Two of the companies involved in this 'cut price' trade already receive mention elsewhere on my site. Marston & Heard (Lea Bridge Rd, London, E.10) purchased surplus KI Monobar cameras post-1965 after it ceased being manufactured. They also advertised having purchased the whole remaining stock of Ilford glossy bromide after Ilford started their new Ilfobrom range in 1967 (see my Ilford Chronology entries for the years 1958 & 1967 for mention of Marston & Heard). Harringay Photographic Supplies Ltd (Green Lanes, London, N4) were the source of a low cost enlarging lens for my Agiscope enlarger around 1962 and advertised discounted Series 1 Ilford Advocate cameras in December 1954.

Other London based companies selling similar cut-price materials and equipment were Frank Martins (Kingsland Rd, London, E8), Brunnings (High Holburn, London, WC1), A.W.Young (mail order at 159 Chatsworth Road, London, E5 and a small retail shop at 81a Lower Clapton Road London E5; also in Tottenham N15 between Seven Sisters Road and Green Lane, behind Severn Sisters tube exit on the main A10), Stratford Photographic Store (Stratford, London E15), Direct Photographic Supply (Edgeware Rd, London, W2) and Malham Photographic Equipment (Malham Rd, London SE23). Over the years, some of these names disappeared and others emerged e.g Brixton Camera Centre (Atlantic Rd, Brixton, London, SW9) and RK Photographic (Finchley, London N3).

I've tried to put these two items of correspondence together in the following narrative.

By the mid-1970s, Marston & Heard and A.W.Young (M&H and AWY) were owned by the partnership of James John (Jim) Costelloe and Werner Schmidt. Ted (Edward) Marston (the original owner of Marston & Heard) was still around but was no longer involved, though he kept looking in on his old company. Bill Rose has commented "Werner Schmidt was previously the manager of Dixons Professional at 27 Oxford Street during the 1960s to early 1970s and later set up Old Timer Cameras in Borehamwood (where he lived). I believe he retired a couple of years ago" (around 2005 ?).

In the mid-1970s M&H and AWY purchased Ilford's remnant stock of Double and Single Weight papers (as Marston & Heard had similarly done in 1967 - see above). A Marston & Heard advertisement in AP for 24th Sept 1975 declares "Special Ilford Paper Purchase - fresh wholesalers stock of Ilfomar Bromide, D/W" (double weight). Ilfomar was a warm tone fiberbase paper.

In the same advert is another section saying "Special Ilford S/W Glossy Normal" (single weight). These printing papers possibly became surplus as a consequence of Ilford introducing their Ilfospeed RC Papers in 1974. It is believed that M&H + AWY paid £100,000 for this stock "a considerable amount of money at the time". There were similar end-of-line paper purchases from Agfa, including the entire remaining stock of Agfa's Brovira and Record Rapid.

Peter Löffler tells me that in July 1975 he founded a mail order company for darkroom materials and accessories in northern Germany at Sandkrug near Oldenburg, called PHOTOTEC. While looking for business partners and mail order supplies he met Jim Costelloe and Werner Schmidt, the owners of Marston & Heard and A.W.Young.  "Mr.Costelloe and Mr.Schmidt needed a partner on the continent and offered some financial investment". In April 1976 they became partners with Mr.Löffler in the form of minority shareholders in his Phototec company and this led to Peter Löffler making the brand name PHOTOTEC available for use in the UK. The formal partnership ended about 1985 when Peter Löffler purchased back the shares he had sold.

The partnership with Mr.Löffler subsequently led to the formation of the UK organisation known as Phototec Centres, a trading name which started appearing in UK photographic magazine advertisements from around mid-1980. Prior to that time, the several companies owned by Jim Costello and Werner Schmidt continued to advertise using their individual company names.

In the late 1970s further companies joined M&H + AWY under the Phototec 'umberella'. The Phototec Centres originally (Amateur Photographer, 11th October 1980) named its several branches as Marston & Heard Photographics Ltd (376-378 Lea Bridge Road, London E.10), A.W.Young Photographic (51 Atlantic Road, London S.W.9), Harringay Photographic Ltd (435 Green Lanes, London N.4) and B.S. Filmservices Ltd (82A Clifden Road, London, E.5). Later, A.W.Young was referred to as the Brixton SW9 branch and Martson & Heard was referred to as the Leyton E10 branch.

By 1982, Phototec (still called Phototec Centres but now emphasising the name Phototec) also had associates in Birmingham (R.Parkes Photographic Ltd (10 Ethel St, B2 4BG) and Peterborough (Peterborough Photographics Ltd, 126 Bridge St, PE1 1DY). These associate dealers were not wholly owned parts of Phototec but were associated in order to form a larger buying group, as was the fashion at that time, in order to obtain goods at lower prices from wholesalers and so be able to undercut retail competitors by offering larger discounts on new equipment.

A Phototec advert in AP for 21st August 1982 has a 'tag' alongside the address of Harringay Photographic Ltd (now referred to as the Harringay N4 branch), proclaining "AP Dealer of the Year Award Winners".

The Phototec name survived in use within the UK until (at least) the end of 1991 as a "Darkroom Materials Suppliers" with the address of The Old Malthouse, Priory Avenue, Taunton, TA1 1QB, selling mainly their own Barfen brand films and chemicals together with some other manufacturer's products.

Rodney Bates, who has been friends with Peter Löffler for many years, tells me that neither Phototec (in the UK) nor Marston & Heard now exist (July 2009) but their spirit lives on in the company Firstcall, which celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2010. They are based at Cherry Grove Rise, West Monkton, Taunton, Somerset, TA2 8LW.

My anonymous information source told me that a little known fact about Harringay Photographic Supplies was that in their labyrinthine maze of a property (sadly now sold and used as a betting shop!) was a top floor flatlet. It was the base and studio for shooting the early Harrison Marks soft core (by today's standards) glamour films! George Harrison-Marks was born 'George Harris Marks' on August 6th, 1926 and died: 6pm. June 27th, 1997.
See this web site for further details.

The above snippet about Harrison Marks' studio being sublet from Harringay Photographic has since (July 2009) been confirmed by Werner Schmidt (thanks Werner !)

An advert in PhotoGuide magazine (p262), for March 1961, suggests "A MUST DURING YOUR VISIT TO LONDON - an EXHIBITION featuring the unpublished works of HARRISON MARKS, Britain's leading photographer of the nude figure. 1st & 2nd Floors, Harrison Marks Studios, 4 Gerrard Street, London, W.1. This address is a long way from Harringay Photographic Supplies at Green Lanes, London, N4. I suspect perhaps the location of the studio for shooting the glamour films may have been kept private and separate from Harrison Mark's business premises, in case of attention from the police. Hence, the studio at Gerrard Street may have been just the advertised business address.