Hayes shop behind Two Ronnies sketch - help wanted....

Jon · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:05 pm **Posts:** 2807

A TV company has been in touch to say they're urgently trying to trace anyone who knows anything of the Hayes hardware shop that was the inspiration behind the famous Two Ronnies "Fork Handles/Four Candles" sketch.

Apparently, a couple who ran a hardware shop in Hayes often put forward suggestions for sketches based on real situations which had occurred in their shop... the fork handles confusion was one such incident, which as we know became a hugely popular sketch.

Even a list of all the hardware shops in Hayes in the 70s might be helpful. I can think of Mottersheds (Balmoral Drive/Lansbury Drive), Atkinsons in Hayes Town, Paynes in Hayes Town, possibly Harlequins near the Grapes, Goodrich.... any more?

If anyone out there knows ANYTHING, even if only which shop it was, please get in touch asap.

Thanks.

Kremmen · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 7:47 am

According to this:

Quote:

The Story Behind The Name...

Ronnie Barker is said to have been inspired to write the famous Four Candles sketch while on a visit to Broadstairs to see his comedy partner, Ronnie Corbett.

Corbett had a holiday home next to the Charles Dickens public house and just along from H. E. Harrington's general ironmonger business that is famed for stocking everything you could possibly need.

Barker, who wrote under the pseudonym of Gerald Wiley, is known to have noticed Harrington's wide and diverse stock - screws can be bought loose, either singly or in greater numbers; tea urn cleaning brushes are displayed alongside saucepans and potato ricers.

This gave him the basis of an idea that he then developed into the classic 1976 Two Ronnies BBC sketch that starts with a customer who walks into a hardware store and asks the shopkeeper for "fork handles".

The premises now known as The Four Candles pub, was a hardware store for many years, before going through other, briefer, incarnations as a florists, delicatessen and exotic meat shop.

Sowell Street is 13 minutes away from York Street, so it's close enough to the original to pay tribute to one of Britain's best-loved comedy sketches.

Westonman · **Joined:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:46 am **Posts:** 1806

Jon wrote:

Even a list of all the hardware shops in Hayes in the 70s might be helpful. I can think of Mottersheds (Balmoral Drive/Lansbury Drive), Atkinsons in Hayes Town, Paynes in Hayes Town, possibly Harlequins near the Grapes, Goodrich.... any more?

The old memory is getting rusty theses days, so I could be wrong. I recall a shop called Reliance Hardware, on the Hayes End shopping parade, opposite the Morgan's Lane police station. Alliance Hardware, if my memory is correct, was next door to French the cycle shop.

I still have some tools purchased from Reliance Hardware. The most frequent purchases were paraffin and candles. The shop had that gorgeous rich smell that all hardware shops used to have. And bare wooden boards for the floor, with fascinating goodies everywhere.

geezer466 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 12, 2012 1:06 pm **Posts:** 1307

There was an old style Hardware shop in the parade opposite what was The Music Box (now the Thomas Henry K) at the bottom of Bourne avenue.

I recall it being there in the mid late 1980's and it stood out for me as that was what all shops were like when I was a child in the 60's.

Funny enough whenever I see the 2 ronnies sketch it always makes me think of this shop.

jim · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:10 pm **Posts:** 1461

there was a second Paynes now the chemist next to the old Savoy cinema, on the Uxbridge road

Pam · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 3:19 pm

I'm sure there was one in Dawley Rd.(In the line of shops near The Ram.)

Brian · **Posted:** Thu May 23, 2013 4:05 pm

What about Dagley's at the corner of Silverdale and Station Roads?

Sunshine · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 10:36 pm **Posts:** 888

There was definitely one near the Ram

There was also one on the Barnhill estate - I wonder where all the hardware shops went?

festive50 · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:50 pm **Posts:** 65

Jon wrote:

A TV company has been in touch to say they're urgently trying to trace anyone who knows anything of the Hayes hardware shop that was the inspiration behind the famous Two Ronnies "Fork Handles/Four Candles" sketch.

Apparently, a couple who ran a hardware shop in Hayes often put forward suggestions for sketches based on real situations which had occurred in their shop... the fork handles confusion was one such incident, which as we know became a hugely popular sketch.

Even a list of all the hardware shops in Hayes in the 70s might be helpful. I can think of Mottersheds (Balmoral Drive/Lansbury Drive), Atkinsons in Hayes Town, Paynes in Hayes Town, possibly Harlequins near the Grapes, Goodrich.... any more?

If anyone out there knows ANYTHING, even if only which shop it was, please get in touch asap.

Thanks.

Unless anyone knows for definite, I distinctly heard Ronnie Barker was sent ideas from someone at this hardware shop in Hayes. However he didn't say whether it was Middx or Kent.

Someone also mentions Paynes up by the Savoy (the other side of the Warren - the drive leading to Dr's surgery).
I don't think this could have been the one, as it was not the really the old style of hardware shop - it sold kitchen sinks even in the '60s.

Phil

Jon · **Joined:** Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:05 pm **Posts:** 2807

Thanks for all the replies. Here's what the original email said:

Dear Middx.net,

I came across your website while researching for a new documentary series that I am making, which celebrates the work of The Two Ronnies. I am trying to trace a hardware store in Hayes which may or may not still exist. Back in the mid-70s, the owner of the store wrote into the BBC about some of the funny experiences they had in their shop, including a customer who asked for ‘fork handles’ and was served ‘four candles’. This has become a classic Two Ronnies sketch so I am eager to trace the owners of that store.

I imagine the shop sold everything – an old fashioned iron-mongers / hardware shop. I also think the owners must have been characters themselves, because they wrote into the BBC about their experiences.

I know some of your readers and contributors to the Memories section have great tales of the history of Hayes, so I wondered if you could put me in touch with Barry Raymond and any other local historians who may be able to help.

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Hayes shop behind Two Ronnies sketch - help wanted....

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