About Us

Our Story

Our family’s story in the gun trade began before the Second World War with my father, Geoff Wilson.

When Geoff left school, he had no desire to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a solicitor. Instead, he pursued his own interests and served his apprenticeship with a Birmingham gunsmith, learning the skills that would shape much of the rest of his life.

In around 1938, he opened his first gun shop in his hometown of Skipton. It was to be short-lived. Less than a year later, war broke out and Geoff joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. His knowledge of firearms made the Army a natural fit, and he went on to serve in North Africa and later Italy, where he was responsible for a base depot servicing machine guns. He also served in Greece and Palestine before being demobilised in 1946.

A Different Kind of Life

After the war, Geoff returned to a tiny cottage between Newton Stewart and Wigtown in south-west Scotland. He had first discovered the cottage during the early years of the war, while in Scotland requisitioning firearms during the invasion scare, and had always intended to return.

For the next couple of years, he made his living as a professional wildfowler and draft-net fisherman. During the summer he would fish two tides a day, while winters were spent wildfowling on the marshes. At weekends, he also worked as a guide, taking visiting guns out onto the marshes.

For Geoff, it was paradise.

It was during the war that he had met my mother, and they were eventually married at the cottage. The remote lifestyle wasn't quite as appealing to her, however, and before long they moved back to her hometown of Carlisle.

Geoff Wilson's Comes to Carlisle

Some years later, Geoff returned to the gun trade and opened a shop in Carlisle, initially on Victoria Place and later on Port Road. After around six years in business, he stepped away from the shop and joined County Motors, where he became sales manager.

But he wasn't finished with the gun trade.

After several years away, Geoff opened another shop in Portland Square. In 1975, at the age of 18, I joined my father in the business.

I learned the trade from him, starting with barrel blacking and refinishing, along with the servicing and repair of shotguns and rifles. I loved the work, and within three or four years I was carrying out most of the repair work in the shop.

By then we had also expanded into fishing tackle. The Portland Square premises soon became too small, so we moved to Portland Place, giving us considerably more room for the shop as well as a separate workshop, storeroom and barrel-blacking room — a welcome addition for what could be a particularly messy job!

The Next Generation

I've now spent more than 50 years working in the trade. Like any family business, there have been plenty of ups and downs along the way, but I've enjoyed my time here enormously and made many friends and acquaintances over the years.

In 2008, my son David joined me in the business, becoming the third generation of our family to work at Geoff Wilson's.

Today, we continue to trade from 36 Portland Place in Carlisle, specialising in fishing tackle, airguns and shooting accessories. Much has changed since my father first entered the gun trade more than eight decades ago, but Geoff Wilson's remains an independent family business built around knowledgeable service, good products and fair prices.

I hope David enjoys the ups and downs of working in a family business just as much as I have.

 

The late Geoff Wilson at his workbench at the old Portland Square premises.