A Town of Toys

The heady days of ‘80s toy merchandising was a glorious era when toys were still just that… toys. It was also an era of the toy shop, a Saturday staple for millions of children desperate to relieve themselves of their pocket money. The toys were brought to be played with – no adult collectable here – to be bashed, thrown and generally be put through the ringer.

For me as a child, the primary reason for existence was the acquisition of Star Wars toys, Transformers (especially Soundwave), He-Man figures and perhaps a  Zoid or two. I was enabled in this endeavour by one very special shop, Toytown. In it’s day, it was the largest independent toy shop in the country and was the first UK shop to stock Playmobil and Hello Kitty. Gorden Dobson who passed away earlier this year was the shop’s manager from 1966 and later became its managing director and owner from 1977.

Located in Leamington Spa, Toytown was an Aladdin’s cave of possibility. Locally, the shop now has something akin to a mythic reputation – there is a dedicated Facebook group in its honour, and a Google search will quickly enable you to buy a Toytown t-shirt. For this post, I have recreated the rocking horse logo in Illustrator, just so I have a decent version of it. I've also learnt that the typeface I most associate with the shop is Stilla and the info typeface on the distinctive orange bags was definitely Helvetica (not Ariel).

There really was something special about Toytown, it was as if someone had taken the concept of toy shop and perfected it. It was big for a start, the sheer amount of stuff available was bewildering. Occupying two floors near a corner on Regent Street, the layout was odd in that it wrapped around the corner premises in an L-shape with a second entrance on the side street. This meant that it was also unusually deep. The area I spent most of my time was at the back on ground floor, where the various action figures were located. This windowless space felt like a cave where you had just stumbled upon the most amazing treasures imaginable.

Being a child with limited financial resources, I suspect that I didn’t actually spend that much money in the shop, but I certainly spent a lot of my time. I can vividly remember racing down Satchwell Street on my BMX toward Toytown, to while away some of my Saturday. A huge sense of anticipation as I peddled past the derelict buildings. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Satchwell Street was originally the location of purpose-built slums, it has since has a shopping centre built on top of it. Alarmingly, I can’t have been much older that 9 at the time. I certainly wouldn’t have let my daughter loose on her own at that age and certainly not on a bike!

One particular memory I have is coveting a large soft toy of Red from Fraggle Rock. It was hung on the wall in the area just past the side entrance of Toytown. I knew that It was far too expensive and I would likely never be able to have it. A short time later, I was very badly run over and ended up in Warwick hospital. After my initial recovery and firmly ensconced on the children’s ward, my mum asked me if there was anything I wanted. I explained my recovery would very much be aided by way of a particular soft toy. A short while later, Red was sitting on the hospital side table… I got my Fraggle.

Toytown closed in ‘90s due to ridiculous rent increases. I often wonder if it it wasn’t for greedy landlords whether it would still be there, creating cherished memories for other generations, whether the Hornby train in its glass box (which I watched incessantly) would still be going round and round. I would have loved to have been able to take my daughter there, instead I have to stand outside a Giggling Squid restaurant and tell her it used to be the best toy shop in the world.