Star Warehouse, Camden Market

General vintage slot machine related topics.
adamzworld
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Star Warehouse, Camden Market

Post by adamzworld »

Evening everyone. I stumbled upon this site tonight and it's a great resource for anyone interested in these sorts of machines.

I bought my first ever bandit off an Irish fellow in the early '90s who had a lock up in Camden Market. He also had a warehouse in Kings Cross which was like an Aladdin's cave! Does anyone remember his name or any history on him, as I was pretty young at the time so the memory is a bit fuzzy! I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone who knew him.

Anyway still got three old bandits, just need the space to get them out and on display again!

Cheers,
Adam
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Re: Camden Market

Post by pennymachines »

Hi Adam and :WELCOME: to the site.

The Irish fellow was Jimmy Broderick and for many years he had a two storey building at Camden Lock called the Star Warehouse. I visited several times in the late '70s to '80s, but regret I never made a trip to his Kings Cross warehouse.

Here are a couple of snippets about him from the Arena Speakeasy page.
David Haring wrote:We met a long time ago in Jimmy Broderick's Star Warehouse in Camden... He was a lovely guy. I repaired machines for him nearly 40 years ago and tried for the rest of my life to buy machines from him. He would never give a price apart from on one occasion when he supplied all the slots (new Ballys) for a new casino in Bucharest. When he eventually left Star Warehouse after holding out on the developers (Custer's last stand), he was the last tenant and no doubt got the best deal from them by far (including a store in the new development for his daughter). Our last deal was for parts. All the Bally slot glasses that he had hoarded for years - tons...

Star Warehouse became part of the Stables Market where I took premises to sell goods that David Synes of Suzo was importing from Mexico.
Derek Horwood wrote:As David Haring says, Jimmy Broderick of Star Automatics, was a great character. Originally he worked in a Irish touring circus, but what he did there I do not know. He later dealt in and operated slots in Ireland and his widow Grace, a lovely lady, once told me that while they were courting he would not tell her what he did for a living. She only got to know after they were married!!
adamzworld
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Re: Camden Market

Post by adamzworld »

Thanks Pennymachines,

It's great to know a little more about him. My dad used to work in Kentish Town and we used to pop to Camden Market on Sundays. I remember Jim was a great character and always really knowledgeable. I was only about 16 at the time and was always fascinated by all things mechanical. I bought my first bandit off Jim; an Aristocrat Grosvenor (which I've still got) and I only wish there were some photos around of his warehouse as it was stocked full of jukeboxes and bandits of all different eras.

Obviously Camden has changed quite a bit since then. I went recently and I think it's lost its charm. Maybe it's just me being nostalgic, but it always seemed a far more eclectic mix of characters back in the day.

Anyway this trip down memory lane has inspired me to give the bandits a good old clean up and get them on display so I can appreciate them.

Cheers,

Adam
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gameswat
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Re: Camden Market

Post by gameswat »

Hey Adam, pretty sure this is Jim and his warehouse. My mother of all people took these photos while on a UK trip visiting her sister in about 1987 or 88. She went looking for machines on behalf of my father and I, how cool was that!? Prices were too high on machines but she thought the carousel horses and carvings were decently priced in comparison.

And just remembered a local Perth collecting friend bought a Mutoscope there in 1979. Back when they were very desirable and bringing hefty prices. It was one of the later rectangular 1930's tin style without a stand and in tatty condition for 900 quid!
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john t peterson
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Re: Camden Market

Post by john t peterson »

Amazing coincidence in "The Great Circle of Coin-Op!" Thanks for sharing the pictures, Gameswat. !!CHEERS!!
adamzworld
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Re: Camden Market

Post by adamzworld »

Hi Gameswat,

Those photos are great and that's definitely Jim (as far as I can remember anyway!). Thanks for indulging me in my trip down memory lane!
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My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

Topic copied, split & moved from My thing with slots - Site Admin.

My Dad had a shop in Camden back in the early '70s, right where the market is now. It was called Bradburys. He sold Bandits, Allwins, Pinball machines, Cranes, and all kinds of slot machines, and fairground stuff. He had a mate who was a travelling showman, and used to get a lot of cheap stuff from him. When I say cheap, it's stuff we can only dream of these days, like Allwins for £5. If they were a bit damaged, they would throw them in a skip. I couldn't believe it when he said they would chuck them away if they needed any work doing.

I guess it was back then that my love for slot machines started. I used to love going to my Dad's shop as it was always full of good slot machines to play on, and it didn't cost me anything to play them. Me, my Brother and Dad spent hours and hours playing each other on a Ruffler and Walker Ice Hockey table that my dad had at home.

I spent a lot of my teenage years hanging around amusement arcades down on the South Coast, learning how machines payout; watching when they payout, and sometimes we did pretty well. But then I met a guy, everyone used to call him Jackpot, and he could really play the fruities well. I mean he won, nearly all of the time. There were only a few machines he would play, but back then they were the most popular machines around, and all the big amusement arcades had those machines in them. Jackpot had a bit of a drink problem, and he would drink all the cash he made, so me and another guy, who had a car, hatched a plan with Jackpot to travel to all the arcades near to where we lived. Now that all sounds like easy money, but as soon as the arcade staff realise you are legally taking cash out of their arcade they get nosey. So Jackpot would play the fruities while me and the other guy would try and keep the staff busy. Sometimes we were standing between Jackpot on the machine, and three or four arcade staff, trying to see what Jackpot was doing. We would usually get thrown out after about three hours, but by then we had made a nice bit of cash, and then on the the next arcade, and then on to the next seaside town. We ended up being barred from almost every amusement arcade within 40 miles of Hastings. Then it just seemed too far to travel. We made quite a bit of money, and had a real laugh doing it, and we creamed the arcade owners, legally.

