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English: 1 April 2024: 271 East Barnet Road, EN4

From 'The Barnet Society', 14 February 2024: Kantilal Tailor – or Ken as he was known to one and all – opened his shop over 40 years ago and the business was carried on by his son Dave (Divyesh), but ill health has forced his retirement.

Dave’s three brothers and sister have rallied round and under Dave’s guidance they are opening the shop on Saturdays and Sundays for several weeks in the hope of clearing as much of the stock as possible in a massive closing down sale.

Falcon Motor Accessories has pride of place in the village, opposite the mini roundabout and the junction of Cat Hill and Church Hill Road.

Its unassuming shop frontage gives no clue as to what is inside – an Aladdin’s cave of car parts and spares that has been a life support for generations of motorists when they desperately need a vital component for a repair or to get back on the road.

Ken and Dave were both renowned for their knowledge of car parts and accessories – and for going the extra mile in helping motorists with advice and even assistance, especially when it came to replacing items like bulbs, batteries or windscreen wipers.

In 2016 Dave was recognised by the Campaign for Courtesy – and the citation on his certificate praised him for “service over and above the call of duty”.

Hitesh Tailor said that he and his brothers, Rajesh and Alpesh, and their sister Madhuri are hoping that with Dave’s advice and assistance they can sell off his vast accumulation of stock and in the process help grateful customers for valuable parts and spares.

“Car accessories have always been an integral part of our lives. As children we used to help father in the shop.

“Ken was in the car parts business right from the start when he arrived in England from Kenya in 1966 with his wife Chanchal and the rest of the Tailor family.

“He began as a spare parts salesman with Shaw and Kilburn, opened his first shop Regal Motors, in Twickenham, and then in the 1970s we had a small shop in Finchley.

“He started Falcon Motors in East Barnet in the early 1980s and together with Dave they built up tremendous loyalty among their customers”