Balham Optics (south London) Liquidation (ADDED: plus info on successor)

[Steven Tribe]

I have heard from two sources that the only "jobbing" lens workshop in the UK has gone into liquidation. Does anyone else have further information? Although I have never used them, it seems sad that the various grinding and polishing equipment and the associated skilled craftsmen may be lost for ever.

Indeed it is true:

"Publication Date: Friday, 8 October 2010

Notice Code: 2443

Appointment of Liquidators

Company Number: 02670258.

Name of Company: OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS (BALHAM) LIMITED.

Previous Name of Company: Speed 2243 Limited.

Nature of Business: Optical equipment manufacturers.

Type of Liquidation: Creditors.

Address of Registered Office: 257b Croydon Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3PS.

Principal Trading Address: 39 Neville Court, 27/43 Neville Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 2DS


Liquidators' Names and Address: Tommaso Ahmad and Paul Bailey, both of Bailey Ahmad Limited, 257b Croydon Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 3PS.


Office Holder Numbers: 9475 and 9428.

Case Manager: David Perkins, Tel. 0208 662 6070 E-mail: dperkins@baileyahmad.co.uk

Date of Appointment: 29 September 2010.

By whom Appointed: Members and Creditors.

(1220075) "

[GPS]

I can imagine that their service was not in great demand these days. A firm like this cannot live on joyful astro-amateurs alone. Good that we have at least Custom Bellows...;-)

[GPS]

It seems that before it went bust it sold customers lenses that were there for a repair... at least according to an alert at World photography forum...? Google Balham Optical.

[Steven Tribe]

It appears that all of the production assets were already disposed of (to another optical organisation) at the end of October.

I agree that the market for "amateurs" like us must be small but there are a lot of custom-made ciné objectives within the film industry which need CLAs quite often.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

My experience with Balham three or four years ago was so bad, and the service they provided was so poor, that I am surprised they made it this far.

[Pete Watkins]

I've never heard of the company, but as an ex North Londoner I can confirm that they're all crooks south of The River, ask any black cab driver (excepting Silverprint, I think that they're run by North Londoners).
Pete.

[Tony Lakin]

A couple of years ago I purchased a 210mm Computar on Ebay for a very reasonable price, when it arrived from the US the optics were cloudy so I sent it to Balham optics where they had to seperate two of the elements, clean of the old balsam and re cement I also had them multicoat the front element, I was delighted with their service, quality of work all at very reasonable cost (approx. £80) so it wasn't all bad.

[seananton]

I too had only good service, on three occasions, from Balham Optical over the last few years, they will be very much missed. :(

Seán

[Phil Hudson]

My only experience was a lens re-cement job that took over a year and about 20 phone calls to get the lens back. I sensed at the time (1-2 years ago) that the company was not long for the modern world. Still, the job got done in the end....

[spkennedy3000]

Is there anywhere left in London that can do things like multicoating?

[Andrew Plume]

Is there anywhere left in London that can do things like multicoating?

Simon - i'd have a work with Alex Falk at mr cad - it's the sort of thing that he can probably help with - that's aside from the odd unfavourable web post that Alex's business garners plus of course Pete's earlier post regarding the dodginess of South Londoners per se

still, fwiw, I've never been totally happy saaafph of the River

andrew

[Steven Tribe]

Does Croydon count as South London?
As an ex SW17 resident, albeit many decades ago, when the activities on Clapham Common were the most reported "crime", I take mild exception to jokes about south of Thames!

[spkennedy3000]

Thanks Andrew... will look into it.
I will also continue to sit pretty norf innit.

[Andrew Plume]

Does Croydon count as South London?
As an ex SW17 resident, albeit many decades ago, when the activities on Clapham Common were the most reported "crime", I take mild exception to jokes about south of Thames!

Steven, thx - well - Croydon has 'CRO' postcodes, so that presumably excludes that borough from being part of the metropolis per se..............anyhow, apart from Battersea, South London pretty well leaves me wondering, all very low rise architecture and miles after miles of mundane flat lands............very mundane.......in fact incredibly mundane as well

regards

andrew

[Andrew Plume]

Thanks Andrew... will look into it.
I will also continue to sit pretty norf innit.

thx Simon - stay North, stay North...............

andrew

[Steven Tribe]

I understand that all the Balham equipment was taken over by Kingsview Optics who ( at least on their website) don't seem to exclude "small" jobs. May be a useful separation/coating facility for UK and EU?

https://www.kingsviewoptical.com/optical-lens-manufacture-uk/

[Phil Hudson]

Useful information, thanks for sharing.