That's a great picture...typical of small workshops of the time. Note the Union Jack on the wall and the 'pin up' to give them something to dream about!.
It appears that just main window sill has its 'black out ' curtain...was the blackout still in force in 1945?
Sheet metal repairs look to have been carried out with the minimum of equipment and by one of the younger members of staff, so they probably went out with a few 'ripples and bumps'
They must have been disappointed when this steady supply of work stopped...which it soon would have I should imagine..Ian

email (option): julie@wright52.plus.com

Hi Ian, Chapmans went back to being the BSA and Triumph main dealer round here. Even as late as the mid eighties they still had a good stock of geniune parts.
It was a sad day when they shut, leaving only R O Clarks left as an old time bike shop. Sadly they no longer exist, their shop is now the Islamic information centre! Thats progress for you.
Mick.

email (option): mick@motorbikemike.org.uk

Very Dickensian!

That's clearly a heavily staged picture. I know from experience how hard it is to get two or three people comfortably "in shot" and looking the right way. But here, the photographer has got no less than eight people all neatly framed and busy at their stations.

Consequently, the youngsters bashing tin are probably simply hamming it up and doing nothing that really means anything. And the guy with the torch looks like he's yet to light up.

But for all that, it is a nice picture; a little snapshot of an increasingly forgotten world. Imagine what the modern health and safety executive would have to say about that workshop.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

stop all i can smell is my local bike shop that i went and visited in the 60s anytime i was on leave most weekends just for a smell and a natter i also remember the oily floor boards and secondhand bikes