Edwin Hall & Co.

Edwin Hall's Name and Address, as written on the base of a Genevieve ride

Edwin Hall was a fairground artist for R.J. Lakin and, in the early 1950s, bought the company from Lakin.  For a short time, he continued as a fairgound ride manufacturer before going into the coin operated ride business in 1953 under the name of 'Edwin Hall & Co.'  The company went on to manufacture some of the best coin operated rides in the UK, with Hall often being years ahead of other companies with his innovative ideas.  He was the first to create character rides, give his machines exciting new motions (hydraulics for helicopters, oscillating for boats etc.) and add music via record players in the bases.

Edwin Hall's Factory, British Pathé, 1956

The Edwin Hall & Co. workshop was located at 67 Besley Street, Streatham, and most of their rides were distributed by Edward Savill Amusements, who was based just around the corner!

Edwin Hall's factory, 1975

Edwin Hall never strayed far from his fairground artist roots.  Many of his beautiful ride designs were based on paintings from funfair rides.  Take a look at his old paintings of horses and spaceships and you might recognise some familiar characters.  His earliest coin operated rides were sold on massive bases, usually ornately decorated in fairground style with signwriting spelling their names and "6d a ride" on the side along with other small pictures and decorations.  The toys themselves were also beautifully decorated in incredible detail, with leather tack and real horse hair manes and tails, and canvas sails for boats.  Alas, as the years went by, the rides had to be simplified to keep the cost of manufacturing down and because, unfortunately, children in amusement arcades don't tend to respect fragile works of art!  From what I've seen and heard, I feel as though Hall was disheartened by his own machines in later years.  He was an artist and never happy unless his work lived up to his own high expectations, although his machines were still far better than most on the market at the time.  He tried to keep the fairground link alive in other ways though and I could always feel the "magic" surrounding his rides as a child, even though they were well worn and patched up by that era.

Alongside coin operated rides, Hall did still manufacture the occasional fairground ride, including helicopters, twisters and children's gallopers.  He also imported some other amusement machines, including the Peppy the Dancing Clown puppet machine from the USA in the late 50s.

Edwin Hall and his wife Edith announced their decision to close the factory in July 1975, siting Edwin's declining health as the main reason behind the closure.  They also said the growing difficulty of sourcing affordable quality materials has made it near impossible to produce the rides to the high quality that their customers had come to expect.

Edwin Hall, shortly before selling the company in 1975

The company was taken over by RG Mitchell in September of that year.  Hall was manufacturing a range of approximately 25 models at the time of closure, all of which Mitchell gained design and manufacturing right to after purchasing the company.

However, Edward Savill also appears to have obtained some moulds/ride designs during the closure and began manufacturing and selling a few models as part of his own range in the late 70s.

Ride Releases

1953 - Georgie the Giraffe, Muffin the Mule, Silver the Cowboy Horse
1954 - Spaceship, Gracie the Giraffe, Trigger, Zebbie
1955 - Comical Horse, Heli-Jet, Puffing Billy, Tommy Tug Boat
1956 - Davy Crockett Horse, Flying Saucer, Moon Rocket, Round-About, Speed-O-Bike
1957 - Crane, Galloping Horse, Genevieve, Noddy's Car, Noddy's Rock-a-Boat, Noddy's See-Saw, Sputnik
1959 - Big Wheel, Galleon
1960 - Carousel, Horse
1961 - Highway Patrol
1962 - Chi-Chi the Panda
1963 - Double Animal Ride, Supercar, Veteran Car
1965 - Deer
1966 - Dalek, World Cup Willie, Tortoise
1968 - Magic Roundabout
1969 - Apollo Moon Probe, Dolphin, Ostrich, Snail, Squirrel
1970 - Minicross De Luxe Motorcycle (Distributors), Lotus Ford
1971 - Basil Brush
1973 - Elephant, HMS Neptune
1975 - Helicopter II, Rock-a-Boat
Unknown - Bugs Bunny I, Bugs Bunny II, Chipmunk, Fireball XL5, Flower Pot Men (?), Giraffe, Jet Bike, Kangaroo, Helicopter, Pinky and Perky, "Space Ranger" (?), "The Surf Rider" (?), Twin Gallopers