Axminster Tools in administration.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Sorry to see Axminster go but in truth I haven’t used them since they shut their Basingstoke store.  I used to drop off the M4 and divert through B’Stoke on the way back home from No1 Son. That was probably some years ago now (I tend to lose track of time these days).

However, I’m going to (already do) miss Arc Euro a lot more!  🙁

Slightly off topic, No2 Son took me to our local Pub twice last week, so we are trying to do our bit to keep them in business. It’s the same as everything else – use it or lose it.

Regards,

 

IanT

[IanTParticipant @iant]

PS I’m getting old – it was the M3…..Duh!

 

IanT

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I bought a nice 4-jaw from them but it was a standard make, not their own.  And they used to have their own sliding gauge to set a known distance from an edge, made for woodworking but great for metal tool.  Machined all over from heavy gauge stainless with engraved mm scale.  One day I will add a vernier scale to it. No longer made alas.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

I bought two things from Axminster’s Nuneaton store, when they did metal working tools, one was good, and one was dire. Shame I had left it boxed for over a year.

 

Lets not forget Reeves went bust once and the site was sold for housing. Or maybe like Arc they just retired, everybody in there looked old.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

Everyone looked “old” to me at one time Dave.

My Nan told me that when policemen started looking like they should still be at school, then I would be “old” like her. I got there some time ago…

Regards,

 

IanT

[southernchapParticipant @southernchap]

There is unlikely to be just one cause for this, and I don’t think we should take the supposed stated reasons for the current insolvency as gospel.

The board are hardly likely to say “Eh, we got greedy, dropped the quality of our items, but failed to drop our prices accordingly” 😀

I haven’t used Axminster for several years and whilst I hope their staff are looked after, I wouldn’t miss them if the ‘new owners’ (“meet the new boss…” :D) failed to make a go of it.

There are almost certainly fewer hobby woodworkers than there used to be, but that drop will almost certainly pale into insignificance compared with the drop in the numbers of hobby machinist’s/metalworkers. Just watch “The Repair Shop”, there’s way more woodworking on that, than engineering type metalwork (and way more bloody crying than is necessary, too!)

Perhaps Axminster should have stuck to woodworking stuff.

Pretty much everything Axminster sold that was related to working with ‘non-organic’ materials was overpriced, and had been for a long time.

One interesting thing is that in that list of creditors, there are a lot more businesses related companies than suppliers of products. Also interesting to note is that SEIG aren’t on that list.

For our hobby, Arc were a much greater loss than Axminster.

One thing that might suggest that that a business is relatively healthy is the number of times you see site-wide sales with a percentage discount, that makes one think “Oooh yes, I’ll have me a piece of that!“.

Chronos have had a couple of these at 20% recently (10% being a non-noteworthy discount).  RDG seem to only do 10% site-wide and I don’t remember seeing Tracy Tools do any discount (although I don’t often visit their site so that may be wrong; I should because they really are great at what they do).

Warco only ever seem to offer 10% site-wide, although they do offer steeper discounts on individual products sometimes.  They also have a new site on the way, and are getting their showroom sorted.  If Warco goes, that will be seriously worrying.

 

[JAParticipant @ja]

I have always believed that discounting is the way of shifting unwanted stock or selling items made for discounting (that are already made to a bottom price). For a business to rely of discounting is dangerous and best left to supermarkets and wine merchants.

We, the general public, have got use to very frequent sales periods. If you miss one some firms will start a new sales a week or two later.

JA

 

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

I got this link to an Axminster publicity video about their manufacturing facility by email today.

It all looks very modern and up to date – a lot of investment involved.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Well, let’s hope they prosper.

They won’t if too many of us think that like milk, it all comes from the supermarket – meaning in our terms a few giant Chinese and US on-line retailers.

One striking point the video makes, though not deliberately, is just how few people are now needed to make so many items.

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

I do hope they prosper but it will be a struggle as their competitors in the far East do not have the cost burdens that our industries have to contend with.

Tony

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Careful what you say about burdens, that’s many of us with our state pensions and free healthcare.

Getting back to the point is the manufacturing building over the road from the shop? That should help with freight charges and delivery times. Do they have a viewing gallery?

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The pressures on importers are not just commercial.

