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Sat and chatted to Danny La Rue on IOW hovercraft while he sat on the crew bench at the front - I was the safety crewman on that service when a teenager.

Chatted with Dizzy Gillespie about horns in Jazz when he stayed at Mayfair hotel when I was a cleaner.

Spoke with Tommy Tomlinson when he stayed at Mayfair hotel when I was a cleaner.

Asked Alan Wicker to help me get into film/media when he stayed at Mayfair hotel when I was a cleaner who'd just finished apprenticeship as commercial photographer.

Asked Stevie Wonder if his huge penthouse mirrors were OK after cleaning them as he stayed in Mayfair hotel when I was a teenager. He said "Man they're fine", he was OK about it because we'd be cracking jokes the whole time I cleaned his place.

Put on some bands the last 3 years including Little Barrie and Thunderclap Newman, was great talking to Andy Newman those few weeks.

Used to share a flat in Chelsea and this big guy used to come round and cook, we had him for lunch one Xmas day, he was always cracking jokes and causing chaos in bars when we went out, then I saw him on telly years later as a chef, Ainsley Harriot.

Have met and now know Doc Watson, pretty much the lead old-time music player, aged 84.

I was an agony aunt with a difference. My advice used to have a kind of 'top tips' twist to it. Here's an example:

I advised a guy who was suffering from terrible loneliness to convince his postman that he was more popular the he actually was by sending himself several hundred Christmas cards each year.

MrBen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Marie Claire Man of the Month, September 2002.:-$


You are Ben Volpierre-Pierrot and I claim my ?50.00. Hope the name's spelled right, 'cos I didn't Google.


But never mind all that, I want my 'alf-a-century.

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  • Latest Discussions

    • But all those examples sell a wide variety of things,  and mostly they are well spread out along Lordship Lane. These two shops both sell one very specific thing, albeit in different flavours, and are just across the road from each other. I don't think you can compare the distribution of shops in Roman times to the distribution of shops in Lordship Lane in the twenty first century. Well, you can, but it doesn't feel very appropriate. Haa anybody asked the first shop how they feel? Are they happy about the "healthy competition" ?
    • ED is included in the 17 August closure set (or just possibly 15 August, depending on which part of the page you trust more) listed at https://metro.co.uk/2025/07/25/full-list-25-poundland-stores-confirmed-close-august-23753048/. Here incidentally are some snippets from their annual reports, at https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02495645/filing-history. 2022: " during the period we opened 41 stores and closed 43 loss-making/under-performing stores.  At the period-end we were trading from 821 stores in the UK, IoM and ROI. ... "We renogotiated 82 leases in the year, saving on average 45% versus the prior lease agreement..." 2023: "We also continued to improve our market footprint through sourcing better store locations, opening 53 and closing 51 stores during the year." 2024:  "The ex-Wilco stores acquired in the prior year have formed a core part of this strategy to expand our store network.  We favour quality over quantity and during the period we opened 84 stores and closed 71 loss-making/under-performing ones."
    • Ha! After I posted this, I thought of lots more examples. Screwfix and the hardware store? Mrs Robinson and Jumping Bean? Chemists, plant shops, hairdressers...  the list goes on... it's good to have healthy competition  Ooooh! Two cheese shops
    • You've got a point.  Thinking Leyland and Screwfix too but this felt different.
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