RIP London road Maplin in Westcliff, Southend. Yes the original first store and the size of garage.
If I remember rightly, the early Maplin adverts (in electronics hobbyist magazines) made a play about Maplin being "the site of the Third London Airport" ... yet here we are, still waiting.
Southend was also the home of Solidisk Technology; I
visited those "genius guys" back in 1986 (Sweyne Avenue, IIRC) - and still around, not far away, apparently.
Not so sure about Watford Electronics in, er, Watford, though.
