop?

http://goo.gl/maps/X2lUp

RIP 1A (or is it IA?) Auto Parts of Swiss Cottage.

[I.K.Brunel]

RIP indeed.
Though I have to say that despite having driven past this spot on thousands of occasions, I have never noticed that shop before.

[Jon]

It seems a shame that it's gone, especially since there was a BP forecourt next door to park up in. And if you'd stopped at BP for fuel, you could've run in for any bits and bobs like 12v bulbs, screen wash etc. that quite rightly should be filling the shelves of petrol stations, instead of the usual array of scud mags, pasties and a mangy microwave.

I used to cross town to use the same little old Italian man who ran his one-man-band shop, despite having a friend who worked in a rival shop nearby and was able to offer mates rates. There was a small standing area where you'd be served (max. 3 people at a time), with faux wood panelling adorned with a variety of randomly placed, peeling STP stickers to amuse as you stood in the queue. The rest of the shop was stocked with a haphazard selection of spares, numerous tottering piles of outdated parts books and key blanks for most cars up to about 1980 (my brother bought all his stock of VW ones up). It was always fun to ask for something and see what he was able to offer. I wanted an air freshener and came away with one of those speeding plastic tortoises on wheels, which I hadn't seen for at least 10 years (it was still scented, though) and another time, I wanted a battery isolator switch ( to 'cure' an undetectable drain to the battery) and instead came away with a pack of very dainty thread screws with levers on, so I could quickly disconnect the battery terminals by hand. Finding out later that I owned a Hillman Imp, he always tried to lure me in to buying the Fram filter he had for it in stock. Knowing that it would forever be there, I never did.

A lot of his rammel was bought at the time that I was impoverished and trying to keep my MKIV Escort on the road and he was the man to help me do so. About 3 years ago he sold up and someone else bought the shop, gutting out everything and modernising it, at which point I started using my mate's workplace instead. I suppose things have to move on and at least it's still a parts shop.

Edit: upon doing a Google search, it's now a shop called 'Glamour Tips'.......