Sad News Ian Allan Birmingham is to close

[Guest JiLo]

8 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Best part of a fiver on magazines?

 

Blimey I think I've spent about £40 to £50 this month in WHS on railway magazines as well as having two subscriptions. Not including a bookazine. That's about typical. Also not including a music magazine.

 

 

 

Jason

Some of my friends and I share magazines, online versions.  Otherwise I'd be spending god knows how much per month.  Oddly, I dont read any UK railway modelling mags, only UK railway mag I read is Rail Express

[melmerby]

I only buy magazines occasionally and often different ones on different subjects

I have only ever had a couple of magazine subscriptions.

One was Motor Sport many years ago and the other was Electronics Today International.

I currently have Steam Railway courtesy of my Bank.

The most frequent railway mags I've bought were probably Model Railway Constructor and Trains Illustrated, my copies now long gone.

 

I have however spent many hundreds (probably thousands) in Ian Allan on mainly model railways and occasionally books.

Edited August 17, 2019 by melmerby
added missing text

[Steamport Southport]

I've had a Steam Railway subscription virtually from the start. Nearly forty years now.

 

I got the first few from the local newsagents but he kept writing the name on it and my mum asked him to stop doing it. He didn't, so I got a subscription for Christmas and I carried on with it. I eventually changed to Direct Debit rather than sending cheques each year.

 

The other is Model Rail. Another present that I carried on with.

 

The others depend on what is in them. Interesting loco or rolling stock articles and it's more likely to be bought. Steam, diesel or electric.

 

 

Jason

[Phil Parker]

9 hours ago, Trojmiasto said:

If you thought about it, perhaps showing certain advertisements to this traffic and generating money from clicks to those sites could actually bring in a decent amount of revenue...

It might do, but we and the rest of the publishing world have been trying this for over a decade and it's a model that doesn't work. However, as you are confident it's easy, Warners is looking for a digi advertising sales person at the moment.

[Titan]

I thought the issue was the rent increase rather than the business model?

[Phil Parker]

2 minutes ago, Titan said:

I thought the issue was the rent increase rather than the business model?

I think it is. The business model is a digression.

[melmerby]

2 minutes ago, Titan said:

I thought the issue was the rent increase rather than the business model?

That was what I was told.

Unless the custom had dropped dramatically in the last couple of years the shop was doing OK and as I mentioned earler was supposed to be doing better than the Waterloo one.

[caradoc]

There are a couple of magazines I subscribe to, and another I buy every month. For the others, I do admit to flicking through them sometimes (but not reading them from cover to cover) to see if they justify spending my pension. 

 

I too will miss Ian Allan in Birmingham, and my sympathies are with the staff affected.  However, I am surprised that their Loyalty scheme is so little (if at all) advertised; I only joined recently, having become aware of it through overhearing other customers at the till. It is surely something that would encourage people to spend their book, magazine and modelling money with Ian Allan rather than elsewhere, and should therefore be promoted ?

 

[melmerby]

An unfortunate side effect of the closure is that they won't be doing Warley Show tickets which I have bought from IA for donkey's years.

A few of the slightly more obscure (mainly society) magazines aren't stocked by WHS which will be a shame.

[melmerby]

If anyone has some loyalty card credit I would advise cashing it in asap as stocks are already being depleted.

I used my credit for some plastic card as there wasn't anything else I wanted!

Edited August 22, 2019 by melmerby

[big jim]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

If anyone has some loyalty card credit I would advise cashing it in asap as stocks are already being depleted.

I used my credit for some plastic card as there wasn't anything else I wanted!

 

I was thinking about that last week as I’ve got £10 on my loyalty card, thought about getting an oxford warwell with it so hopefully they will have some left when I can get down there.

 

 I’ve been asked to work tonight and have to pass back from Didcot via new st pass back so may, if I’m not knackered, jump off there and add 30 mins to my journey to make sure I use the card 

[wasabi]

It makes me wonder how many browsers are actually just filling in time when changing trains at New Street, or have booked on a specific train to save money and given plenty of leeway getting to the station?  New Street is a pretty depressing place to have to spend half an hour (or more) so being able to nip down the road to somewhere more amenable is a better option (although, personally, I'd prefer a decent pub)..

 

To be honest, I went to the Manchester shop quite a few times on this basis but often didn't find anything I wanted to buy beyond a magazine to read on the train.  However, my wife did buy a couple of mugs adorned with reproductions of 1930s LNER advertising posters, which we still use daily.

 

IPW 

[Dave47549]

25 minutes ago, wasabi said:

New Street is a pretty depressing place to have to spend half an hour (or more) so being able to nip down the road to somewhere more amenable is a better option (although, personally, I'd prefer a decent pub)..

 

Follow the (under construction) Metro tracks past Ian Allan's, The Royal Mail Post Office Vaults** is less than a minute away on your right. Some parts can be a bit 'musty' but the beer's quality.

 

I don't think anyone's mentioned Mikes Models in Kingstanding yet, as it's worth a visit (no connection etc). Obviously that's not going to be viable for New St Traincrew on PNB's etc though!

