History of the Woolsey of Acton shop
In February 1955 Donald Woolsey (always know as Don) bought Longs Cycles as it was then, which had been converted from a terraced house sometime in the Mid 1930’s and moved in with his wife Lillian (Lil for short) and their two sons Roger and Allan.
The Business at the time was some what run down, but with a change of name (to Woolsey of Acton), Don’s enthusiasm and enterprise, it was soon flourishing, setting the emphasis on personal family service, which is the strength of the business to this day. In hindsight we can now see that there was the advantage of the post war years when everybody was trying to improve themselves and having the Wilkinson Sword factory behind the other side of the workshop wall was a real help as the majority of factory workers rode bicycles to work.
In 1962, Roger left Ealing grammar school to work in the shop with Don, his dad. Everything worked out fine from the start, but it was soon realised that those factory workers were now aspiring for their first cars and other mod-cons and the sales of bicycles diminished considerably. After much discussion, it was decided that diversification was necessary for the future fortune of the shop and for the next twenty years Roger sold and repaired mopeds and as Lil said at the time, Don played with his trains, as a Hornby service depot, together with Corgi and Dinky die- cast models and Airfix construction kits. In all this time, bicycles, especially repairs ,were the mainstay of the business.
By the 1980’s, things had turned full circle for the bicycle. It had now lost it’s ‘cloth cap’ image and for those now more affluent factory workers, keeping fit in their spare time was the thing to do and there were now some smart ‘go anywhere’ mountain bikes to ride. So, as the sales of bicycles improved, the diversifications of the shop were gradually dropped and as Don said at the time, ‘its back to the real love of my life and that’s the bicycle’.
Don retired from active involvement from the shop in 1988, although he continued with the accounts and administration for sometime after, leaving the reins to Roger, who had married Ann in 1968 and by then had 3 children, Susan, Karen and Malcolm. As they were all too young for involvement in the business at the time, Roger employed staff for the next few years, not without its behind the scenes problems.
Luckily Malcolm started with Roger on the 1st January 2002 but , unexpectedly, Don passed away 10 days before, so unfortunately never saw the new partnership in action. Once again we could truly say the shop was offering personal family service, even with Lil at the age of 94 still keeping her hand in making the tea in the afternoons.
As Roger is now approaching retirment, under Malcolm’s management the shop has entered a new era. In February 2009, the shop was closed for six weeks to undergo a major re-vamp (the first since 1955) to make better use of the limited space and to renew the ancient plumbing and electrics. With modern slat-walling fitted, many more accessories are able to be displayed. Since 1968 the whole of the building including the bathroom has been used as stock and show rooms for the bicycles and is now known as the’ Aladdin’s cave of cycles and parts,’ with over 200 cycles available from stock. This was also redecorated and tided up at the same time.
As the bicycle has developed and become more technical with time, with the advent of suspension systems, hydraulic disc brakes and STI gear controls etc, the national trade association (the ACT) realised mechanics training and qualifications needed to be improved from what was available and introduced ‘Cytech accreditations’ which now run in line with a NVQ qualification as well.
Both Malcolm and Dave who has been the shop’s workshop technician since 1997, have undergone the training to gain their Cytech certificates, to prove their repair and servicing work is done to the highest standard.
We are sure that Don would have been proud to see how his example of fair trading has developed over the years and as we enter into a 3rd generation of control Malcolm, Dave and Wayne look forward to being of service to you.