Shapland & Petter shuts up shop.

I am afraid to report that there was a rather glum pall hanging over our corner in the Marshals towards the end of last week as news came through of the closing of Shapland and Petter, Barum's premier door making factory and one last vestiges of our town's notable manufacturing industrial heritage. It's decline has been somewhat marked over recent years as it has changed hands from one anonymous multinational concern to another, each spin off, divestment,  heralding a gradual whittling away of the workforce and site. As per usual in these cases it is always the poor so & so's who make the product the skilled workers who are the first ones to go those white collar worker, the sales teams etc. who produce nought, are to be retained but will move to a different location. Strange strategy for a business that apparently makes a profit and has orders on the go. Of course funny thing is that this announcement comes only days after it had been announced that the land has been bought up by Asda who hope to build a supermarket on the site. In the pub we was probably correct in assuming that the old Victorian works building are ripe for residential development and shall be marketed along the lines of loft living in North Devon in a highly desirable, prime riverside location. Another thing is certain, they'll no doubt be priced way out of the range of the youngsters who worked at Shappies. Infact,  they'll  more than likely be going at a price beyond the means of all average working people in the area. Still at least we will have another giant supermarket. By my reckoning that will be 11 which isn't bad for a town of some 50.000 people give a take a few.

Made in Barum

Shapland's has now gone the way of Brannam's potteries another local business with a proud history of producing finely crafted products whose reputation extended way beyond the North Devon borders. In the North Devon Museum you can see examples of that craft fine Barumware pottery and what they call Arts and Crafts furniture  that was produced right here in Barum which were then  sold in the showrooms of London and further abroad. It makes you proud to see such fantastic pieces on display.  Even when Shappies just concentrated on producing doors, they were doors of the highest quality and were shipped on a fleet of tricks all over the world. It has been said that the palaces of Ceaucescu in Romania and Saddam Hussein in Iraq were fitted out with doors made here in North Devon. No joke, of course back in the day they were not the bogey men they became just good clients. On a less controversial note I was always led to believe by Ian Stokey's old fella, who worked over there man and boy, that they made doors for Concorde. I reckon he may have been a bit off the mark there but still no doubt about it the finest doors in housing and commercial developments throughout the land came from Shappies. Stokey's old man could always tell a door from a door and he would come back from a away up to see a show at Bristol Hippodrome or a West End theatre trip. " We Will Rock You was blimmin' marvelous and I'll tell you what, they got Shappies doors in the Travelodge we was staying in"  That's one thing about the folk that worked over at Shappies they were always proud of that fact, not that they'd give on as they would bellyache about the place all time but to my mind they seemed to like it.

Years back when, the firm made it's presence felt in the town by the factory hooter which droned across the Taw first thing in the morning, lunchtime and home time.  Daily, my neighbour, Ernie Smale and his colleagues would get on their bikes and make a dash to get over there before the second hooter sounded five minutes later.  The lunchtime hooter would signal a hectic mass pedal back across the bridge which resembled a sprint finish in the Milk race.
They always had the best float in the carnival and their Christmas display was second to none, a true sign that the festive season was upon us.

My own experiences of Shaplands was limited somewhat to the Shappies Social club whose Friday night dos were legendary as they were always a good crowd who worked over there. A proper merry Bunch although I gather that mat have had something to do with the thinners that were used in polishing up the doors. A more raucous evening would have been hard to find. I had some fine old times down there listening to those fine purveyors of scrumpy and western, Shag Connors and the Carrot Crunchers, Jethro before he became world famous and other luminaries of the West Country club circuit like Adge Cutler and his then little known backing band the Wurzels.  A rare old time and  was always on the cards.

Another notable contribution Shaplands made to the town comes in the guise of shovehappeny. Many of the workers played in the leagues, they knew their wood almost spiritually and they were skilled at playing with the grain in order to get the rub of the board. They also knew what lacquers and spirits to apply to a board in order to give it a more "competitive" finish.  Our own family board that was crafted  by a master french polisher, who did a bit of moonlighting producing custom made boards and whose tips on how to maintain them have made ours the envy of the many folk who have been invited to play on it
How can a supermarket and some highly expensive flats ever make such a contribution to the life of a Town? Fact of the matter is it can't . Sad but true.

Here are some recently discovered photos illustrating some of S&P's fine contribution to the commercial architecture of the Town

Interior of the Gaumont, Classic and now Scott's Cinema which was fitted out by Shappies notice the fine period doors

I think that these are the original doors which they have just replaced. Typical.