Arc Euro closed because the owner wished to retire, and no other company was prepared to take on the business.

That was bad news for many of us.

the pricing package has a lot to do with sales volumes.

Arc Euro sold may items that were, ostensibly, the same as those on offer from other suppliers.

The obvious case were the machines, Arc offered the most basic package at a low price, with a 12 month hobby use warranty. Axminster offered ostensibly the same machines, in a different colour scheme, with a longer warranty; at a higher price.

On the face of it you can buy similar machines, from the same manufacturer, from other U K Importers, (and elsewhere in the world)  The package, and the price will be different, as will the support provided.

All suppliers have to make a profit, to survive, and need to offer a package and price combination that customers want and are willing to afford.

What you ultimately get is your decision, partly based on what you are prepared to pay.

Hopefully, the configuration of Axminster will continue to provide the same quality of product, and back up, as before, if not better.

Time will tell.

Howard

 

[Howard Lewis]

On Howard Lewis Said:

The pressures on importers are not just commercial.

Arc Euro closed because the owner wished to retire, and no other company was prepared to take on the business.

Howard, in the early 2000’s we at Amadeal placed an order with Sieg for several of their C3 lathes. They proved to be popular selling very quickly, and so followed up with a full container of assorted mills and lathes. Unfortunately pressure was put on the Sieg company not to supply us. No names, no pack drill!

At that time we were trading successfully with Real Bull and did so for a few years. With limited range we found Weiss who have a much greater product range and who have become our main supplier.

Incidentally, The CEO Michael Wei of Weiss on one of his visits to our warehouse in East London let slip that Warco stopped buying from them as we had become a customer of theirs.

Hugh                                                                                                                                  Amadeal Ltd

 

 

[Adrian R2]

On Adrian R2 Said:

Careful what you say about burdens, that’s many of us with our state pensions and free healthcare.

Getting back to the point is the manufacturing building over the road from the shop? That should help with freight charges and delivery times. Do they have a viewing gallery?

I wasn’t actually thinking of state pensions or free healthcare [obviously not ‘free’) but we’ll leave it there.

Tony

[IanT]

On IanT Said:

Everyone looked “old” to me at one time Dave.

My Nan told me that when policemen started looking like they should still be at school, then I would be “old” like her. I got there some time ago…

Regards,

 

IanT

“Join the police and look younger every year!”

[Tony Pratt 1]

On Tony Pratt 1 Said:

On Adrian R2 Said:

Careful what you say about burdens, that’s many of us with our state pensions and free healthcare.

Getting back to the point is the manufacturing building over the road from the shop? That should help with freight charges and delivery times. Do they have a viewing gallery?

I wasn’t actually thinking of state pensions or free healthcare…

Tony

I strongly suggest they are thought of.   Best practice is to  “Follow the money”.  It will reveal what the biggest burdens on industry really are, and who would have to pay to reduce them.  The answer may not be what we expect or want!

Failure to consider the figures led a bad economic mistake in 2016. (Forget the debate, the results are in!)  I don’t suppose wishful thinkers expected to cost British industry between 4% and 15% pa depending on sector, but that’s what happened.  A major ongoing burden, still not fixed in 2026.  Perhaps Tony has thought of a way of reducing it, roughly £50bn per year in lost trade and increased bureaucracy.

Big numbers, not meaningfully reduced by tinkering with trivial costs like unemployment benefits (less than 2bn.)  The cost of work-related ill-health is about £20bn, somewhat reduced by H&S.   Pensions £160bn.   Energy imports cost the UK £117bn in 2022 when the market went mad, but fell to a more normal  £24bn last year.  The energy burden, and the UK’s dependency on foreign energy, is being reduced by going green.  UK energy is relatively highly taxed compared with most countries, about £40bn.  Other burdens can be looked up, one group of the population being very expensive.

My advice, don’t assume there are any easy answers.  Do a spreadsheet! And then follow the logic, even if it means one’s favourite sacred-cows will be slaughtered.  Don’t expect to get off scot-free – we are all guilty, more-or-less.  And there are other priorities – I’d double Defence spending.

🙂

Dave

[southernchapParticipant @southernchap]

Well said, Dave.

