The Smokebox

[43106]

About 10 years ago, there was a bookshop immediately next door to a Bus Station at Cromwell Street, Kingston-upon-Thames in south-east London. It was called The Smokebox, though its name wasn't prominent on the outside. I used to go there a few times about 8-9 years ago and bought (mainly) old railway timetables there. I know that this shop shut as the site was going to be redeveloped. Did the shop simply close down or has it relocated somewhere else? I hope it's moved, cos it was a treasure house of old railway books. I could have quite happily spent a few hundred quid there!

 

[Oracle]

Didn't the owner also have a shop in Harrow-on-the-Hill?

 

[43106]

Didn't the owner also have a shop in Harrow-on-the-Hill?

If she/he did, then it didn't specialise in railway stuff.
That supposition comes from a web-site my gaffer gave me when I worked in Stanmore that listed shops in the London area that did railway stuff. The Smokebox was one, along with a shop in Falconwood and another place in St Martins Court round the corner from Leicester Square tube station (They've since moved to a street parallel with and immediately south of St Martins Court), as well as a couple of closed shops in Carsalton and Twickenham. There was, however, no mention of such a shop in Harrow.

 

[Turbostar]

What was that place called in London, just round the corner from Euston station? British Rail ran it, & they sold off all their old memorabilia, railway stuff etc. Loved popping in there when I used to live in Kent, & popped up to London every so often, you could have a field day in there.

 

[33056]

What was that place called in London, just round the corner from Euston station? British Rail ran it, & they sold off all their old memorabilia, railway stuff etc. Loved popping in there when I used to live in Kent, & popped up to London every so often, you could have a field day in there.

Collectors Corner in Cardington Street - the site is now an Ibis hotel.

 

[Oracle]

I used to pass by the shop on the hill at Harrow, near the school, en route from Hounslow to Wealdstone. I must check up to see if it was the same owner or not.

 

[DarloRich]

Collectors Corner in Cardington Street - the site is now an Ibis hotel.

it moved to York ( Rougier Street?) and has now closed