08th October 2025
Pextons celebrates 90 years as a hardware shop
Pextons in the late 1960s
One of our well-known shops on Bishy Road, with a reputation throughout York and beyond, is Pextons Hardware, known by this name for 90 years. It's a shop where you can go and ask for ‘one of these’ and get expert advice on how to solve household problems. Nearly every square inch is filled with a useful tool, fixing, or gadget, and the staff are always very willing to advise, with well-known faces there - Todd, Bobby, Jonathan, Tessa, Lee and Lucien.





 Johnny Hayes told us "When we moved into Pextons we had boxes full of railway toilet locks that had the engaged sign on. There were lots of 1920s window catches beautifully wrapped in tissue paper. We had blanks for church keys 9” long, 'beaver stones’ to wash the front doorstep, and carbolic soap. People would come to us from all over York to buy black lead. Everything had to be cut, just on the counter, you would just make do and mend."
Johnny Hayes told us "When we moved into Pextons we had boxes full of railway toilet locks that had the engaged sign on. There were lots of 1920s window catches beautifully wrapped in tissue paper. We had blanks for church keys 9” long, 'beaver stones’ to wash the front doorstep, and carbolic soap. People would come to us from all over York to buy black lead. Everything had to be cut, just on the counter, you would just make do and mend." Todd Lepage
Todd Lepage
