Isle of Wight Model Shops Remembered...?

[Smallbrook Junction]

Hi all,

 

Does anyone here remember two model shops on the Isle of Wight which were trading in the 1970s.

 

One was at Lake, located on Sandown Road, just before the tee junction with Newport Road. As my memory serves me it also sold radios and TVs and had a model railway section at the rear of the shop. My father would take me there each year on holiday. I'd love to know the name of the shop and whether a photo exists of it somewhere? Google Street View does still show the parade of shops set back from the main road but I just cant recall which one it was.

 

The other one was in Sandown in Station Avenue with the junction of Broadway - Now I believe part of Broadway Stores, the local convenience shop. Again my father took me there in the 1970s - I seem to remember it being much smaller than the one in Lake. The main door opened onto Station Avenue.

 

If anyone remembers anything of either shop then do please comment. Brings back memories of happier times.

 

Thanks all.

[JohnDMJ]

At Lake, you had 'Buckets', IIRC, as you say, selling radios and other electrical appliances along with model railways.

 

I can not place the one you suggest in Sandown but do recall the Sports and Model Shop on the corner of Regent Street and Carter Avenue with a sizeable model railway section; once my local shop!

 

Sandown, however, does ring bells with the original Upstairs Downstairs in St John's Road, a few doors down from The Commercial pub before it suffered the indignity of being renamed The Old Comical! The shop now seems to be a pet store.

[wainwright1]

Going back many years, I vaguely recall there being a model shop at Lake which was fairly near to the coast, possibly more like a kiosk than a shop.

I don't remember a shop in Sandown, but the Sports and Model Shop in Shanklin is still there near to the station. It has undergone a change in recent years and the sports element seems to have disappeared and the toy shop from the other side of the road seems to moved across. I could not see much model railway gear in there about three weeks ago. Not sure if it still has the same owners, or perhaps the same people owned both shops ? They also have/had shops in Sandown and Ryde, but I think only the Shanklin one used to sell model railway items.

I have visited Upstairs/Downstairs in Sandown a couple of years ago and there is also the shop in Ventnor which I think sells mostly second hand items, though quite well stocked.

 

All the best

Ray