Computer shops in and around Leeds from the past.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 4:39 pm

I dont know if anyone will remember much about this but I can remember when I was a nipper I used to come into Leeds on a weekend to buy computer games on cassette for my Commodore Plus 4 computer and later on 3 1/2" floppy disc for my Commodore Amiga. I can remember back then in the 80s there were quite a few independent computer shops dotted around the city centre where you could buy computers and software and these places would be thronged by folks of all ages coming into town to buy the latest software releases, computers and peripherals. I can remember down the County Arcade there was a shop called Microbyte I think, and of course there was Micropower at Sheepscar that did a fine range of BBC Micro and Acorn computers. Can anyone put a name to any of the other stores? I know there was another on at the bottom of the 'travellator' opposite the entrance to C&A where the Trinity Shopping centre is now. Also what computers did other Secret Leeds'ers have back then, and if you still have any old computer stuff kicking around can I have it please! I have a collection of vintage micros that I'm always looking to add more to.

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 5:13 pm

I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 5:44 pm

Steve Jones wrote: I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving. Hi SteveNo I'm talking about back in the 1980s, I dont think that computer exchange was going back then! There was a computer shop next to what used to be the Blacks camping shop at the bottom of the 'travellator' escalators that went up to the Bond Street centre. I cant for the life of me remember what it was called, but they all seemed to have the word 'Micro' in the stores name. My dad did some work for the fella who owned the Wakefield based 'Microbyte' chain of stores which resulted in me being the lucky recipitent of an early release Commodore Amiga 500 computer which I was chuffed to bits with as up until then I'd always had to type "load" and press play on the tape recorder. Having a brand new 16 bit computer that accepted discs and operated via mouse instead of keyboard commands was like stepping into the future back then. I can remember in Morley there used to be a computer store beside 'Coffin Corner' called 'Dragonbytes' in around 1983. But we used to buy our little cassette games from Mandy's in Morley Market. These places were usually independently run retailers which were far from the international computer chain stores that dominate the high street these days.

PSC · Post by **PSC** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 6:10 pm

Hi, first post from me.What an interesting subject.I was a Commodore aficionado back then, and had the usual VIC20 / C64 combination.I used to make a monthly trip to WHSmiths just to get hold of the latest copy of Computer & Video Games (C&VG) magazine.The articles were of little interest to me, I was more interested in the games programs they published for you to type in and save.The range of computers available was quite mind boggling in the 80's.ZX80 ZX 81ZX SPECTRUMCOMMODORE PETCOMMODORE VIC20COMMODORE 64DRAGON 32and lots of others I can't remember.And the games.......JETPACMANIC MINERARCADIAI can still remember BASIC:-10 REM PROGRAM20 FORA=1TO1030 PRINT"SECRET LEEDS"40 NEXTA50 ENDI have no idea how to use most modern software I've still got my old VIC20 in the loft!

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 6:17 pm

jonleeds wrote: Steve Jones wrote: I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving. Hi SteveNo I'm talking about back in the 1980s, I dont think that computer exchange was going back then! There was a computer shop next to what used to be the Blacks camping shop at the bottom of the 'travellator' escalators that went up to the Bond Street centre. I cant for the life of me remember what it was called, but they all seemed to have the word 'Micro' in the stores name. I can remember the shop jon, but not what it was called. I bought a joystick (Quickshot Turbo II) and interface there for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k+...There were two very definite camps with regards to computers in the 80's - you either had something from Sinclair or something from Commodore. The BBC Micro / Acorn Electron never really caught on in the same way.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 6:24 pm

PSC wrote: Hi, first post from me.What an interesting subject.I was a Commodore aficionado back then, and had the usual VIC20 / C64 combination.I used to make a monthly trip to WHSmiths just to get hold of the latest copy of Computer & Video Games (C&VG) magazine.The articles were of little interest to me, I was more interested in the games programs they published for you to type in and save.The range of computers available was quite mind boggling in the 80's.ZX80 ZX 81ZX SPECTRUMCOMMODORE PETCOMMODORE VIC20COMMODORE 64DRAGON 32and lots of others I can't remember.And the games.......JETPACMANIC MINERARCADIAI can still remember BASIC:-10 REM PROGRAM20 FORA=1TO1030 PRINT"SECRET LEEDS"40 NEXTA50 ENDI have no idea how to use most modern software I've still got my old VIC20 in the loft! Hi PSC - Welcome to the forum! I used to buy Commodore User magazine, from what I can remember C+VG was a multi-format magazine and I was quite strangely loyal to the Commodore brand machines as were many folk loyal to their own choice of computer manufacturer. I can remember typing in those programme listings, god what a lot of hassle it seems now. I learned BASIC on the BBC Master that I went to Joseph Priestley college in Morley to learn, I had dreams of becoming a wealthy programmer / business man just like John Gow of Leeds based 'Systime Computer Corp' and flying to work in a helicopter each day to get around a drink driving ban! Yes the range of machines available in the 1980s made the current games wars between Sony / Microsoft and Nintendo seem like a handbags at dawn affair... I've got a boxed Vic 20 with tape recorder and come games on cassette and cartridge, I;ve also got an old BBC Master, Commodore 64, Texas Instruments TI-99A, Commodore Plus 4 and quite a few other bits besides. I;ve heard on the grapevine there will be a specialist vintage computer fair next March, see:http://events.retrocollect.com/Looks like it will be an interesting and unique event.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Mon 04 Nov, 2013 6:28 pm

