who we are
A bit about us
Bogey Knights is built into the stonework of Plymouth, carved into the cliffside here on Mutton Cove and we are here Monday to Saturday 9-5 eagerly awaiting your visit. As after all, it’s our Bogey Knighters who help to keep this place alive and buzzing with the possibilities of doing up, making and mending. We champion sustainability and reuse of materials that would otherwise go to waste. It’s worth keeping an open mind when visiting us on James Street as you might well find something you never knew you needed… or had been wanting all along.
For gamers, airsofters and weekend warriors, it’s like the ultimate store rooms where you can locate armor, equipment, special gear and clothing to take your experience in the world to the next level. For the Indiana Jones or James Bond aspiring type, gadgets and useful trinkets for exploration and expedition can be found here at Bogey! For the magpies, shiny things to decorate your own Aladdin’s cave back home, or keep the tethered dragon in your cellar happy.
virtual tour
What Will You Find
In Our Aladdin's Cave?
testimonials
Customer Reviews
Timeline
our history
1898 - H.W. Knight and Son Est. by Harold Knight
Bogey Knights formerly known as H.W. Knight & Son and was first located in Charlotte Street as a furniture removal business. Horses were used for this, and there were stables on the Mutton Cove site to house them on the front wall. The surplus store as it is today was started when the Knight family were tasked by the Navy to move some ammunition and rum barrels. They saw an opportunity to expand the business and began trading in surplus.
1928 - First delivery lorry
For a while, the Knights family operated both the furniture and supply businesses at once, and in 1928 they beat all other businesses in Plymouth in purchasing the first Chevrolet lorry for the removals side of the business. One of the only pictures from that time is of the lorry being searched up on Dartmoor as a prisoner had escaped!
1940 - Arthur Knight takes over both businesses
In 1940, Harold’s son Arthur took over the family business, where they now had locations at Granby, Charlotte Street in Morice Town, our beloved Mutton Cove and Cumberland Gardens. By 1953 the company had returned to Mutton Cove as its base and was well known across Devonport, Plymouth and beyond.
1953 - Company returns to Mutton Cove
Arthur had the Bogey spirit we epitomise today, with his energy and enthusiasm for the place and its quirks. He gloried in telling the customers that the Navy always saluted Bogey Knights on their way past and would invite the customers to follow him down to the water’s edge where the fishermen cast their rods and would encourage them all to salute. Sure enough, the Navy would be lining the decks saluting them right back as the ship’s horns blared. They were actually saluting the Admiral’s home as was the time honoured tradition upon leaving port. The tradition unfortunately ended when the Flag Officer post was disestablished in 1996.
1980 - David Knight takes the helm
The last generation of Knight to take up the surplus gauntlet was David who worked with his father from school aged 15. He also established a second store in Stonehouse which has since closed. Famous visitors to the site included Sir Robin Knox-Johnstone a famous Yachtsman who in 1969, became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. And Sir Chay Blyth was also a visitor and was the first person to sail single-handed non-stop westwards around the world, on a 59-foot boat called British Steel.
2020 - Change of ownership and name
In March of 2020, David sold the business to our very own Beaumont Tunks and he and his team are tasked with carrying forward this beautiful hodge podge Aladdin’s cave of wonderment for present and future generations to enjoy. The name has also been changed to its favoured nickname amongst sailors and those who know, Bogey Knights. We are now a proud sponsor of Future Fit Junior Field Gunners and one of their handmade guns can be found here - Can you spot it? We are also working to establish and maintain connections to the fishing, dock, and various industries within Devonport and Plymouth.
our name
Why 'Bogey Knights'
There are two stories to be told.
In the 16-19th century there was a shortage of sailors in our Navy. The Admiralty set up a division called 'The Press Gang' who would pressure recruits they could find of varying ages often by force to get them to enlist. The nickname of the officer in charge was 'The Bogeyman', and like the bogeyman in traditional children’s tales, most of the taking of men in this manner was at night. So desperate were the Navy for recruits that they took to tricking men into enlisting by dropping a shilling into their drinks which would be a week’s worth of work, and their acceptance of the shilling would mean their acceptance of the wage and their service in the navy would begin with haste, and they would be rounded up to commence their new working lives on the ships.
I was also approached by a customer (Jon) who said that Bogey had Napoleonic origins. In the time of Napoleon Bonapart in the 19th Century, he was depicted as a devilled caricature to scare the children and discourage bad behaviour, and the term 'Bogey' is said to derive from Boney, the nickname for Napoleon.