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Good Quality British Made Garden Tools. Any Manufacturers Left?

Reluctant_GardenerReluctant_Gardener Posts: 284
in Tools and techniques
Per the title.
Also I came across Bulldog Smith & Hawken brand online. "Made in England" it said though that can mean final assembly.
Does anyone know anything about them.  Have they anything to do with Bulldog who had a forge in Wigan? 
Smith and Hawken were a garden centre or catalogue firm in the USA.

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Don't know about Bulldog but the RHS endorse Burgon and Ball.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • PerkiPerki Posts: 2,527
    Bulldog are probably the best tools you could ever wish for , they come at a price though £££. Not sure about loppers / secateurs never used them but if they are anyway near as good as their spades etc they should be really well made .

    I don't believe they have anything to do with Smith and Hawk 
  • Bright starBright star Posts: 1,153
    This website was recommended to me by someone on this forum. They review various garden tools and equipment by different companies and Bulldog tools often get a mention. It’s called Fred’s Shed. 
    Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    The Burgon & Ball factory is just down the hill from my parents' house. I don't know whether all their stuff is still made there though.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • Reluctant_GardenerReluctant_Gardener Posts: 284
    Obelixx said:
    Don't know about Bulldog but the RHS endorse Burgon and Ball.
    The last time I had a look round a garden centre a coupl of years back I saw those and didn't think much of them at all. 

    Muddle-Up said:
    'Bulldog' tools are still made in Wigan, as far as I know.  B & B are made 'for the stylish gardener' if that matters to you, in Sheffield.
    Bulldog's forge is now in India. The handles are made in Wigan in the remaining part of their factory (part of it is a market now), then assembled.

  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    edited August 2019
    Richard Carter’s tools are made in the UK I believe

    https://richardcarterltd.co.uk/product-ranges/garden-spades-forks/

    Here’s another one, a related company to Carters

    https://www.mygardenspade.com/
    Rutland, England
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    Not sure why it matters where tools are made...frankly I'd take anything Swiss or German made over anything else. And surely any UK company that wants to compete and survive is part of the global economy, or it becomes a boutique proposition for the mega rich. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited August 2019
    I was brought up with the belief that edged tools should be made in Sheffield, and I'm sticking to it as far as I can :)
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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