Enfield Toys

Having always been a fan of childhood and toys and with such famous local names (Matchbox, Spears and Lone Star) we wanted to celebrate that aspect of the place we love. We co=delivered an exhibition at Enfield Museum called ‘Terrific Toys’ covering toys from the 1950s to the 1990s. It had a particular local Enfield flavour of which here is a taste.

The most famous name to come out of Enfield is ‘Matchbox’. Set up by Leslie Charles Smith and Rodney Smith in 1947 (and soon joined by John W. Odell) the company Lesney began making small die-cast metal toy cars and vehicles in an empty pub on the edge of the Edmonton. Their toy cars developed into a regular series of 1-75 vehicles and Matchbox soon became a household name for children with accompanying ranges of cars, plastic kits and other toys, dolls, games and pre-school playsets.

The company moved from their humble Edmonton base in 1955 and eventually ended up at a huge bespoke factory in Hackney (as well as satellite works locally) employing thousands of local people. Sadly in 1982 Matchbox (along with many other famous British toy companies) went into receivership. The brand eventually came into the hands of Mattel who still continue with a Matchbox range of cars. Many of Matchbox’s plastic kits are now released under the Revell name.

With Matchbox ending, Jack Odell set up the Lledo brand and continued to produce die cast collectors vehicles in Enfield until 1999. Original founder Rodney Smith was also involved in other die-cast toy cars in the early 1960s with the toy brand Budgie.

TSL/ Thomas Salter Limited were founded in London in 1913 with five small factories across London – including one in Enfield. They produced a wide range of games and toys with a heavy emphasis on activity and educational toys. Their local connection moved when they relocated to Fife, Scotland in the mid 196os.

W. Spear and Sons was one of the largest producers of board games during the 20th century. Founded in 1879 by Jacob Wolf Spier in Germany in 1879, they moved to a factory in Brimsdown, Enfield in the 1930s.

For decades they produced a vast assortment of different board games, craft sets, activity packs and toy builder sets. The chances are that in every pile of old household games in Britain has a Spears game sitting there waiting to be played. In 1954 the company acquired the rights to produce and market a relatively new US game which you may have heard of. It was called Scrabble.

DCMT / Lone Star. If you were a fan of ‘cowboys and Indians’ or ‘spy’ films then Lone Star was the toy for you. From the late 1930s, under the DCMT name, they manufactured scores of die cast and plastic toys for children. From household play things to a very popular range of miniature ‘Treble OOO’ scale trains their cap guns, famous ‘spudmatic’ potato gun, and later James Bond and Man from Uncle licensed toys are now often iconic collector items. In 1956 they moved to a new factory in Hatfield.

Britain’s famous lead (and later plastic) figures and animals dominated the toy world for decades. Although based outside the borough William Britain junior (1859–1933) moved to live in Enfield at the height of his success. Living at Bycullah Road from 1904 and at Southgate from 1921 to 1931 by which time Britain’s output had increased to over four hundred sets with twenty million models a year.

And a national chain of toy shops

Our borough was also home to many toy shops. Mostly gone they still provide many fond memories. One major UK toyshop name that was born locally was the model shop Beatties. It’s first store opened in Southgate before the brand spread to over twenty stores nationally.

Enfield’s most recent foray into toys came from Vivid Imaginations. Launched in Enfield in 1993 by two ex-matchbox employees. The company produced a huge range of licensed television and film products including Thunderbirds and Dr Who toys (like these daleks here). They grew so quickly they soon moved to larger premises outside of the area and became the number one toy company in the UK in 2005.