Southdown Hardware

Wearing a mask, I walk in through the open door when no-one else is in there (apart from the two owners) and pick up want I want to buy. In the meantime, someone enters the shop having picked up some items from outside and strides up to the till. I wait patiently, standing two metres away, while they try to find the price for one of this woman's items. Then the male owner tells me there is a sign on the door that says it's one person in at a time (accusing me of ignoring this) and asks me to give the other customer "space". I take another step back and say I didn't see the sign (the door was open and I entered from a direction that meant I would not have seen it). I also ask the customer if she saw the sign. She says she did not see the sign but would leave the shop if someone asked her to (she was kinda snooty). I ask the female owner if they are asking me to leave the shop (as it simply hadn't occurred to me that they would be that rude to a customer). She says "I think you should" or very similar words. So, they actually let someone enter after me and then asked me to leave? Astounded and frankly infuriated, I tell them I'm ("f*cking") leaving - replacing my item with, I think, the strong implication that I'm not coming back - and the female owner replies "good". As I'm leaving they then start complaining about me loudly so I turn back and iterate that the other customer had missed their precious sign and add my view of the male owner (who had accused me of ignoring their sign). The snooty woman who had entered the shop after me, and thus should rightly have waited outside/been asked to leave, even had the balls to complain about me swearing. Covid in a nutshell. Arbitrary rules and nobs. Though there's always been plenty of the latter. Probably both. * The owner has now responded saying they're struggling and playing the age card. They were combative enough in the store but perhaps if they don't want to lose or anger customers they should not accuse them or ignoring signs and ask the second person into the store to leave rather than the first if they want to police their seemingly arbitrary rule (which renders their one-way system completely pointless).

Really awesome shop for aspiring DIYers, it always seems to have exactly what I need! Straight talking owner also always willing to help, not sure what I’d do without it!

The owner is very knowledgable about all his products and very helpful.

If you need harware items in and around Harpenden, make this your first port of call

Helpful staff and has most things that you might need from such a shop at reasonable prices. At times of sky high fuel costs it is the first port of call for most hardware as there is nothing similar without travelling out of town.

You know those hardware shops that you know will stock whatever it is you might possibly need? This is one of them. Yesterday I bought three bolts - the exact size and quantity I needed.

Great shop for those DIY projects you've always promised to finish. They've always had just the tool/screw/nut/bolt/washer/thing that I needed. Very helpful and always useful to 'bounce an idea off'. We need to support local 'shops like this or there will be no local anything.
Thank you.

A great Aladdin's Cave of everything you need in an emergency - and more. The only frustrating thing is the short opening hours - every day is a half day. It's important to us to support local business, but it's not always feasible here.

This hardware store is fantastic. When you think that there is no way that they can have what you need, they always manage to save the day. Great local business.