Beatties of London (commonly known as Beatties) was a model retail company of the United Kingdom, not to be confused with the Beatties department store group.[2]
History
Beatties was founded by Colonel S N Beattie and Charles Whale as the Southgate Model Shop. In the early 1960s they had two small shops on Winchmore Hill Road in London. Looking away from the tube station the one on the right sold new model railway equipment and the one on the left was full of used stuff. He later bought out the Bassett Lowke shops after Whale left the company.
On Beatties' retirement the business was bought by Richard Kohnstamm Ltd (best known as Riko and also the Tamiya importers) who then expanded it into a major chain. At some point the focus on model railways was dropped and Beatties became more like a general toy store.
Beatties bought the Toy and Model retailers Taylor & McKenna in 1987, they had 10 shops, the first one opened in Hemel Hempstead in 1960, and the second shop was opened in Aylesbury in Friars Square
The retail company Era Group plc owned Beatties by the end of its days as a retailer.[3] By the late 1990s Beatties had 60 stores, in locations including the MetroCentre, Gateshead, and the Merry Hill Shopping Centre in the West Midlands.