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About Anything Left-Handed

Anything Left-Handed Our History
Our History

About Anything Left-Handed

Summary Our people Offices and warehouse Company history Legal and technical In the media Customer comments Contact us

Summary

We are a group of predominantly left-handed people providing products and information to make life a bit easier for left-handers around the world and campaigning to promote awareness, acceptance and empathy for left-handers.

Anything Left-Handed was the first specialist left-handed business in the world and had a left-handed shop in central London from 1968 to 2006. Our mail order operation supplies our wide range of products to individuals and businesses around the world and we have made our products available on the Internet since 1999.

We also run the Left-Handers Club, a free association of left-handers worldwide. We publish newsletters for members and act as a forum for their views and a focus for taking action where needed.

Our people










LaurenKeith Milsom managed the business for around 30 years and for 10 years before that Keith's father was actively involved in the business. They are both left-handed and have a left-handed son and a right-handed daughter. Lauren (Keith’s wife) worked tirelessly on the marketing side of the business for many years & Keith until very recently was actively involved in almost every aspect of the business.Keith

Offices and warehouse


Our Warehouse and Customer Services offices are near Bracknell in Berkshire. This is a commercial warehouse and therefore not suitable for customer visits.

Click here to see our contact details

Company history





































Original shop, 65 Beak Street, London

 

The company was originally founded by a right-hander who had a lot of left-handed friends and wanted to help them find specialist products (there weren't many around at the time).

The original left-handed shop opened in 1968 at 65 Beak Street, at the bottom of Carnaby Street, Soho, in London's West End. In addition to the shop, the premises were used for sending out catalogues and mail order parcels as well as being a general meeting place for local left-handers.

Second shop, 57 Brewer Street, London

 

We moved to a brand new shop about 200 yards away at 57 Brewer Street in 1991. We liked the old black and white colour scheme from Beak Street so we painted the new shop in the same colours.At the same time, we separated the mail order and administration from the shop and moved it to Keith and Lauren's house in Surrey (the mail order warehouse was in the garage and the office in a bedroom extension above!).(this shop closed in May 2006 and we no longer have any shop premises, with all sales now being through this web site)

 

In 1994 we rented premises in Belmont, Surrey and moved the warehouse and offices to the new space, purchasing new storage racking and building a large packing bench and installing a new networked computer system.
Downstairs at Belmont

 

 

 

In February 2001 we doubled the amount of space available, moved and re-fitted the warehouse and purchased a new Windows 2000-based network. We installed new CAT-5 cabling through the whole building to link the 10 PCs to our main server and allow instant communication between the various parts of the business.

In June that year, we installed a new digital phone system to provide better facilities for our customers and to link directly with the computer mail order systems to make customer details available when you call and save you time giving historic information about any outstanding issues.

Upstairs at Belmont

 

Our web site underwent a major redesign and a massive increase in content during 2004 and was re-launched in September 2004 to an excellent response from visitors. We have an ongoing programme to expand the web site, keep it current and make it the best resource in the world for left-handed information and products - we hope you like it!
In May 2006 we closed our London shop to focus on our web site and Left-Handers Club. We will continue to develop the content and product range and add new functionality to our website to make it the biggest and best resource for left-handers worldwide.
In July 2008 we moved our warehousing, fulfilment and customer service to much larger premises in Witney, near Oxford.
Through the first half of 2009 we have completely redeveloped our website with a lot of the content now generated in a Wordpress Blog that allows visitors to comment and link to our content much more easily.

Since 2009 we have continued to work tirelessly to ensure that our websites & blog pages continue to provide the essential products & information left handers need - whether they were born left handed or have had to adapt to using their left hand through accident or illness.


Legal and technical


Anything Left-Handed Limited is a limited company number 937338 registered in England on 16 August 1968.

Registered office is Sterling Centre, 9 Eastern Rd, Bracknell, England, RG12 2PW

VAT registration number is 238 5389 30

We are registered with the UK Data Protection Registrar, 2017, registration number ZA294794

In the media


A big part of our promotion and campaigning is to raise awareness and interest in left-handedness in the media. Lauren's background in Public Relations helps and we have had a very good response from all sorts of media around the world. Have a look at our page of news stories about Anything Left-Handed to see what people are saying about us.