[cedric 1Participant @cedric]

Those on state pensions and healthcare are not a burden. They paid tax into the system all their working life to fund it. Now they are accessing their own assets.

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Only true for a private pension I’m sorry to say.

State pensions and healthcare are paid for out of day to day taxation, i.e. by those in work or running businesses now. What you paid in your NI and taxes while working was spent on the previous generation, there is no fund of money held or set aside.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

MANY years ago, Herbert Morrison said that this weeks benefits payment were funded by were last week’s income!

As a country, we have problems.

The productive age group are diminishing. Folk are getting older, more are claiming benefits, and fewer are actually generating wealth. Net result less government income, but greater demands. (Justified or not)

When Britain generated wealth by making things that could be sold, it was rich.
It would be good if we returned to generating wealth by making things that are sale able.

Relying on paper transactions is risky, since the markets are extremely variable, and can change in a moment depending on any politician’s statements, or success (or otherwise)  of a mineral find, (Again vulnerable to political maneuvering)

Life is not that simple or logical!

Howard

[Hugh Stewart-Smith 1Participant @hughstewart-smith1]

Howard,                                                                                                                                                    perhaps it would be a good thing if more than a few people took a leaf out of my copybook. I was 80 last December and work a 60 hour week, and more. Hard work too, including moving machinery around and more.                          I’m also a landlord with a considerable portfolio of properties in East London  since the late 1970’s and property developer as well, carrying out the gas and electrical installations myself but employing brickies and roofers.

As a result of the above I end up with a rather large tax bill which all helps to pay the increasing benefits bill. Somebody has to pay for the work-shy.

The only downside to my life is my wife who nags me incessantly to sell up and go back to the country from whence she came – Malaysia! Funnily enough, when I went there in 1979, I stayed on the island of Penang and even then decided that I would retire there. So maybe I (sorry, we) might well do so. Life in the UK just isn’t the same as it was.

Hugh                                                                                                                          Amadeal/HarrysMachineShop Ltd

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Please, let’s not have this nonsense about “work-shy” benefit recipients.

Over 40% of benefit claimants work – they just don’t get paid very much, not enough, in particular, to cover the rents charged by rapacious landlords. Some of the hardest-working people I’ve known have been in the low-wage category, and, as we discovered during the pandemic, some of those jobs are the most important to society.

Of the remaining 50-odd percent, once you’ve deducted those who are too old to work, those who are too ill to work, and those who are signing on whilst in between jobs (a substantial but ever changing cohort), you really don’t leave very many “work-shy” to demonise.

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

On 29 January 2026 at 17:57 Howard Lewis Said:
“The productive age group are diminishing. Folk are getting older, more are claiming benefits, and fewer are actually generating wealth. Net result less government income, but greater demands. (Justified or not)”

Please spare a thought for people from the older age group with advanced care needs who might otherwise be a significant drain on the taxpayer in the form of care fees, but who are cared for entirely by their own family, thereby saving the taxpayer millions.

In our case, with two parents bed-bound in their own home with the severest dementia you will ever encounter (dementia they have had for a combined total of nearly forty years), I would estimate we have saved the tax payer at least £3 million to date.

And I still go out to work (albeit part-time) and pay my own taxes whilst doing 90% of the parental care myself.

If you want proof of this speak to the BBC’s Social Affairs Editor Alison Holt, who, given the unusualness of our case, interviewed me at length a couple of years ago.

Not everyone who looks like they might be a drain on the taxpayer is a drain on the taxpayer – arguably the reverse.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Hugh, I hope you have current tickets for gas and electricity installation, otherwise it might be best to keep your head down

[duncan webster 1]

On duncan webster 1 Said:

Hugh, I hope you have current tickets for gas and electricity installation, otherwise it might be best to keep your head down

Duncan, since running my retail business I’ve left all the gas and electrics to the experts but all the installations that I used to do were certificated and now all the Gas Safe annual tests and 5-year electrical ones are carried out. Thanks for your concern though!

The problem now is that the price for replacement parts has gone through the roof (still, better that the boiler going through the roof!) I use to be able to replace a diverter valve on a Worcester boiler for around £35 and now it’s about 10x that and even more fitted, a lot more I think.

Hugh                                                                                                 Amadeal/HarrysMachineShop

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