Melbourne House

Castle Yard House, Castle Yard, Richmond, TW10

Melbourne House was my first stop on an August 2021 trip across London, the day after Argos failed to deliver my washing machine (this bit is not relevant and would be removed by any decent sub-editor). It was my second full day of scouting old offices but only the first time I'd actually done any sensible planning. The first trip was done on an impulsive basis, like one of those films where Mickey Rooney suddenly goes "hey why don't we put on the show right here."

I was looking for Castle Yard House in Richmond. An address which represents peak Melbourne House and covers a period when the company released games including Starion, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Lord of the Rings, Terrormolinos, and Gyroscope. My plans for this blog were poorly formed. I'd already spent a chunk of day one looking for a couple of Mirrorsoft offices, so I knew software houses could lead peripatetic existences, but I vaguely thought I'd be satisfied with tracking down one main location, and just mention the others in passing. I should have known myself better. The sense of unfulfilled obligation quickly began to nag at me once I realised I'd only got one of Melbourne House's London addresses and one trip into London became three.

October 2021

131 Trafalgar Road, SE10

Before Castle Yard, Melbourne House operated out of an address in Greenwich; 131 Trafalgar Road, SE10. It's a Turkish restaurant now, on a non-descript terrace of shops on the main road between Greenwich and Woolwich. The Sunday lunchtime traffic was heavy and it was difficult to grab a photo. Whenever the traffic lights changed the building would be obscured behind a parade of vans, buses and lorries. 

This address appears on Melbourne House adverts between 1982 and 1984, such as this one from SINCLAIR USER issue 5 (August 1982 page 4) when the company published more books than games. Look closer. Melbourne House has two addresses; the Trafalgar Road one for orders and another for correspondence; Glebe Cottage, Station Road, Cheddington, LU7. Glebe Cottage sounds lovely but I'm obviously not going to travel to Cheddington (wherever that is) and if you think I'm enough of a anorak to go on Google Streetview and drive virtually up and down Station Road looking for it you are exactly right; sadly I haven't had any success. However, I'll go looking for the place should I find myself in the Cheddington vicinity, if only to learn what a Glebe is.

The correspondence address changes later to Church Yard, Tring; SINCLAIR USER issue 21 (December 1983 pages 6-7). Church Yard is actually more of a lane and the address is too vague to even attempt to locate anything.

This is how things remain until CRASH issue 11 (December 1984 pages 18-19) and a colour double-page advert for Sherlock. The correspondence address is still in Tring but the orders address has changed to 39 Milton Trading Estate, Abingdon, OX14 4TD. This is apparently just round the corner from Hewson Consultants who were based at 56b Milton Trading Estate but the estate has been massively redeveloped since 1984 and number 39 is long gone, however see the Hewson article for an idea of what the office might have looked like.

August 2021

Castle Yard House, Castle Yard, Richmond, TW10

"The company occupies a spacious ground floor office in a well hidden, but new block. Gold tinted windows guard secrets of upcoming games from over inquisitive eyes. Impressive. Almost as high-tech looking as CRASH Towers." -Sean Masterson. A LEPRECHAUN IN LONDON - SITTING IN ON A MELBOURNE HOUSE WORKING LUNCH, CRASH issue 23 (December 1985 page 43)

Richmond Palace is long gone but the inaccurately named Castle Yard* remains and so does Castle Yard House, now renamed The Bradford Exchange for no obvious reason. A plaque by the door gives a construction date of 1981. The 40 year old building is looking good for it's age. Castle Yard becomes the sole business address of Melbourne House in late 1984, according to an advert in CRASH issue 12 (January 1985 page 177). Except there's one small mystery. The unknown writer of the Melbourne House profile in CRASH issue 3 (April 1984 page 56) confidently states, "the London end of Melbourne House has just moved into its new offices in Richmond." CRASH went to the printers about a month before the on sale date (15th March for issue 3) so this was written before mid-February 1984. Explain that. Well I can't. Obviously. Perhaps Paula Byrne (she's wonderful) can fill in the gaps, should she ever read this.

September 2021

Melbourne House, 60 High Street, Hampton Wick, Kingston Upon Thames 

1986 brought one final move, across the Thames to Hampton Wick and a building which the company literally renamed Melbourne House. This new address appears on the Redhawk advert, CRASH issue 29 (June 1986 page 53).

Hampton Wick was closed when I arrived at 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon in September. Everyone likes to go home early, to judge by the line of slow-moving traffic which accompanied me on my short walk from the train station to the relevant bit of Hampton Wick High Street. Unsurprisingly Melbourne House has had a name change in the intervening 35 years. It's called Navigator House now.

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY volume 6, number 7 (12-18 February 1987 page 4) reported the sale of Melbourne House to Mastertronic for, "over £1 million," [Doctor Evil gesture]. The following year Mastertronic were themselves absorbed into Virgin Games. The Melbourne House label continued to release games but over the next couple of years the brand went the way of Richmond Palace.

*Richmond Castle is in Yorkshire.