 

Actually, post- 14th/24th* September, Birmingham (laughingly considered as the 'second city') city centre will now be worth visiting for some real ale pubs, a beautiful station (Moor St), and er, well, that's yer lot.

 

* Take your pick, I've been quoted both dates for closure

** Credit to Keith (Melmerby), as I'd forgotten the current name

 

[EDIT - typo/syntax/senility]

Edited August 22, 2019 by Dave47549

[melmerby]

19 minutes ago, wasabi said:

It makes me wonder how many browsers are actually just filling in time when changing trains at New Street, or have booked on a specific train to save money and given plenty of leeway getting to the station?  New Street is a pretty depressing place to have to spend half an hour (or more) so being able to nip down the road to somewhere more amenable is a better option (although, personally, I'd prefer a decent pub)..

 

To be honest, I went to the Manchester shop quite a few times on this basis but often didn't find anything I wanted to buy beyond a magazine to read on the train.  However, my wife did buy a couple of mugs adorned with reproductions of 1930s LNER advertising posters, which we still use daily.

 

IPW 

Pub: Try Post Office Vaults in Pinfold Street, not been myself but comes recommended. It's about 50m/yd from Ian Allan.

Plenty of places to eat on the upper level. Better than those on offer in London Victoria, although that does have a mini-Spoons.

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, Dave47549 said:

 

Follow the (under construction) Metro tracks past Ian Allan's, The Royal Mail is less than a minute away on your right.

 

Actually, post- 14th/24th* September, Birmingham (laughingly considered as the 'second city') city centre will now be worth visiting for some real ale pubs, a beautiful station (Moor St), and er, well, that's yer lot.

 

 

Unless it's changed it's name since last week it is the "Post Office Vaults" but Pinfold St is a bit of a mess at the moment.

 

And Wales is laughingly called civilizedI just find the inhabitants rude.

 

Not quite sure where that snidey comment of yours comes from.

[Dave47549]

2 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Unless it's changed it's name since last week it is the "Post Office Vaults" but Pinfold St is a bit of a mess at the moment.

 

And Wales is laughingly called civilizedI just find the inhabitants rude.

 

Not quite sure where that snidey comment of yours comes from.

 

1) Yes, I'd already edited my post & duly credited you for the correction.

 

2) I currently reside in the glorious locale known as Birmingham, but thanks for the casual bigotry 

[melmerby]

4 minutes ago, Dave47549 said:

 

2) I currently reside in the glorious locale known as Birmingham, but thanks for the casual bigotry 

It's not bigotry, it's observation.

The old chestnut about walking into a pub where everyone is speaking English, you open your mouth and betray that you are English and they switch to Welsh. That is just rude.

It's happened to me (and the missus) on a couple of occasions but Welsh people I've mentioned it to deny it happens. As I've only been into a couple of Welsh pubs it forms my overall impression.

 

[melmerby]

BTW I was told yesterday that the last day of trading is 14th September, which is three weeks from this Saturday.

[MarcD]

If the plan is to close stores and sell online then they might want to sort out the online shop as there no books currently listed on it. I used the shop in Manchester every time I was in Manchester, in fact I used to make sure that I would have to change trains in Manchester just so I could get to look in the shop. I now only buy books at shows as london is a little far south to pick up a book.

 

Marc  

[melmerby]

7 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

If the plan is to close stores and sell online then they might want to sort out the online shop as there no books currently listed on it. I used the shop in Manchester every time I was in Manchester, in fact I used to make sure that I would have to change trains in Manchester just so I could get to look in the shop. I now only buy books at shows as london is a little far south to pick up a book.

 

Marc  

They don't have an online shop.

Maybe that's the reason?

[MarcD]

I thought this was them https://www.ianallanpublishing.com I could be wrong.

Marc

[melmoth]

21 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

I thought this was them https://www.ianallanpublishing.com I could be wrong.

Marc

 

It is, but Ian Allan have been withdrawing from the railway publishing/book distribution/retail sector since selling the publishing arm to Crecy not long after Ian Allan's death. I reckon the Waterloo store will go in due course, although they might own the freehold there. Ian Allan, as a company, no longer have any investment in, or interest in, anything railway related except for the two shops and the Great Cockcrow Railway. 

[Miss Prism]

http://www.crecy.co.uk/

 

[sagaguy]

They used to have a warehouse book store at Hinkley on the A5,i visited there once in the 90s & bought a few books but it was a weird set up.The books were on warehouse type shelves & you had to sign in & out as you left.

 

                            Ray.

[melmerby]

10 hours ago, sagaguy said:

They used to have a warehouse book store at Hinkley on the A5,i visited there once in the 90s & bought a few books but it was a weird set up.The books were on warehouse type shelves & you had to sign in & out as you left.

 

                            Ray.

They used to have many things, but one by one they have been hived off.

I bought a copy of Colonel Cobb's Railway Atlas and it was delivered from Midland Counties publishing, which they had taken over.

I even have a few model railway items which have Midland Counties price stickers on them.

Maybe Midland Counties was at HInckley?

 

BTW in case anybody is in doubt:

https://www.ianallanpublishing.com/