'Christmas At 'Teddy Tinkers'!'

One of my favourite places to spend time at during Christmas is a 'Vintage & Retro' shop called, 'Teddy Tinkers'.

'Teddy Tinkers' - 134 London Rd, St Leonards.

Just One Of Teddy Tinkers Festively Dressed Windows

All the info you need!

Not only is it run by a VERY smiley and friendly lady by the name of Kate Rosie, all of the stallholders that make the shop what it is are both knowledgable and enthusiasts for anything from the past (like Kate!.  Almost ANYTHING you can think of is available at 'Teddy Tinkers' (Kate named the shop after her Teddy Bear as a child - she still has him!) and the days of 'over the counter' conversation accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee are well and truly alive and kicking, unlike most 'modern shops' where the emphasis is usually on 'whipping you out of the store as fast as possible once they have taken your money'. No, at Teddy Tinkers you can genuinely feel free to browse and take your time to decide if you want to buy something or not.

Actually, I reckon that Kate has a 'secret deal' with Santa himself as she always seems to manage to 'find' a selection of wonderfully nostalgic and magical 'festive blasts from the past' to make my eyes go all big and wide every year!

Old Fashioned Paper Streamers, Yay!

Noddy annuals- REALLY take me back to happier times!

Take a look at some of the 'old friends' that Kate has in stock this year. Noddy was on T.V. a lot when I was a kid and it was such a lovely, innocent and inoffensive little cartoon. It makes my blood boil when I think how today there would be uproar about a character being named 'Big Ears' and how even the slightest hint of a golliwog would be frowned upon. How sad people have become - taking offence at the slightest thing - the way we are going the only thing that will not be 'inappropriate' is looking in the mirror and with my mug that's not good news for me! (lol)

You can find Teddy Tinkers on the internet and on Facebook and Kate has uploaded hundreds of photos of the AMAZING things they have for sale there! Aside from this years festive delights you can also find vintage clothes and furniture, toy cars, models, ornaments, ephemera, badges, photographs, movie magazines, sheet music and a whole host of stuff!

An old collection of Christmas Carols.

The shop also seems to be stocking a growing selection of LP records as well for you rare and collectible vinyl lovers out there - so if you're still stuck for ideas this Christmas why not check out 'my favourite shop' and get something really special and unique for your beloved this Christmas!

Finally, I used to get a group of my friends together at Christmas time to go out and do some carol singing. We used to knock on doors and sing, 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' as that was about the only carol we knew! (lol) Our hearts were in the right place but we should have worked MUCH harder as far as learning the words of a selection of festive songs was concerned! I did write out cards for those who gave us some money on the door step though which said, much love for Christmas from 'The Tony May Singers'!

Ah, those were the days!