Just been watching Le Tour and have been shocked that it is 50 years since the death of Tom Simpson, so many memories came back, leading to looking at the Rory O’Brien website.............
I started work at Rory O’Briens at the Romford shop in, I think, July 1965, straight from school at just under £3.10s per week. I rode from home in Ilford about six miles each way every day. I stayed for just over a year and then the Saturday boy for another year. Rory was very much a shopkeeper from the Arkwright (Open all hours) school of retailing. I will never forget the day a customer came in for a puncture outfit and went home with a new bike and a puncture outfit! Rory cultivated the legend of being a man careful with his money but I remember his generosity so well. If a rider/regular customer beat the hour for the first time Rory would give them a pair of track mitts or similar gift. As a 15 year old mad keen on cycling to be introduced by your boss to Vic Gibbons on the comeback trail was like meeting royalty! The steady stream of “names” coming into the shop, having a chat, maybe a cup of tea and then seeing them relieved of their cash was a masterclass in retailing and all with a smile and another anecdote... marvellous. The interest for old Rorys and matching equipment has always eluded me but I do think that Rory would certainly encourage it with a chuckle that all the old stuff could be sold at a premium! I think Rory worked for Claud Butler before setting up on his own and I seem to remember that official letters were always addressed to Henry Nolan O’Brien but to me he will always be just Rory.
The staff at Rory’s at that time were Roger Joseph mechanic and wheelbuilder extraodinaire, short in stature with a magnificent head of ginger hair which he kept until his death three years ago. The workshop at the back of the shop was a special area where only invited guests were allowed to loiter, bribes like cheese cake, bun Belgique would usually gain access to this inner sanctum and if no bribes available just mention Fats Domino and you were in! Roger left in the late 60s when he married Carol and moved near Taunton in Somerset. He worked for the Post Office servicing their bikes as well as having an early morning post round. Roger left the Post Office in the late 80s and started his own cycle shop near Bridgwater. He continued to ride regularly but his mount of choice had not been a “Rory” for a long time but an ex Bedwell Hercules and then a Vic Edwards built Rondinella; oh how I miss those days riding in the Quantocks talking about the “old days”
Also in the shop as a Saturday boy was Terry Heath-Coleman? Ken Kirby was I think Rory’s brother-in-law and ran the Manor Park shop. When I first started it was about a year or two after Bob Tregonning had been killed in an accident. Dave Bedwell also worked in the shed at the back of the shop for a short while and Roger always said that Dave was a winner because he needed the prize money to eat; there were also stories of Bedwell’s exploits weightlifting, floors giving way etc.......I believe Bedwell moved to the West Country in the 80s? To work for Colin Lewis Cycles; where he took up kayaking and became an instructor.
Mrs O’Brien occasionally came into the shop with their daughter Penny? Rory was a wonderful boss for a wet behind the ears 15 year old and so much of what he taught me has lasted in my own working life. The day that I answered the telephone while serving a customer incurring Rory’s wrath and that “they will ring back but you might lose the sale” is a lesson that many of today’s youngsters would be well advised of.
His efforts to educate me has I think fallen on stony ground, his enthusiasm in getting me to read George Orwell’s 1984 and “Road to Wigan Pier” was wasted on me; I did read them and I think gave the right answers when questioned but I must confess have never felt the need to re-read them. Rory did however have an influence on my musical tastes, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Rory’s favourite Nellie Lutcher. Just remembered!! Rory was also a great fan of the Great Petomane (look him up) and the thought of Rory and his cronies in fits of laughter is a joy in itself.
Vic Edwards certainly built the top of the range Rorys and if I remember correctly Stan Broom used to work part time for Vic finishing the frames; spray work was usually done by Broma based at Gallows Corner, Romford. There was a story that Vic had a hand in constructing the machine guns under James Bond’s Aston Martin who knows? Vic had his own horse for which he used to make and fit horseshoes out of alloy.... they didn’t last long!
After Tom Simpson won the World Road Championship in 1965 “Fat” Albert Beurick came to the shop selling Simpson merchandise. I was so impressed that Rory knew Albert and were obviously old friends; but then Rory seemed to know everybody and everybody knew Rory and people were happy in his company, swapping stories, lots of laughter as he rung up the till........ happy days! Rory rarely spoke of his interest in sailing and it wasn’t until a friend of my fathers, who also sailed on the Blackwater, told us that Rory was as big a character on the sailing scene as he was in the cycling world. They don’t make them like that anymore but such fond memories that have lasted over 50 years and times that still bring a smile to my face.