raveydavey wrote: jonleeds wrote: Steve Jones wrote: I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving. Hi SteveNo I'm talking about back in the 1980s, I dont think that computer exchange was going back then! There was a computer shop next to what used to be the Blacks camping shop at the bottom of the 'travellator' escalators that went up to the Bond Street centre. I cant for the life of me remember what it was called, but they all seemed to have the word 'Micro' in the stores name. I can remember the shop jon, but not what it was called. I bought a joystick (Quickshot Turbo II) and interface there for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k+...There were two very definite camps with regards to computers in the 80's - you either had something from Sinclair or something from Commodore. The BBC Micro / Acorn Electron never really caught on in the same way. Yes Raveydavey, the old kempston joystick interface and the Quickshot Turbo 2 qith the 'Autofire' function, great for shoot-em ups! I was never keen on the Spectrum games as they always seemed to have a limited colour pallette and [edited for content] sound. The BBC Micro was adopted by many schools and I seem to remember you could actually 'download' some software via a special 'Teletext' adaptor. The thing that limited home use of the BBC Micro and Master was its fantastic price - even the basic BBC Micro came in at over £300. I only had one friend who had an Acorn Electron computer and he was limited to playing some pretty lame games like 'Repton' on it.

tiddler · Post by **tiddler** » Tue 05 Nov, 2013 2:29 am

[quotenick="jonleeds"] Steve Jones wrote: I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving. Hi, I'm not sure if it was called The Next Level? I remember buying R-Type for my spectrum 128k from a stall in Peel Market in Morley in the late 1980's. I've no idea what the shop was called. I was lucky as a child as my Dad worked as a fruit machine engineer for a Leeds based company (Dransfields) where I sometimes got munchy man or moon base and the like brought home to play on.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 05 Nov, 2013 6:24 pm

[quotenick="tiddler"] jonleeds wrote: Steve Jones wrote: I think the one near C&A you recall Jon was the original Computer Exchange ,now shortened to CEX and on the headrow.it was there for quite a few years before moving. Hi, I'm not sure if it was called The Next Level? I remember buying R-Type for my spectrum 128k from a stall in Peel Market in Morley in the late 1980's. I've no idea what the shop was called. I was lucky as a child as my Dad worked as a fruit machine engineer for a Leeds based company (Dransfields) where I sometimes got munchy man or moon base and the like brought home to play on. Wow Tiddler - Peel Market! That brings back some memories... There used to be a shop in the middle of Peel Market run by a sikh chap that my friends and I called "Bandai Andy's" on account of him selling counterfeit look-a-like toys - like rip off Transformer toys and all sorts of cheap made in Hong Kong / Taiwan electronics stuff. Also in one corner of the Peel Market was Ray's Bargain Centre run by the eponymous man himself. His stall was like an old fashioned junk shop selling everything from second hand furniture to old music centres etc. I helped out at Rays on a few weekends as another of Ray's ventures was running the 'MTC' or 'Morley Training Corps' of which I was a member briefly. The MTC was a military styled marching band and we practised playing regularly in the basement rooms of Cross Church Street WMC. We used to play the usual marching band racket accompanying majorettes and the like at the old Morley Carnival and we'd get to join the parade alongside all the floats etc en route to the rugby club where the carnival used to be held in the 1980s.You were lucky indeed to be able to sample arcade games to play on at home. I can remember back then you had to go to the 'feast' or Scarborough / Blackpool etc to get a taste of what video games might be like on home computers in 5 years time. I once worked for a similar company to Dransfields, albeit larger called Music Hire Group whose head office was based not far from where I now live on Low Lane in Horsforth. They moved out of their old HQ a couple of years ago as the company has since been subject to many mergers and takeovers leaving it a sorry remnant of the once mighty company. I was interested to see the other day on the credits to 'The Shining' that Music Hire Group had supplied the machines / jukebokes etc that were used in the movie. They are now a smaller outfit called Gamestec.

Steve Jones · Post by **Steve Jones** » Tue 05 Nov, 2013 8:22 pm

I used to have a ZX81 and then a Spectrum.I dreamed of being able to afford a commodore 64!you can get emulators of all the early computers for your PC complete with copies of the original games,most of which were never copyrighted!