A Brief Hetchins History
A Great Tradition
– Hyman (Harry) Hetchin started his bike shop in the 1920’s.
– Jack Denny, master builder, joined in 1934.
– Hyman applied for patent for curly stays on Nov. 20, 1934.
– Production started in 1935.
– Hetchins frames were sold through a network of dealers and a large number of frame builder’s were employed to meet demand.
– Production began to decline from about 1953 as cars became more popular.
– Hyman Hetchin died Oct. 19,1961 and the business was taken over by his son Alf.
– Following the “compulsory purchase” (condemned by government to build a highway) of the Tottenham shop, Alf moved the business to Southend-on-Sea in 1974.
– Alf sold the business in 1985 and for a while both he and Jack continued supervise frame building at Bob Jackson’s in Leeds.
– Jack Denny died on August 4, 1991.
– Alf Hetchin died in 1996.
– The Hetchins Company is managed by David Miller in Preston, Lancashire