I started work at Rory O’Briens at the Romford shop in, I think, July 1965, straight from school at just under £3.10s per week. I rode from home in Ilford about six miles each way every day. I stayed for just over a year and then the Saturday boy for another year. Rory was very much a shopkeeper from the Arkwright (Open all hours) school of retailing. I will never forget the day a customer came in for a puncture outfit and went home with a new bike and a puncture outfit! Rory cultivated the legend of being a man careful with his money but I remember his generosity so well. If a rider/regular customer beat the hour for the first time Rory would give them a pair of track mitts or similar gift. As a 15 year old mad keen on cycling to be introduced by your boss to Vic Gibbons on the comeback trail was like meeting royalty! The steady stream of “names” coming into the shop, having a chat, maybe a cup of tea and then seeing them relieved of their cash was a masterclass in retailing and all with a smile and another anecdote... marvellous. The interest for old Rorys and matching equipment has always eluded me but I do think that Rory would certainly encourage it with a chuckle that all the old stuff could be sold at a premium! I think Rory worked for Claud Butler before setting up on his own and I seem to remember that official letters were always addressed to Henry Nolan O’Brien but to me he will always be just Rory.
The staff at Rory’s at that time were Roger Joseph mechanic and wheelbuilder extraodinaire, short in stature with a magnificent head of ginger hair which he kept until his death three years ago. The workshop at the back of the shop was a special area where only invited guests were allowed to loiter, bribes like cheese cake, bun Belgique would usually gain access to this inner sanctum and if no bribes available just mention Fats Domino and you were in! Roger left in the late 60s when he married Carol and moved near Taunton in Somerset. He worked for the Post Office servicing their bikes as well as having an early morning post round. Roger left the Post Office in the late 80s and started his own cycle shop near Bridgwater. He continued to ride regularly but his mount of choice had not been a “Rory” for a long time but an ex Bedwell Hercules and then a Vic Edwards built Rondinella; oh how I miss those days riding in the Quantocks talking about the “old days”
Also in the shop as a Saturday boy was Terry Heath-Coleman? Ken Kirby was I think Rory’s brother-in-law and ran the Manor Park shop. When I first started it was about a year or two after Bob Tregonning had been killed in an accident. Dave Bedwell also worked in the shed at the back of the shop for a short while and Roger always said that Dave was a winner because he needed the prize money to eat; there were also stories of Bedwell’s exploits weightlifting, floors giving way etc.......I believe Bedwell moved to the West Country in the 80s? To work for Colin Lewis Cycles; where he took up kayaking and became an instructor.
Mrs O’Brien occasionally came into the shop with their daughter Penny? Rory was a wonderful boss for a wet behind the ears 15 year old and so much of what he taught me has lasted in my own working life. The day that I answered the telephone while serving a customer incurring Rory’s wrath and that “they will ring back but you might lose the sale” is a lesson that many of today’s youngsters would be well advised of.
His efforts to educate me has I think fallen on stony ground, his enthusiasm in getting me to read George Orwell’s 1984 and “Road to Wigan Pier” was wasted on me; I did read them and I think gave the right answers when questioned but I must confess have never felt the need to re-read them. Rory did however have an influence on my musical tastes, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Rory’s favourite Nellie Lutcher. Just remembered!! Rory was also a great fan of the Great Petomane (look him up) and the thought of Rory and his cronies in fits of laughter is a joy in itself.
Vic Edwards certainly built the top of the range Rorys and if I remember correctly Stan Broom used to work part time for Vic finishing the frames; spray work was usually done by Broma based at Gallows Corner, Romford. There was a story that Vic had a hand in constructing the machine guns under James Bond’s Aston Martin who knows? Vic had his own horse for which he used to make and fit horseshoes out of alloy.... they didn’t last long!
After Tom Simpson won the World Road Championship in 1965 “Fat” Albert Beurick came to the shop selling Simpson merchandise. I was so impressed that Rory knew Albert and were obviously old friends; but then Rory seemed to know everybody and everybody knew Rory and people were happy in his company, swapping stories, lots of laughter as he rung up the till........ happy days! Rory rarely spoke of his interest in sailing and it wasn’t until a friend of my fathers, who also sailed on the Blackwater, told us that Rory was as big a character on the sailing scene as he was in the cycling world. They don’t make them like that anymore but such fond memories that have lasted over 50 years and times that still bring a smile to my face.