Then I grew up, got a job, had a family, and all the other stuff, and slot machines went out of my live for years.
Now Ive recently started buying old slots as a hobby, I went to the Elephant House last November and bought a few things, and my love for slots continues.
One pic is my Dad's shop sign, and the other is his shop in Camden. It's the red shop on the right of the pic. It looks very different. Taken about '73-'74.
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john t peterson
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Re: My thing with slots.

Post by john t peterson »

Great story, Pedroofn19. And with pictures too. Thanks for sharing. Now, spill the beans on Jackpot. What was his secret ability?

J Peterson
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pedroofn19
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

So Jackpot could play the slots, as I mentioned before, we all used to hang around the amusement arcades, and we worked out the best time to play. But Jackpot could play certain Fruit Machines anytime and win, all the time, on these certain machines. I guess he studied those machines, and worked out how the special features paid out.

He was always on about the special features; he never really won much without the special features, and he kind of knew how to get the machines to award the special features. He was really good at skill stops, like he would get the top prize most times. He used to know if it was going to pay out after a few plays, and he would say "it's going up", with a big grin on his face, or he would walk away to the next machine. Because he was a heavy drinker he never had money for the next day, so that's how the three of us got into the arcade fun. Jackpot never had money the next day, and he usually needed about £30 to get things going in the arcade, so I supplied the day's £30 start money, the other guy supplied the car, and Jackpot had the knowledge.

Its a bit of a sad story really, as Jackpot became a very heavy drinker, and involved in heroin. Last time I saw him he had turned into a street drinker, and he didn't look great. It's a shame really as he was a very clever, and a nice guy, and if he used the knowledge he had gained in the arcades I think he could have earned himself a lot of money.

Over the years of hanging around the amusement arcades we had all sorts of scams, most of them were not legal so I can't write about those. But I would say that I lived off of the proceeds of the arcades for about 4-5 years. Happy days.
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badpenny
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Re: My thing with slots

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Deviating from topic in a wild abandoned manner.
The wide beamed trip boat "Fair Lady" was out of commission by the early 80s. She is a 1940s Leeds & Liverpool cargo boat and the last time I saw her she was on The Grand Union by Bulls Bridge Hounslow near to Heathrow airport. Likely awaiting conversion to a houseboat.
She was replaced with a similar yet new boat named "My Fair Lady" and still operates as a floating restaurant between Camden and Little Venice. "Enjoy your 3 course dinner gently floating past dead dogs and the rubbish strewn stretches between Camden and Islington".
The boat on the left is "Jenny Wren" built 1968 and still operating. I know a very sad story about this boat but not relevant here.

Now back to slots.

BP !!STEER!!
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

The Jenny Wren used to do trips along the canal, I remember going on her when I was a kid.
I know it still runs today. There is a floating Chinese restaurant between Camden Lock and Little Venice.
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badpenny
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by badpenny »

I know, I failed that corner spectacularly nearly 40 years ago and made an impression on it.
Prawn balls everywhere!

BP CoNgRaTs
pedroofn19
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

BP you do seem to know the area pretty well, do you remember my Dad's shop?
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pennymachines »

Thanks for those interesting reminiscences pedroofn19. !!THUMBSX2!!
pedroofn19 wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:19 pm ...do you remember my Dad's shop?
I'm puzzled. I used to make pilgrimages to Camden Lock to ogle a vast array of old amusement machines which were mostly well beyond my pocket, and I knew that building as Jimmy Broderick's Star Warehouse. The customer entrance was on the far side of the shiplap building (which included Jimmy's office), and most of the stock was in the attached two storey concrete warehouse. I don't recall the name Bradburys.
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

PM, what date would that have been, please? I think my Dad had left there by 1975-6.
I will ask my Dad tomorrow if he knew Jimmy, and his warehouse.
Thanks for that info.
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pennymachines »

It was late '70's to '80s.
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gameswat
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by gameswat »

I've found these sticker labels for Broderick Auto on a number of allwins I purchased in the USA over the last 15+ years, especially in California and on almost all those that came from John Peterson and his Glenn collection. So this address is certainly at least 1970s, if not earlier. These small sticker labels were ubiquitous in the 1970s.
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moonriver
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by moonriver »

Jimmy Broderick was a real character. If he didn't want to sell you a particular machine, and you asked the price, he'd say, "Oh that's not for you; that's way up here" (and held one arm right up in the air) to emphasise just how much out of your price range availability he thought it was!
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by pedroofn19 »

I just spoke to my Dad and he told me that he thinks he left the shop sometime in 1976, and he doesn't know what happened to his old shop after he left.

I asked him about Jimmy Broderick, and he laughed and said "I remember that old bugger". According to my Dad, Jimmy had a warehouse full of old slots, but it was not next to my Dad's shop; it was the other side of the train tracks, where the old stables used to be, near the Roundhouse. The warehouse was full of lovely old machines, and very expensive as well.

My Dad's shop was pretty small. It was only the shiplap wooden building in the photo. I guess after my Dad had moved out of the shop Jimmy moved into the shop and used it as his office, and he must have moved his warehouse to the building next door to the shop.
Great info about Jimmy. Thank you for that. My Dad loved being reminded of his little shop; they were very happy days for us.
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badpenny
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Re: My thing with slots

Post by badpenny »

I was running pubs in London 81-85'ish.
I remember the buildings around there as I used to take my boat down to Camden to pose if I had a day off, which was VERY rare.

However I don't recall your Dad's shop.

BP !!CHEERS!!
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