Piano manufacturer in Stroud England

[NewAge]

Would you happen to know please, which piano company it was that had a piano factory down by a river near to Stroud? We always used to pass it on our way up North from Bristol but haven't been that way for a number of years now?

[Gill the Piano]

I think Bentleys were there, later Woodchester? A long time ago there was Goddards, who made piano felts and supplied spares too I think. Bill will know more.

[Bill Kibby]

Not surprisingly, it was the Stroud Piano Co., who later changed their name to Bentley in 1966.

[Barrie Heaton]

Then in *1998 it was Woodchester Piano co then the final one was the British Piano Manufacturing Co. Ltd. who On 14 July 2000 merger between Whelpdale Maxwell & Cod Ltd., London, and Woodchester Pianos, to form the new company and on Monday, 7th April, 2003 they went into liquidation

*Not sure about the 1998 but it was around that time

Barrie,

[PianoGuy]

I think Bentleys were there, later Woodchester? A long time ago there was Goddards, who made piano felts and supplied spares too I think. Bill will know more.

Yeah it's on the A46 I think. Originally it was Grover and Grover and the Stroud Piano Co. Historically that area made felt for military uniforms and pianos, so Gill could be right about Goddards, but I always thought that they were a London company.

Grover and Grover's were renamed Bentley some time in the 1930s supposedly after an off-the-cuff remark by Her Maj. the Queen Mother (Queen at the time of course!) who was visiting the factory. Some later Bentleys have the Grover and Grover name inside the top, and earlier ones had the Stroud Piano Co. logo despite having "Bentley" on the fallboard. There was a famous court case between that factory and author Laurie Lee who grew up nearby. In the first edition of "Cider With Rosie" he wrote , "The local piano factory was having its annual fire. It seemed to be their way of balancing the books". Lee lost the case and all later editions have the sentence removed. Renowned for having the odd fire since, one in the early '90s virtually finished the factory off, and the Bentley piano rights were shortly aterwards acquired by Whelpdale Maxwell & Codd Ltd in London and production moved to Clapham.

The former Bentley workforce set up the Woodchester Piano Co on the site of the old Bentley factory building pianos largely from kits (supplied, it appeared, by Petrof, Legnica, Klein and an unknown cheap Chinese maker) and in a twist of fate were taken over by Whelpdales in the late '90s, (possibly early 2000s?) so Bentley pianos were once again made in the factory. At some point the whole organisation was renamed "British Piano Manufacturing Co." and the whole outfit disappeared around 2003. Last time I passed that way on my way to the West Country, I made a detour (it's a dozen or so miles north of the M4) to see the remains of the factory. It's quite a nice building, and looks a bit like a tiny version of the Aeolian works pictured in a recent thread. The BPMC name was still on the front even though production had long since stopped and the place ghostly and deserted.

[chrisvenables]

[quote="PianoGuy"][quote There was a famous court case between that factory and author Laurie Lee who grew up nearby. In the first edition of "Cider With Rosie" he wrote , "The local piano factory was having its annual fire. It seemed to be their way of balancing the books". Lee lost the case and all later editions have the sentence removed. Renowned for having the odd fire since, one in the early '90s virtually finished the factory off quote]

The story was that the worried suppliers of parts to Bentley, when sending out their monthly statement, would always enclose a complimentary box of firelighters and a box of matches..

[PianoGuy]

Not surprisingly, it was the Stroud Piano Co., who later changed their name to Bentley in 1966.

Well before that surely?

More like 1936?

I frequently tune old pre-WW2 Bentleys, and sadly not the fast green variety.

Legend has it that HRH Elizabeth visited the factory around then and was shown the top-of the-range Stroud piano (Heaven help us!) by the management who proudly proclaimed it to be their "Rolls-Royce" model.
HRH quipped back whilst pointing to a smaller piano, "If that is the Rolls Royce, then this must be the Bentley".
Grover's management must then have checked with the Trade-Marks office and found that Bentley Motors had only registered their name in one category, leaving it free for them to plunder and apply to their own peculiarly low-rent instrument range.

I say "Legend" because if the old bird had actually said anything like that, she would most probably have said "Then this must be the Daimler" since at that time Bentley were manufacturers of racing cars rather than luxury limousines, and would not have been uttered in the same breath as Rolls Royce and especially as Daimler held the Royal warrant as car makers to the Palace.

[NewAge]

Many thanks to all for this excellent feedback. A mine of information!

[vernon]

THE REP FoR gODDARDS pIANO pARTS IN THE 70'S WAS mR cOLLARD WHO WAS DIRECTLY RELATED TO cOLLARD AND cOLLARD.
nOT MANY PEOPLE KNOW THAT.
HE had A FINE WHITE HANDLEBAR MOUSTACHE
sorry, cap locks on. Can't be bothered to do it all again.

[PianoGuy]

THE REP FoR gODDARDS pIANO pARTS IN THE 70'S WAS mR cOLLARD WHO WAS DIRECTLY RELATED TO cOLLARD AND cOLLARD.

The Collard family settled near Wiveliscombe in Somerset I think, so same part of the country give or take !

[Gill the Piano]

i interviewed Mr Collard (near Windsor) for my MA; he gave me original letters from Clementi to look at!

[vernon]

Gill
That's terrific.
What things turn up here.

[Bill Kibby]

The 1966 date was quoted from a website which is perhaps best left anonymous, but they were certainly calling themselves the Bentley Piano Compnay in their 1935 ad.