George Bromley

Does anyone remember a gentleman called George Bromley? He used to live in Kingsland Avenue in the Chapelfields area. My connection with him concerned motorbikes as he was well known for buying and selling them. Many years ago (early 60's) I bought an Ambassador bike from him. I don't remember how much I paid but I don't think it was much. I believe it had a 197cc Villiers engine and from what I recall it was quite a good buy.

Yes, me and my youthful motorcycle-mad friends used to visit George on a regular basis in the 60's looking for various spares for BSA/Triumph/AMC machines. If I remember correctly the bits were 'stored' where he lived - in his back room and kitchen - and covered most of the rear garden. George was a 'character' - real nice bloke but I imagine not too popular with his neighbours. His front privet hedge had reached bedroom window height - unusual in a neat terraced street. There were rumours of stored machines in the bedrooms but we weren't invited there. I also seem to remember he lived on a diet of Lyons individual fruit pies and roll-ups. There were cats too (not part of his diet).

I remember the cats well (there was after all quite a few of them). I recall the bikes being anywhere and everywhere and like you I didn't get to see "the upstairs storerooms". Still, he was certainly a useful source of spares

I remember helping clearing out what I think was his shed in Kingsland Ave, it was full of old brit-bike stuff. Is he any relation to Ken Bromley that has the motorcycle shop in Spon End by the old Bowling Green pub?

I don't know about that but I do know my mates all used to take the mickey as I happen to have the same surname Having said that, as far as I can remember having the same name didn't get me a discount when I bought that Ambassador

Only just seen this topic. Yes, I knew Bromley (as he was called) from my schooldays, and he was a very useful source of second hand spares. He had his old pushbike (he didn't use a motor bike himself) parked in the hallway. He would always answer the door with a question about what you wanted, and his reply was always "might have, might not have one", but he always found something you could use. Stepping into his house was like going back in time - the place had not been decorated for 80 years, the front room was piled high with old wheels and tyres, there was no carpet, just bare floorboards coloured black through many years of adsorbing old engine oil, and the kitchen was his workshop. It was bit like the Norman Bates' house. There was an old faded sepia monochrome photo of a young lady on the wall in the back room; probably his mother or sister taken several decades before. Food - there was always a half-eaten, half-pound bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk on the floor by the ancient stained sofa in the back room. The front hedge had reached guttering height the last time I was there. It wouldn't block the light out, since the old faded curtains were permanently closed. He is no relation of Ken Bromley. Ken Bromley is still in business, and I take my bike there every year for its MOT. He tells me the surname is a pure coincidence.

Thanks for reviving this topic Slim I must have missed it in the past. I was also a "regular" at Bromleys as were many other impoverished bikers in the seventies and his house was exactly as you describe it. He loved to argue, hence his usual greeting. Often when he'd found you a part he'd ask if you've got the correct spanner to fit it and give you one anyway. At one time he also had a white, spherical Sony television which looked very space age but of course being him he ran it without the case on. There were a couple of other people like him about in the seventies with rooms full of bike bits (and there's still at least one today). His arguments with the council over his hedge were legendary and he frequently wrote to the local paper about the way they victimised him (amongst many other things). I have a question - wasn't he also known as Kingsland Joe or is my memory playing tricks?

Yes, OL, he certainly was a character, but always very helpful. His whole life was motorbikes. He sold one bike per week; every Saturday's CET had a classified advert for a different bike. The adverts always looked like a private sale, but in later years they tightened up the regulations, so every advert ended with "Bromley (dealer)". I only went to view one once, when moving up from a 350 Norton - he had a BSA 650 A10 twin for sale. I didn't buy it, but I remember Bromley telling me that "the bloke who sold it me had forgotten the log book; he'd left it at home, so had to pop back to fetch it; he lived in Wyken, and he was back here in surprisingly quick time!" implying the bike was very fast. From my biking days which spanned final school years to my mid-twenties, the fraternity only ever knew him as "Bromley".

Here's an article from the Coventry Telegraph 29th June 1950. Runaway Car Crashes Into Window When his car broke down in Spon End, Coventry, last evening, the driver, George Bromley, aged 37, of Kingsland Avenue, decided to get out and push. But while he was pushing and steering at the same time, the car ran away from him down a slope and crashed into a cafe. The car was slightly damaged and the cafe window smashed. __________ And another article. Coventry Standard 28th November 1942. Did Not Want To Be Killed Conscientious Objector's Joke George Edward Bromley, 29, 51, Kingsland Avenue, Coventry, was summoned at Coventry on Monday for having failed to submit himself for medical examination when liable under the National (Armed Forces) Act to be called up for service. Mr. E E Wagstaff stated that the defendant was registered as a conscientious objector but had been ordered to do non-combatant duties. He failed to appear for his medical examination, and when interviewed by a police officer he said he would not attend as he had a definite objection to going into the Army to be killed. The defendant said those were not his actual words, and what he did say were meant as a joke. He was a conscientious objector. The defendant was ordered to be detained in custody for a medical examination that afternoon. __________ Then on 25th November 1942 in the Coventry Evening Telegraph. Refused To Be Medically Examined. For failing to submit to a medical examination, George Edward Bromley (29), a mechanic of 51 Kingsland Avenue, Coventry, was sent to prison for a month by Coventry magistrates yesterday. Bromley had been previously directed by the court to submit himself for examination, but had refused. Defendant, who works as a motor-cycle repairer, said he thought it was wrong to take part in war. __________ There's more. Coventry Evening Telegraph 23rd March 1943. "C. O." Returns To Prison Stated to have already served one sentence of a month's hard labour for failing to submit himself for medical examination under the National Service Act, George Edward Bromley (29), 51, Kingsland Avenue, Coventry, was sentenced to three month's hard labour by Coventry City magistrates today for again failing to submit to medical examination. Bromley was before the court yesterday when an order was made that he be detained in custody pending a medical examination later in the day. When defendant was taken to Sibree Hall for the examination he refused to submit. Defendant, who was stated by Mr. E E Wagstaff, prosecuting, to be a Conscientious Objector, said he had already served 28 days for a similar offence. "A man has got to do what he thinks is right. If it is against the law it is unfortunate, but a man must not deviate from what he really thinks is right," he added.

Thanks for that Heathite, it certainly shows Bromley's attitude to any kind of authority, he did not like being told what to do! Being a conscientious objector during the war would have made him an object of hatred, violence and ridicule as well as going to prison (and accusations of cowardice). So whether you agree with him or not he was certainly prepared to stand up for what he believed in, and face the consequences.

I agree, he was no fool, and a man of integrity. War is a business, as is cancer - a senior nurse told me the second bit.