Customer comments


One of the reasons we love this business is that we feel we are really helping people make a small difference in their lives and a great many people write to us with kind comments about us and our operations. A lot of our new customers come to us based on recommendations from family or friends and we hope you will be
able to recommend us to others as well.

We would be very interested in your comments, especially if there is something that you don't like or think could be improved!

These are a few of the comments we have received recently. Thank you to these an all our other satisfied customers who have taken the trouble to write to us.


  • "I am very pleased with the fountain pen which has already improved my 13 year old daughter's handwriting. I only wish I had discovered you years before."J Trafford (A happy parent)

  • "...I was so pleased and told lots of other people about the fantastic service you gave me!"Hannah Forbes

  • ".. we are both very satisfied with the goods supplied and the speed of delivery. We will be using your company again as our daughter progresses through school"D Reed

  • "I would just like to thank you for the courteous and helpful way in which you dealt with my problem. It is a pleasure to deal with a firm like yours..."Susan Burrow


We like to hear about it when we get things right, and it is even more important to us to know when we have got
something wrong, so that we can put it right for you, like Mrs Burrow.

See more customer comments about Anything Left-handed

Contact us


For full company and contact details, see our contact us page

London Shop History

Comments 27

  1. Ian
    No they are not Kaye - but thank you for the question.

    We source as many products as possible from the UK / EU - for example all our knives are made in Italy as are our can openers. Many of our dressmakers / embroidery scissors are made in Germany or Italy & our A4 / A5 / A6 pads are all made in the UK :)
  2. Wynee
    Absolutely love this, Thank you!
  3. Cindy Quarles
    I visited the shop on Beak Street in 1978 and 1980. I am American and was traveling, visiting friends, and enjoying all things British during those two summers. I fell in love with the "Anything Left-Handed" shop. I bought kitchen utensils and left-handed scissors. I bought some wonderful steak knives. I use all of these purchases still today. Thank you for having your shop for all of us who are left-handed.
  4. Kira Reynolds
    Hi. I love all your info and products on your website. My sister is left handed and growing up I saw her struggle in some ways, so I have always had an awareness for a left handed person. My son is left handed as well and it's so easy to pass by or expect kids to be able to do certain things. Anyway, the reason I'm writing is because my sister was power washing her horse trailer yesterday with her left hand and accidentally sprayed her right hand. Although the initial injury wasnt that bad she was advised to go to the hospital because it can be really very serious! It turns out she does have air bubbles and does have to see a surgeon today! So, when I was reading an article about this injury, the article i found was a patient that was left handed as well..... it leads me to believe that maybe the tool is made for righties. Your website has made me aware of utensils and tools that dont work for lefties (practically everything is made for a righty) but with a can opener or peeler, the mishaps of figuring out how to use it are usually not very extreme (except maybe mentally if you are forced to use your right hand by someone that doesnt see what's going on). So I was wondering if you ever thought to work with big machine companies or other businesses to make sure that injuries caused by a lefty using the tool werent specifically in danger if they grab it with their left hand? A power washer mishap can lead to amputation! I know this is a risk that we are all taking if we decide to use one but if lefty's are at a higher risk for some reason, it would be nice to know. I was thinking that it could be how the house is coiled or wrapped that it might be more likely to slip? Or maybe non of it! And it's the same both ways. Just a thought I've been pondering.what do you think?
  5. Mr Desmond Townsend..
    Hello happy new year to you..I am and have always been since I was born in the 60,s...I find it more comfortable by writing unjoined writing instead of joined up....I was wondering what's the best way to hold s pen for left handed people....thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you...
  6. Janet Reyes
    Hi, I am doing a school project based on products for left handed people. I would greatly appreciated if your organization could promote my survey. I reached out to you guys because, I will get the most accurate results from people that are actually left handed. Thank you. This is the link to the survey https://goo.gl/forms/etKSVYw35C75hPUg2
  7. Mrs C Denham
    I wanted to thank you for your amazingly quick service - I ordered one of your sets (scissors, peeler etc) last Sunday, the items arrived on Tuesday! I ordered it for a lady who has just joined a craft club I run - she said she has always struggled with scissors, peelers, knives etc. When I gave her the pack on Wednesday she was absolutely delighted, she used the scissors immediately, and all the pencils in the pack were immediately sharpened! Many thanks, will definitely recommend your company to others.
  8. AH
    I have a question. I am a leftie and I want to join but I use my mouse with my right hand. It is because everyone in my family is a righty and the mouse is always on the right side so it just became a habit.
  9. Patricia Ford-Hayes
    I remember the shops in Beak Street and Brewer Street, and what an eye opener they were, I'm still using most of the bits I bought especially the knives and scissors and boy have they made my life easier.

