Bill Philbrook

Walter William Philbrook known as just ‘Bill’ or ‘Phil’ was born on September 25th 1916 the son of a railwayman in the South East London suburb of Sydenham not far away from Crystal Palace. Like many of his generation he left school at the age of 14 and ‘with a fascination for bikes’ began an apprenticeship with the bicycle builders, Buckley Brothers in Forest Hill, London.

He joined the army as an armourer in 1939 and in 1946 when the war was over he joined AS Gillott cycles. Bill returned to Buckley Brothers in 1950 for a short while before building frames at Claud Butler until 1956 when they went into receivership. Bill went to Meridian cycles soon after building the Grandini, Meridian and Metro marques.

In 1959 Bill moved to Gillingham and he opened his own frame building shop which operated until his death in 1987 building frames for multiple cycle shops like Condor, the re-launched Claud Butler, Youngs, Meridian, Ken Bird as well as frames sold under his own name.

For much more comprehensive information written by Bryan Clarke on Bill here:-  https://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/classic_builders/philbrook-w-w-bill/