Star Warehouse, Camden Market

General vintage slot machine related topics.
pennymachines
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pennymachines »

gameswat wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 10:51 pm I've found these sticker labels for Broderick Auto on a number of Allwins I purchased in the USA
That address is on Camden High Street. A French sale of a Bally bandit comes up on a google search with a differently addressed label:
BRODERICK AUTOMATICS, STAR WAREHOUSE, CANDEL GOODS DEPOT, CHALK FARM ROAD, LONDON NW 8AH
This suggests he relocated at some time. Perhaps "Candel Goods Depot" should read "Camden Goods Depot"?


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Camden Railway Heritage Trust

I've merged this with the previous topic, as we seem to be discussing the same place.
Moonriver - is the building in pedroofn19 's photo how you remember the Star Warehouse, or is my memory playing tricks?
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by pedroofn19 »

BRODERICK AUTOMATICS, STAR WAREHOUSE, CANDEL GOODS DEPOT, CHALK FARM ROAD, LONDON NW 8AH.

My dad told me that Jimmy Broderick had a warehouse in Camden goods depot before he moved into my Dad's old shop, and it was massive.

The goods depot was where the old stables used to be, or very close to there. So I guess Jimmy owned more that one warehouse, at different times.

On the pic above Jimmy's warehouse was somewhere between the Horse Hospital, and the Roundhouse, and he must have moved premises sometime around 1976, or shortly after.
Looking at the postcode for the goods depot it is NW 8AH. The address for my dad's shop was Middle Yard, Camden Town, London NW1 8AB.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by gameswat »

That Bally slot in the French auction was introduced 1976, and seeing as it's a US machine on dollar play then it was a second hand import that Jim sold, so must date no earlier than late 1970s or into the 1980s. Jim was selling container loads of machines to the US and likely importing US machines back as well.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by moonriver »

Jimmy leased a small square single room building with ladder up to an open attic above right next to the archway where everyone had to pass by to enter the market at Camden Lock. It was a bottle neck outside his door and had a huge footfall. I sold him a Cat and Mouse SWP (skill with prize) machine which was licence free then to put outside his unit and it paid for itself in 2 days.

He told me his rent was a massive £1000 a week but he couldn't afford not to be there as he did so well from its location. He also had a lucrative money lending business to the market traders.

He rented part of the large warehouse just before it on the left, and he had a massive warehouse at the Goods Depot where he loaded and sold container loads of Ballys and spares to South Africa, etc. The warehouse was crammed with amusement, casino gaming and fairground stuff.

I bought the entire warehouse contents from him when he eventually came out of there due to the rent going up so high.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

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StarWarehouseStablesEntrance.jpg

I'm still unsure whether pedroofn19's dad's shop in the photo (Bradbury's) was the building I used to visit. As stated, Jimmy had several premises. This photo of the enterance to the present Stables Market was taken in '78 and shows Star Warehouse signage:
GENERAL DEALERS IN ASSORTED MERCHANDISE INCLUDING AMUSEMENT MACHINES - PIN-BALL - FRUIT MACHINES - JUKE BOXES - POOL TABLES - BAR BILLIARDS ETC.
That was more or less the text which used to appear weekly in the Exchange & Mart, tipping off would-be collectors to this Aladdin's cave.

This reminiscence on ukvac.com recalls more than two floors in '77:
69er wrote:I still have my first 'working when bought' juke box too, a 1974 Jupiter l100 victory... bought Nov 5th 1977 from Jimmy Broderick at a place called Star Warehouse Camden Lock London via the Exchange & Mart small ads for coin ops etc. He exported the old 1d all-wins flick-ball and jukes etc. to the USA. and had floor upon floor of amazing old antique amusements of all types like fortune tellers and such...
automaticpleasues wrote:The other guy was Jimmy Broderick, a wonderful but canny man long since dead - who in his youth had been a gun runner for the IRA. He had the foresight to buy up or rescue countless mechanical slot machines when everyone else in the business was scrapping them - they ended up being repatriated to the States by the container load.
coinopcollectorsforum.com

Some years after the Star Warehouse closed, I met Phil Ellis who had his own vast Liverpool dockside warehouse full of slot machines and other assorted antiques. He said he started as a picker for Jimmy Broderick, travelling the country and beyond, buying in stock. The mainstay of the business was shipping used bandits to South American countries, where local conditions made them lucrative to operate. He said they were disassembled and crated in the guise of washing machine spares. The deal and Jimmy's man in South America came unstuck after (I assume) a run in with local gangsters.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by pedroofn19 »

That black and white photo is really good, but it is of Jimmy's warehouse in the goods depot, which is now the stables market.

Moonriver wrote "Jimmy leased a small square single room building with ladder up to an open attic above right next to the archway where everyone had to pass by to enter the market at Camden Lock. It was a bottle neck outside his door and had huge footfall".

I have edited my original photo, showing what I think to be the "archway" marked with a black arrow, and maybe the "small single room building" marked with a blue arrow. That is the only archway I can think of, and it was a main entrance to the Market in later years. When my dad had the shop the market wasn't there. The Market was only on a Sunday, and it was the other side of the Dingwalls building.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by pennymachines »

It's remarkable that there were two traders in vintage slot machines at Camden (albeit not overlapping). In the pre-internet, early days of collecting, there were a number of shops dotted around the country which somewhat specialized in selling such things, but the problem was finding them. Usually it was just word of mouth. The chance of finding one by pacing the streets was almost nil, and this made them all the more like mystic portals to the Holy Grail.

