George Clarke Motors Ltd. Brixton Hill London

[BARRON]

Hello
Does anyone remember a motorcycle shop in London in the '70s ?
Does anyone know George Clarke now ?

[Don Vosper]

I remember Pride and Clarke in Stockwell Road I think. The founder was an Alfred Clarke so maybe George was a relative.

I lived in Fulham so didn't need to go further than Claude Rye on Fulham Road. They also had a small army surplus shop elsewhere in Fulham. He had a brother, Percy, who ran a motorcycle breaker's yard near Stamford Bridge.

I have WW2 radio that I am told came from Pride and Clarke so they must have had an army surplus side to the business as well.

I didn't have a bike in those days, buying my first, a Sunbeam S7, in 1990. Stewart Engineering were in Putney in the 60's and there was a Vincent dealer not too far away plus the Harley Davidson dealer again at Stamford Bridge. Pilgrimages on our pushbikes was as close as I got to the bikes in those days!
Cheers
Don

[mini-me]

George Clarke's place was like a much scruffier Pride and Clarke; he specialised in sidecars as I remember his main new stuff was Panthers fited to huge sidecars.

As for Perce Rye, he was a gold mine of bits,best visited on a Sunday morning when he needed beer money; it was not a yard, but a 3 storey victorian house. Chock full of parts, piled up anyhow.
I remember him well, from the late 1960s
His house was about here. Probaly a million+ quids worth now

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4800678,-0.1895243,3a,75y,164.83h,83.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stxbLXLC3k4LBAz97Ct4qxA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

[Don Vosper]

Moore Park Road was a bit  closer to home than I thought. I remember talk of a few objects coming over the back garden wall on occasions!
I lived in a block of flats at Walham Green, sorry, Fulham Broadway. I never had quite enough money to buy a bike until I finished my apprenticeship and by then all my mates had moved on to cars. A search on the internet brings up an ad for George Clarke selling the Panther combinations.
Claude Rye was a dirt track rider I believe. Had a Yellow E type reg RYE 10. I wonder if the Clarkes had anything to do with the sport.
Don

[rgsjohn]

I found this on the internet. It appears to be the same company: George Clarke Motors Limited, but the address shown is Acton West London not Brixton could this be another branch of the same company? Definately advertising a Panther and side car. As a matter of interest I remember Panthers being sold off at knock down prices by Pride and Clarke towards the end of the sixties. Something Pride and Clarke specialised in, they did the same thing with the Douglas Dragonfly.

[mini-me]

I expect they went up market with the move to Brixton. [you need to be a londoner to get that joke]

I'll have to check through my old mags; that one would appear to be 1954/5?

snide and sharke speciallsed in selling cheap oddities like Pannonia;  TWN; Motobecane scooters, weird mopeds of all kinds and Small Italian stuff,

I bought a good part of their stock when they closed down. Too long a tale to relate here, but I can assure you the name snide and sharke was appropriate right till the end. Staff had more fiddles than an orchestra. I bought a room full of mags and dynamos, there was only half a room full when I turned up to collect them

There was some right crap in Geo Clarkes Brixton Hill shop, even the walls were oily.

[A10 JWO]

I have a Motor Cycling mag from 1961. Pride and Clarke were selling new and used cars at Brixton and Bikes at Stockwell Road ( Ariel Leader £39 deposit 24 payments £7.17.11 )