In October 1973 in far off Israel events were stirring which would have a profound effect on us amidst the property boom.
The Arab nations of Syria, Jordan and Egypt, conspired to attack Israel attempting to first cut it in half at its narrow waist and then defeat it. This was the Yom Kippur War during which for a few days was a touch and go affair, until in a brilliant tactical manoeuvre Moshe Dayan wiped out the vastly superior Egyptian tank force, and this was followed by the occupation of the West Bank and Golan Heights, a source of friction to this day. In retaliation the Arabs raised the price of oil tenfold from $2 to $20 with a result that there was a sudden increase in prices starting the first great period of inflation. The building at Cobham was nearing completion with the final finishing touches being made. We had a wonderful frontage of about 80 foot long all set out with dazzling spot lights to make the maximum impact. The decor was designed around the golds, russets and greens of autumn tones. But when it came to the opening in early December the miners went on strike demanding a 20% wage rise, a not unreasonable demand bearing in mind the sudden rise in inflation following the rise in oil prices. The Heath government dug its toes in, there was a shortage of coal for the power stations and electricity was rationed eventually culminating in the whole of the country working for only three days a week. We could not get the stocks to fill the shelves as everything was rationed by the national slowdown. The wonderful lighting system that we had envisaged making such a startling impact, was instead supplanted by emergency Calor Gas Lights as we groped around in the cold darkness of mid-winter. As a result we began to go heavily into debt with our high interest payments and without the expected income to service the loan. I was nearly round the bend with worry, and at my wits end trying to get the new large enterprise off its feet, and yet maintain our profitable Horsham branch in the face of of this financial disaster. I spent my time in my new saffron yellow Triumph Stag driving between the shops encouraging and managing to the best of my ability. But the more I concentrated on one the other would falter. Jill saw my problem and offered to help in the winter school holidays. She was such a solid standby, and so invaluable in rallying all the staff, that she then agreed to give up her teaching post and help me full time. Everywhere businesses were crashing and enormous international paper empires such as Slater Walker built up on asset values and huge borrowings during the boom disappeared into the dustbin of history owing countless millions.However with her help we stabilised the situation, but the loss of impetus at the opening never was made up and the business limped along for another year and a half. The manager I had was not the right man for the job, there was a fiddle going on which I could not with certainty pinpoint and finally in February 1975 I woke up one morning at 6 am and turned to her in bed and said that the only solution was to close the place down before it closed us down. I did not talk to accountants or anyone, but arrived instead at the shop at 9 am and dismissed all the staff on the spot. They were all quite flabbergasted, but it was the correct if ruthless thing to do, as in business one should never persevere throwing good money after bad. Later that week I went to London to see my Bank Manager, who was not in a good mood having had to digest the Stern Property holding that had just gone down for £120,000,000. He was on the point of closing me down as well, but eventually after a lot of quiet pleading backed up by sound logic, he agreed to a few months breathing space whilst we moved stock, consolidated ourself and most luckily of all after 6 months I managed to get a good tennant who has been there ever since and whose rent has helped expand our business. Jill my dearest wife was like a rock of stability by my side through all this trauma, helping me in the business but even more important running our home, feeding, cooking and nurturing us all at this very testing time.During the later seventies we slowly retrieved our position helped largely by our Calor Agency which proved its worth during a period of continuous winter power shortages and strikes. So we survived the crisis which at one point in 1975 saw the stock market drop to 140 lower even than at the height of the war . Ted Heath called an election with the feeling of revolution and chaos in the air. I and my friend Bill both filled a dustbin of flour as an emergency should there be a total collapse of authority and anarchy as Britain was in an absolute crisis. We worked and worked just like so many other small businesses in the country, trying to save our homes and our livelihoods as we were all swept along by huge financial forces unleashed by totally incompetent governments, the worst of all being that run by Ted Heath. The one bonus that came out of all this effort and adversity was my ever increasing admiration and far deeper love for Jill my Honey and her staunch support at this critical time. Whereas when we were first married for the first ten years or so in Ceylon in that lovely tropical paradise, with our grand establishment, our love was one built largely on sexual attraction, nubility and a desire to enjoy ourselves to the full, now however we had a far deeper love that had been tested for the second time in the harshest adversity that made the bond between us so secure that it was to prove to be forever unbreakable. That at least was the one blessing to come from this unhappy time.
There were a few lighter moments a couple of which I would mention at Cobham.We used to have a great number of media celebrities patronising our store, one of whom was the excellent television comedian Dick Emery. Invariably he would drive up on his enormous 4 cylinder motor cycle which he would park on our front pavement whilst he visited his ex-wife Vicky who had a boutique for expensive ladies fashions next door. Although divorced they were still on good terms, as I suppose one had to be with such a nice, witty and friendly personality. Jim Slater also would visit us both and one day during the crash he had a tale of woe from Vicky about how bad business was. “I lost £500 last week” she complained to him one day.
“ Yes it was a bad week” he agreed “ I lost over £5,000,000!”
In fact he was to lose more and more in the following weeks until eventually he went down like so many into the whirlpool of the slump.
One of the problems that quickly became apparent once we had opened the store was a constricted access at the rear of the shop. Our property was roughly L shaped and we needed more space in the centre of the right angle, but the property there was owned by Vicky. She in turn wanted to build a garage with access over our roadway. The answer was to acquire more land, from the neighbour beyond and then do a mutually beneficial deal. I asked Stewart from who I had bought the property, and he said that I had no chance as the old lady Mrs Cheney was renowned for being difficult, eccentric and very cantankerous, and also very wealthy owning a lot of rental property around the area.
I plucked up courage and one bright sunny morning went and knocked on her door. It opened and I was confronted by this old dishevelled crone who came to the doorstep.
“What do you want? Oh you are the new owner from next door. I know you want to buy my garden don’t you? Well you are not having that, I ‘ll tell you that straight away.”
Having the wind taken so suddenly out of my sails before Ihad a chance to say anything I replied:
“What I really would like is just to have a chat about our problems”.
“Oh well come in then, and I will make you a cup of tea”
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