How come Taskers /B+Q etc don't stock 30mm openend spanners??

[noseypoke]

Tried all the shops/stores on two trading estates this afternoon looking for a 30mm...1.3/16"

open end spanner....biggest in all places...27mm??

At the mo I'm driving around(slowly) in my mini without my Hi-LOWS locked up,shitting bricks that they are gonna fall off.

So I had to hunt one down on fleabay for £6.00,won't get it till Wednesday,so I'll be driving like an owl cunt that I am till then,so don't tailgate me just in case  

[Kiltox]

Halfords do one in their Advanced Professional range

[Tamworthbay]

27mm and a grinder? There should be enough meat to nibble 1.5mm off each jaw.

[noseypoke]

Bet it's a bit dearer that £6 tho, 

I'll prob only use it the one time,Cheers for that info 

[Tamworthbay]

Bet it's a bit dearer that £6 tho, 

I'll prob only use it the one time,Cheers for that info 

I have a tub of old crap spanners picked up for pennies that useful for cutting up/ grinding if needed. It's worth keeping an eye out at car boots for the proper old rusty type as you can usually get a handful for a quid.

[noseypoke]

27mm and a grinder? There should be enough meat to nibble 1.5mm off each jaw.

Heh heh,you don't work for the Chinese Tool Co  do ya??.......(one spanner fits all)

[Tamworthbay]

All spanners are adjustable if needs be

[overrun]

Who who?

[RoadworkUK]

Where else can I buy a tool that I've ordered on eBay for £6 already and probably won't need to use again?

 

Good thread, this.

[Richard]

The answer is Cromwell.

[Junkman]

B&Qs are fascinating places.

Despite they are the size of American pharmacies, I always leave them empty handed, because they fail to stock anything I need, want, or am able to afford.

Heck, they don't even sell cigarettes and beer, both being the only things that keep German DIY stores in business.

I have absolutely no idea how B&Q manages to still not have gone Woolworth's way. Then again, looking at the quality* of British housing might explain it.

[mercrocker]

 

I have absolutely no idea how B&Q manages to still not have gone Woolworth's way. Then again, looking at the quality* of British housing might explain it.

 

Part of Kingfisher whose illustrious components once also indeed included Woolies and the unlamented Comet.  

 

The only time I visited a B&Q in living memory was a complete waste of two hours of my time as well.

[sierraman]

I couldn't believe how expensive B&Q were. Timber etc was laughably expensive as was paint. Only thing I've found cheap there was electrical switches, bought a shower switch from there a few months ago was only something like a few quid.

 

Cannot see the point in using them when Screwfix is considerably cheaper and better. Timber etc is always much much cheaper at actual lumber yards. I use a local DIY store for stuff like screws etc, you still buy them by the weight there.

 

Tools though I use machine mart, I've always found their stuff good quality. Ditto for Halfords if you use the trade card.

[NorthernMonkey]

That'll be Screwfix that's owned by B&Q! Lol

[mercrocker]

 Timber etc is always much much cheaper at actual lumber yards. 

  

Not to mention straighter.....

[SiC]

That'll be Screwfix that's owned by B&Q! Lol

Kingfisher group (who owns both) much prefers the screwfix model too. Far, far less theft and more efficient way of operating, as they can stack higher and closer shelves.

[sierraman]

Less pointless displays about how to saw wood in half as well.

[3VOM]

B&Q must do well out of the gardening type stuff, fitted kitchens and volume materials like cement and plasterboard. Other than the cement and plasterboard type stuff, Screwfix is nearly always cheaper. B&Q is also busy Wednesday and weekends and quiet on other weekdays I'm told. If you want even cheaper crap than the cheap stuff in Screwfix, then go to Toolstation which is run by the people who used to run Screwfix.

[sierraman]

Wednesday is OAP discount day.

[noseypoke]

Wednesday is OAP discount day.

You get discounts on OAPs.....hmmm

[gm]

I found one of those oap discount cards in a car at the scrappies - next time I was in b&q I thought I'd give it a go (despite blatantly not being a pensioner) it turned out to have expired but the lovely girl on the till issued me a new one, no questions asked

 

I still use screwfix for most things though

[DodgeRover]

B&Q must do well out of the gardening type stuff, fitted kitchens and volume materials like cement and plasterboard. Other than the cement and plasterboard type stuff, Screwfix is nearly always cheaper. B&Q is also busy Wednesday and weekends and quiet on other weekdays I'm told. If you want even cheaper crap than the cheap stuff in Screwfix, then go to Toolstation which is run by the people who used to run Screwfix.

Toolstation is Travis Perkins, I'm pretty sure screwfix was always b&q from the postal ordering days

[Junkman]

Kingfisher group (who owns both) much prefers the screwfix model too. Far, far less theft and more efficient way of operating, as they can exploit fewer employees for lower wages.

 

EFA

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Unlike B&Q, I find trips to screwfix to be fairly painless although they seem to employ a string of terrifying looking women behind the counters.

[colino]

The nice lady who now heads up Kingfisher got her job on the basis of a, "revolutionary" new strategy to close down the big, expensive, unnecessary sheds (B&Q) and move into the 21st Century, reflecting new online buying and Argos led consumer buying trends that could be serviced with more small warehouses (Screwfix).  Unfortunately, while the ink was still drying on her contract, Wesfarmers of Australia bought Homebase and are about to convert them into their own, "Bunnings" brand, big sheds.

Now B&Q are revising their strategy, have put their active campaign of selling their big sites and seeking more smaller locations, "on-hold" as they revisit the idea that (as with Bunnings) consumers, not tradesmen, want to see the goods before they buy.

In short, they are in a blind panic about the competition and have been frozen into a state of doing absolutely nothing until they see how the Bunnings turnaround works on Homebase.

Nothing new under the sun though, I remember when B&Q had a whole car section that they closed down years ago as they had all the right goods at all the wrong prices.  Today with their new car section, albeit on a smaller scale, I'm pretty sure that each B&Q employs at least one extra member of staff in each big shed to dust down the rows of over-priced oil, equipment and tat that never moves off the shelves.

[3VOM]

Toolstation is Travis Perkins, I'm pretty sure screwfix was always b&q from the postal ordering days

Guy who set up Toolstation did sell it to Travis Perkins.

Screwfix was started as a family business by the same guy doing mail order from a warehouse in Yeovil. Kingfisher bought them out and allegedly part of the buyout was not to start in competition for x years (5?). Toolstation was set up by the same guy as, effectively, a Screwfix mk2.

[overrun]

Toolstation FTW