Amphibian Sports London

Amphibian Sports was origionaly started by Ali MacCleod and Peter Hines (hence the name (AMPHibian Sports) back in 1981.

It started completely from scratch. We were just keen divers who felt there was a need for a proper dive shop in South London, catering for all the local BSDC clubs.
The original rental for the shop, just the single window - half the size it is now, was £1500 per year. We put up simple shelves and bought our first stock on a cash basis. Both Pete and myself had full times jobs so Sally my wife, who was also a kean diver, agreed to run the shop.

At the start we bought an ancient Williams and James compressor and started makign the rounds of all our local dive clubs and generally making ourselves known from the beginning. our catchphrase was 'South London Friendly Dive Shop', though by our regualrs as 'Amphibian Sharks'!

We were told by everyone in the trade that we were mad to try and start a dive shop. 'It's cut throat, you will never survive' but the truth was that we steadily increased our turnover over the next ten years until it became a substantial business.

After the first few years, Pete Hines and myself dropped out of the business which was then expanded by Sally and subsequently Drew Watson also became a partner.

In 1990, when the last depression happened, Sally and Drew decided to cut back on national sales to concentrate on local clubs again and the shop continued to be a profitable concern, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

In 1994 Sally retired from the business which was taken over by Drew who also retired a few years later when it was taken over by Bob Lenham.
We are very happy that Amphibian Sports is still being run as a successful diveshop so many years after it first started and wish you every success for the future: Ali Macleod

After Bob Lenham running the shop for another few years, Bob sold the shop to Paul Turner then after a few years bought the shop back with James.  They worked together for five years when Bob sold the shop to Paul Turner, then after a few years bought teh shop back with James, with Bob doing a couple fo days a week.

Sadly Bob went missing during a dive in 2009 and has not been found. He was a big part of my life, teaching me all about the kit, servicing etc. The shop still runs the same as when Ali started. We try to help people the best we can.