Francis Kay Vintage

Chris was super helpful today with advice on restoring an old typewriter. Looking forward to getting it back working His shop is fab and well worth a visit
May 24th, 2022

Really friendly shop owner and very knowledgeable on all things film cameras and Polaroid. Also an excellent selection of typewriters and analogue audio kit. Couldn't recommend Francis Kay Vintage any higher!
May 11th, 2022

A treasure trove of vintage electronics, cameras, typewriters, etc owned by a friendly guy wielding huge knowledge and at least 2 soldering irons. A priceless indie ship which the city should cherish.
May 25th, 2020

Very nice place
Jul 10th, 2018

It's not so often you meet yourself when you're out in the wild but I did in Exeter yesterday when I went into Francis Kay Vintage. A long-time, er, collector of vintage hi-fi myself shall we say, I stumbled across the shop in the arcade and had my interest piqued but had to raise an eyebrow at the laissez-faire attitude of the proprietor (opening time 10.30, actual time 10.45 and shop still closed). Like I said, not so often you meet yourself. Anyways, after a swift top up in spoons (just caffeine) I returned and entered his Aladdin's cave of analogue musical reproduction since he'd now opened. I entered to hear the end of what could be unkindly described as a mansplain but sort of let him off since he actually seemed to be relaying decent info about human auditory ranges and the fall off of most cheap speaker drivers (the guy on the receiving end looked clueless so had probably asked for it anyhow). My partner was with me so after some gentle ribbing that I could actually stock his shop we had a fair old chat about, amongst other things, reconditioning my old Heybrooks, re-capping Walkmans, the problems with Rega bases and tone-arm re-wiring and the price and timings for a full Nakamichi service. Not in the least bit pushy I almost left with a pair of AR3as (walnut veneers were in good nick and they sounded probably as good as when they were launched in 1964) - but only cause I'd insulted him 20 seconds earlier by mistakenly thinking they were a pair of Wharfdales (to be fair they were grills on and could have been anything from 1960-1975). If I wasn't still a working man I think I'd be working at something like this. And besides - vintage is cool so dust off your turntable and keep analogue alive by dropping by. It's worth a trip to Exeter on its own.
Feb 22nd, 2023