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Sweethaven Computers Celebrate 30 years Trading

First established in Trehaven Parade in January 1977, The Rambridge Family have been serving the local community (and beyond) for 30 years in January 2007.

The business started as a newsagent with Robert, Stella and Paul Rambridge at the helm. They were one of the first newsagents to introduce a computer system to help administer their newspaper rounds and also started stocking the first computer games for the Spectrum, Commodore64, Dragon 32 and Amstrad to name but a few.

The computer games trade, initially devalued by the introduction of Mastertronic budget games, burgeoned in the times of the Atari and Amiga home computers and it was around this time Sweethaven added Amstrad PC’s to their range selling budget priced pc’s with installation services. Ground breaking 8086 pc’s running at 8mhz, advanced models having a 20mb hard card fitted, on board RAM between 512k and 640k, for less than a £1,000!

All aspects of business grew with Sweethaven expanding to three branches, two with a computer department.

There were a few lesser projects in between with another shop, Moments which sold cards, clothes and gifts. There was also the Woodhatch Advertiser, the first small A5 parish style magazine for the area, free of charge.

As newspaper distribution was de-regularised so that any retail outlet could start selling and distributing newspapers and magazines, the industry started being incorporated in supermarkets and non-specialist outlets. Even though Sweethaven were one of the largest independent vendors of tobacco based products in the South East, it became apparent the confectionery/tobacconist/newsagent trade was not growing so Sweethaven sold this aspect of their business to concentrate on the computer trade.

Sweethaven Computers now sell everything from an ink cartridge to full server based networks with service contracts. From a laptop to adsl internet provision and web hosting. We are proud of the full range of computer services we offer and maintain the keen pricing model that has ensured value to our customers for 30 years.

Here are a couple of memoirs from two of Sweethaven’s longer serving managers, Darren Reynolds and Mark Fuller.

My name is Mark Fuller and I began my career with Sweethaven in May of 1995 in the news agency. My working day now is a whole world apart from my original position as sales assistant in the news agency where I progressed to key holder at 16. Since I left college back in 1998 I joined Sweethaven full-time on the computer side of the business whilst the news agency was running in parallel. The business grew faster and faster until the Mars bars disappeared and we became a dedicated specialist computer store some 7 years or so ago. I have now worked my way up to Sales Manager and deal with all customers from end user right through to our largest corporate clients. Each day is different and the retail side of the business ensures we see new people every day. Day to day we do our best to ensure that all customers are satisfied with the service that they receive from my team, and assist clients find the right solutions for their needs. We have never paid commission to any member of staff to ensure that the advice impartial, and this is pretty unique in our industry.

My name is Darren Reynolds and I first joined Sweethaven in 1994 as a relief manager for our newsagents with computer departments in Horley and Reigate. After a few years with different managers coming and going I found myself looking after the newsagents and computer departments in both premises on an ongoing basis and sort of slipped into the role of one of the main managers. After several years of early mornings and delivering papers in the snow I was more involved in dealing with repairs and installations within the computer departments until I was the sole engineer as well as selling Mars bars. Then came the big day when the newsagents were sold on and the computer side became the sole business. Within the world of networking, consultancy and home installations we became a well known and trusted business with experience from server installations to repairing home computers. What once was 3 people has now risen to a team of 10 with a dedicated sales force and technical team dealing with corporate, small business and home users with the same care and attention you would expect from a family business. I now look after many business customers and schools ensuring they are well supported by my team and enjoy their experience with Sweethaven Computers.