Family rallies round to help with closing down sale at car parts emporium in East Barnet village

A vast accumulation of car parts and components — including hard-to-find spares for classic cars — are being sold off at reduced prices following the closure of Falcon Motor Accessories, thought to be East Barnet’s oldest retail business.

Kantilal Tailor – or Ken as he was known to one and all – opened his shop over 40 years ago and the business was carried on by his son Dave (Divyesh), but ill health has forced his retirement.

Dave’s three brothers and sister have rallied round – see above – and under Dave’s guidance they are opening the shop on Saturdays and Sundays for several weeks in the hope of clearing as much of the stock as possible in a massive closing down sale.

Falcon Motor Accessories has pride of place in the village, opposite the mini roundabout and the junction of Cat Hill and Church Hill Road.

Its unassuming shop frontage gives no clue as to what is inside – an Aladdin’s cave of car parts and spares that has been a life support for generations of motorists when they desperately need a vital component for a repair or to get back on the road.

Ken and Dave were both renowned for their knowledge of car parts and accessories – and for going the extra mile in helping motorists with advice and even assistance, especially when it came to replacing items like bulbs, batteries or windscreen wipers.

In 2016 Dave was recognised by the Campaign for Courtesy – and the citation on his certificate praised him for “service over and above the call of duty”.

Hitesh Tailor said that he and his brothers, Rajesh and Alpesh, and their sister Madhuri are hoping that with Dave’s advice and assistance they can sell off his vast accumulation of stock and in the process help grateful customers for valuable parts and spares.

(Family photo above, from left to right – Hitesh, Madhuri, Dave with his courtesy certificate, Alpesh and Rajesh.)

“Car accessories have always been an integral part of our lives. As children we used to help father in the shop.

“Ken was in the car parts business right from the start when he arrived in England from Kenya in 1966 with his wife Chanchal and the rest of the Tailor family.

“He began as a spare parts salesman with Shaw and Kilburn, opened his first shop Regal Motors, in Twickenham, and then in the 1970s we had a small shop in Finchley.

“He started Falcon Motors in East Barnet in the early 1980s and together with Dave they built up tremendous loyalty among their customers.

“Their motto in business was never lose a customer. They would always go the extra mile and track down the part that someone wanted, so Falcon Motors became really well known in the village.

“When Ken retired eight years ago, Dave took over but now he is having to give up as well because of ill health.”

At the rear of the shop is a room filled with is a vast array of spare parts for classic cars – such as pumps, clutch cables, alternators, headlamps – many of which are now out of production.

Alpesh said his father had built up this stock of components during his lifetime in the business and the family hopes the word goes out to classic and vintage car enthusiasts that these spare parts are now being sold off at a discount of up to 50 per cent.

“This is the end of an era for the extended Tailor family and it is important for Ken and Dave that we spread the word and give Falcon Motors’ loyal customers a chance to buy up items they might need in the future.”

Dave’s presence in the shop each Saturday and Sunday is a chance for his many friends to pop in for a chat for old time’s sake.

One veteran customer, Eddie Hutchinson (94) said he had lived in East Barnet for 50 years and had always relied on Falcon Motors for car parts. “Even my children came here for accessories and bits and pieces for their vehicles, so I had to pop in and wish Dave all the best.”

Hitesh said there was a story to the family name. Their grandfather was a tailor when the family lived in Kenya, and he Anglicised his surname to reflect his trade, perhaps little realising that his son and family would have to emigrate to the UK in the 1966.