Granville Technology Group Ltd was a British computer retailer and manufacturer based in Simonstone, near

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, marketing its products under the brand names ''Time'', '' Tiny'', ''Colossus'', ''Omega'' and ''MJN''. It sold mainly through mail order, though late in its life, the firm added a chain of shops in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

that traded as ''The Computer Shop'', and rapidly grew to over 300 stores. The main competitors were

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, and Maplin. Granville Technology Group had 3 manufacturing companies but operated in the same place. The companies were called VMT, GTG and OMT all operated under Granville Technology Group Limited as subsidiaries. VMT was the manufacturing department and GTG was the office part of Granville Technology Group.

History

Formerly known as ''Time Group'', the company was formed in 1994, by Tahir Mohsan. The manufacturing unit was located at Time Technology Park, in Simonstone. The company produced computers under the Tiny and Time Computers brands, although tracing the ownership of these brands later proved difficult for administrators

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due to the group's convoluted and opaque ownership structure. In the year ending June 2003, the group made profits of £2.5m before tax with a turnover of £207m,. The company went into receivership on 27 July 2005, due to the fall in demand for personal computers. That month, it employed 1,600 people, and was one of the largest retailers of computers in the

Time UK

Time UK (also known as Time Computers) was the main supplier and manufacturer for GTG. Their products included desktop computers, notebooks, and flat screen televisions. The company supported consumers who purchased Time products from ''Granville Technology Group Ltd''. The company's manufacturing plant and headquarter was based at

Simonstone, Lancashire Simonstone is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,154. It is about west ...

, in the private industrial park, the ''Time Technology Park'', named after its brand. With a turnover of £750 million during the 1990s, the firm became Britain's largest computer manufacturer, by establishing its market in the United Kingdom, Middle East, and the Far East. It was selling computers through retailers, and a chain of stores, ''The Computer Shop'', which was established by ''Granville Technology Group''. In 1999, Time offered a "free PC" where customers could obtain a Windows 98 PC for no upfront cost, but were required to sign up to Time's

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for 24 months. Mohsan subdivided the company into ''Time Computers'' and ''Time Computer Systems'', in order to segregate manufacturing and retailing. The company went into administration on 27 July 2005. In March 2006, the brand was rebranded as Time UK. ''Time UK'' television commercials used

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

, of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' fame, who reprised his ''Mr. Spock'' character. In August 2000, Time UK handed its advertising account to HHCL & Partners, which saw the end of the adverts featuring Leonard Nimoy.

Lawsuits

In 2000 Time UK sued IBM over supplying Time UK with faulty components but eventually Time UK won an out-of-court settlement and no further charges were held against IBM.

References

{{Reflist Defunct companies of England Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1994 Retail companies disestablished in 2005 Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom Defunct computer hardware companies Companies based in Lancashire