    I've met so many lefties in banks,shop and waiting rooms, and all were grateful when I gave them your email address.

    So thank you,
    Patricia
  10. blackbombchu
    Not only should your club create left-handed tools, it should also support other companies production of left-handed tools to further reduce the inconvenience of left-handedness by persuading people working for this website not to buy any chiral tools that were produced by a factory that doesn't produce its mirror image or ones that the store itself never sells the mirror image of to start a protest. It should also research how to more people protesting in that way and start a protesting parade of people marching with sings saying they won't buy anything produced by a factory that doesn't produce its mirror image. There could even be some strict protesters who won't buy anything at all that was produced by a factory that produces some right-handed tools that it never produces a left-handed version of. I know that in some cases, that doesn't stop the mirror image from existing because another company makes its mirror image to solve the left-handed problem, which sometimes has to be specially ordered and sometimes, it even has to be custom made. Wouldn't it be so much more convenient if a left-hander near a normal store that sells right-handed chiral tools like a can opener could buy a mirror image of it in the same store and not have to go away to a far away left-handed store, and could buy an inverted trumpet or piano without paying a much higher price, and they were produced in as big a quantity as demand including desks with a small writing area on the left side which are currently way more than 10 times rarer than their mirror image. I know not all left-handers prefer an inverted trumpet over an uninverted book. In fact, I don't even think the demand for inverted books with the text going from right to left with backwards characters is zero, so the supply shouldn't be zero because once they create a machine that can mass produce them, it's so little effort to keep producing more. There might be a few occasional left-handers who want an inverted book because they don't want to smudge ink or press on the binder rings so they want to write backwards when taking their own notes so they want to make writing backwards for themselves easier for themselves by reading the same way as they write.
  11. Arshia
    It's amazing, left handed Scissors, Kitchen tools, Watches,.... and every left handed tools. It would be great for all left handed people like me.
    I'm living in IRAN and I can't find any of your products in my country.

    It makes me sad :(

    How to find your products here?
  12. Peter Jordan
    Hi
    I haven't bought anything online from you but in the Summer of 2001 on a Weekend Trip to London I popped into your Store and purchase my first Left-Handed Tin Opener and a Leftie Scissors. I have them both still, and while I don't use the Scissors much (so used to using a rightie Scissors upside down, funny how you get used to things) the Tin-Opener is still working great for me.

    As a Child I never suffered anything from being a Leftie, it wasn't seen as abnormal or majorly different. As a Teen I got into the Bass Guitar (which I still play after over 20 Years) and it was a pain trying to find a proper Leftie Bass that was a good make, but I got through that, and its easier now with the Net.

    Glad to see Anything Lefthanded is still around. Keep up the good Work.
  13. sangeeta
    HI
    I am left hander, my mother and one of my cousin is also left hander,i am planning to start online store in my country which can deal with item especially DESIGN FOR LEFT HANDERS.
    Kindly help me in doing so. plz send me the list of items you are supplying.
    SANGEETA
  14. kira hartmann
    Dear people at anythinglefthanded.com.