A few others which come to mind are an antique shop in Lostwithiel (discovered too late), Joe Pettitt's Bridgebarn Antiques shop, Jack Donovan's Portobello Road shop (specializing in mechanical music and automata), Nic Costa's shop in Camden Passages, Dave McGladdery's short-lived Endangered Species in Brighton and Julian Wardle's shop in Hull. There were also (and still are) dedicated jukebox and pinball retailers, some of whom occasionally had coin-operated games, and also other places I've either forgotten or never discovered. Then there was Bryans Works which, amazingly, survived into the 1990s.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by brigham »

Star warehouse wasn't trading in 'vintage' slot machines. It sold all manner of 'used' amusement gear, and became popular among would-be enthusiasts in the same way as the 'one man and his dog' used car pitches did when 'old models' became collectable.
It was originally frequented by the solo arcade operators and travelling showmen, which accounts for the endless variety of one-off crude decimal conversions we are faced with undoing.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by pennymachines »

Although I gather they were originally shipping Ballys and the like overseas, collectors were certainly customers by the late '70s. At that time, I doubt many operators were paying Jimmy's premium prices for wall machines, while many were still throwing them out. You could pick them up cheaper by going direct to the showmen. When I spoke to him, I believe he already had several collectors on his books for the rarer pieces. From memory, the stock was predominantly pre-'60s (see pics, first page of this topic).

By the mid to late '70s, interest in vintage slot machines as collectible curios and nostalgic memorabilia was already starting to take hold. I doubt the Star Warehouse's proximity to Camden antiques market which opened in '74 was coincidental.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by treefrog »

Arguably there is at least one dealer I am aware of who has a taste for amusements as part of their emporium, Jack’s Junktion Antiques..shame there are not more, but I guess prices would always be premium.

I remember Camden Market in the early eighties, fun place then before tourism took over.
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FAIR WARNING

Post by roger »

Copied, split & merged from Fair Warning

As they say in the auction world, "fair warning". Here's another one of my "old time" stories.
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It is hard to believe that coin-op collecting is alive and well without the likes of Nic Costa, Dick Bueschel, and Jim Broderick. They opened the doors to our hobby in the 1970s... Prior to that I collected coin-ops with a wing and a prayer. My only criteria was that a certain "gizmo" had to have a coin slot.
Nick Costa put together a great collection of English machines. He was instrumental in expanding my interest from the U.S. to the U.K. He paved the way for johntpeterson to "steal" many of the English machines.

Nick has a vast knowledge of coin-ops and I read that he has donated his extensive archives to a museum. He sold his collection at Christies back in 2006. I gave up trying to follow his varied career but I'd like to know if he ever waded back into collecting. Has any member kept in touch with him?

Dick Bueschell was an American icon and walking encyclopedia on coin-ops. His widely circulated books and articles were a guiding light that expanded our hobby in the 1970s.......... There was a downside to his work as "price guides" started to hit the bookstores and prices went thru the roof. My lengthy telephone calls with him cost me a fortune but has given me rememberances I will always treasure.

I never met Jimmy Broderick, but many of the English machines I acquired were plastered with signs of the Star Warehouse and Broderick Auto...... I am told that he was quite a character and viewing his back storage was like gaining access to Fort Knox. Did any member have direct dealings with him and get to view his special stash of rare machines?

Perhaps other members would like to pay tribute to other pioneers in our hobby and relate their associations.

Hey, how about our own Mr.P..........Reading between the lines I gather that he is approaching those "Golden Years" and certainly deserves recognition for a his vast contributions to our hobby. ROGER
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Coin-Operated Pissoir

Post by roger »

Nobody responded to my request for information on Jimmy Broderick so I did a little sleuthing on the internet.
Star Yard.jpg

Jimmy's Star Warehouse was located close to present day STAR YARD which is a story in itself... It may not look like much, but here lies London's Victorian "Pissoir" which is right up there with the British Museum as a top tourist attraction... It is coin-operated but, unlike the Trevi Fountain, you toss a penny into your urinal... honor system.
Give it a try, as you may just run into Jimmy and get a bargain allwin.
ROGER

Anyone looking for part time employment??? The Pissoir needs a coin counter.
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Re: FAIR WARNING

Post by treefrog »

Roger, if you use the search function, it is surprising how often topics have been discussed and Star Warehouse included. Even pictures of the interior and proprietor…..

Now merged above - Site Admin.
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Re: FAIR WARNING

Post by jetsetjester »

Some great names mentioned there Roger. Whilst I am new here on the forum, I do go back some way with the coin-op hobby.

I was in touch with Dick Bueschell over the years and always found him generous with his time and knowledge. His books on our hobby showed incredible research and despite his amazing knowledge in coin-op, he is arguably better known today as a world authority on WW2 Japanese fighter aircraft! (google it)

Nic Costa, I did not know, but his book Automatic Pleasures finally gave me more understanding of coin-op beyond pinball and post WW2 amusements. It also introduced me to Bob Klepner, who lived not far from me here in Melbourne, Australia. Bob always shared his incredible knowledge, experience and machines; in fact how many people could say "I'm just off to Bob's place to enjoy some Matthewson’s Mermaid Yacht Race & some Indian Head Mutoscopes" We also shared a great love of film and cinemas. He still saw almost a movie a week at a cinema right up until close to his passing.

I have been in touch with many other collectors over the years including the late Russ Jensen in the US and am lucky to know a few other local collectors including Allan, John and Jeff who all have extensive collections that include antique coin-op. I'm always keen to meet more collectors and know more about the history of those that were pioneers in this field like the late Fred Fried in NYC and his incredible collection.
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by gameswat »

Two page advert from the fall 1984 issue of "The Coin Slot" magazine, which was the best coin-op collectors mag published in the USA back then.

But why the parachutist in the centre of the second page?! !PUZZLED!
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Re: Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by treefrog »

Maybe given this is in a US paper, Star can parachute the machines across to them ……. :byee:

I assume star were one of the leading exporters of British machines to the US back then..
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