    I just received a package with lot of lefthanded stuff for my six years old son. And I am greatfull! We live in Denmark and I cut not find that kind of things in Denmark. I found your book in the libery and then got to know about your webside.

    Thanks a lot for your great job and for the website for existing.

    With your regards

    Kira Hartmann
  15. June
    Spannend wird es auch immer dann wenn meine Schwester, lebt seit gefuhlten 20 Jahren in England, mit ihrem bcisitrhen Vehikel auf den Verkehr in Kontinentaleuropa losgelassen wird :-)
    1. Nayara
      I wish I would have had that when I was learning how to write. I had too many tercheas say, "I don't know how to teach lefties, just watch what I do with the normal students and you figure it out on your own."
  16. Sandy
    I signed up a couple of years ago to your affiliate program and have your banner on my blog. Do you still have the affiliate program and if so, do I need to do anything to update my information. Thank you
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    You're truly a good webmaster. The site loading velocity is incredible. It seems that you are doing any distinctive trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a excellent activity on this matter!
  18. Swee684
    Hi,
    I think this site is great will be ordering some products very soon!!
    But I have a bit of a gripe too, i have a left-handed nephew which is struggling at at the moment as his teachers are trying to make him write right-handed, instead of encouraging him to hold his pens correctly etc, I find this really annoying as the schools I went to always tried to help!! I don't know what to do about the situation Please can someone help?????
    I am going to order a couple of sets of the yoropens for myself and so I can send my nephew some to try and help him with his dilemma!!
    any suggestions more than welcome!!!!
    Thanks!!!
  19. Ike tee
    I think you guys are doing a great job for us,am proud of bieng a left handed person.
  20. PAULINE WOORE
    I would just like to say how much I enjoy recieving my left handers news letter and would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2011, I hope next year to try and find a left handed computer keyboard which will be a lot easier to use.
    Thank you
  21. james f watson
    There is a star that shines in the world of left handed people and it is called anything left handed.I think its time for this company to relise they dont help in a small way they help in a BIG way givng direction and help to the lefties of the world .its true that the world would be harder if it was not for the endevours of anything left handed and i at least wish to say thank you to all of you at this company

    your left handed admirer j f watson
    1. Keith
      Thanks Jim - it is always great to hear that people like what we are doing.
  22. Mike Canapini
    Hello,
    My name is Mike Canapini and I am the inventor of the "Learn and Turn Utensil."
    This unique patent pending device helps toddlers and young children learn to self feed using utensils for the first time. It accommodates left handed first time feeders, and I was wondering if you would be interested in adding our product to your product line.

    You can see more on my web site www.learnandturn.com

    I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this in more detail with you.
    If you are interested, you can email me at mikecanapini@rogers.com or by phone at 1-519-589-9207
    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Thanks
    Mike Canapini
  23. Paola
    Hello every body !! Im a left hander and I have a Toddler 2years 9months left hander too, do you think is to soon to confirm that he is a left hander too? For Me Im sure he is a left hander but for Doctors ..... dont know maybe the time going to tell, but for now I'm teaching how to write and he take his pen with the left hand and he do many things with his left hand so I'm so proud of my Boy !!
  24. SUNIL ABROL
    I want to know about my self.i m also left hander person from child hood.
    my name is sunil abrol.i m from jammu(india).i know AMERICAN PRESIDENT is also left hander.pls tell me what i should in life.
  25. Charl Nienaber
    Dear Fellow Left-handers,
    I must make you aware of left-handed tinsnips that are available from various manufacturers/tool suppliers. Wiss Shears, a brand name of aviation snips, which are modified traditional tinsnips that use a lever system to improve cutting power. There are also other brands of these available from the USA or elsewhere. Aviation shears come in 4 different types: 1.Straight cutting; 2.left-handed circle and straightcutting both of these have the uppermost blade seton the top right, which is traditional right handed cutting. Type 3.right-handed circle & straight cutting have the top blade on the left and is ideal for left-handers. I have 3 pairs of these in my toolbox. One of these would fall into the 4th type which are throatless cutting shears. These are more difficult to buy easily. Regards,Charl from Western Australia

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