Granville Technology Group Ltd was a British computer retailer and manufacturer based in Simonstone, near

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, marketing its products under the brand names ''Time'', '' Tiny'', ''Colossus'', ''Omega'' and ''MJN''. It sold mainly through mail order, though late in its life, the firm added a chain of shops in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

that traded as ''The Computer Shop'', and rapidly grew to over 300 stores. The main competitors were

PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

, and Maplin. Granville Technology Group had 3 manufacturing companies but operated in the same place. The companies were called VMT, GTG and OMT all operated under Granville Technology Group Limited as subsidiaries. VMT was the manufacturing department and GTG was the office part of Granville Technology Group.

History

Formerly known as ''Time Group'', the company was formed in 1994, by

Tahir Mohsan Tahir Mohsan is the founder of Time Computers in 1987, Supanet, Tpad and 6G Internet. Mohsan was born and educated in Blackburn and is one of five brothers. He comes from a family of Pakistani origin, and has been one of the richest young Briton ...

. The manufacturing unit was located at Time Technology Park, in Simonstone. The company produced computers under the Tiny and Time Computers brands, although tracing the ownership of these brands later proved difficult for administrators

Grant Thornton Grant Thornton is the world's seventh-largest by revenue and sixth-largest by number of employees professional services network of independent accounting and consulting member firms which provide assurance, tax and advisory services to private ...

due to the group's convoluted and opaque ownership structure. In the year ending June 2003, the group made profits of £2.5m before tax with a turnover of £207m,. The company went into receivership on 27 July 2005, due to the fall in demand for personal computers. That month, it employed 1,600 people, and was one of the largest retailers of computers in the

Time UK

Time UK (also known as Time Computers) was the main supplier and manufacturer for GTG. Their products included desktop computers, notebooks, and flat screen televisions. The company supported consumers who purchased Time products from ''Granville Technology Group Ltd''. The company's manufacturing plant and headquarter was based at

Simonstone, Lancashire Simonstone is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley district of Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish taken at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 1,154. It is about west ...

, in the private industrial park, the ''Time Technology Park'', named after its brand. With a turnover of £750 million during the 1990s, the firm became Britain's largest computer manufacturer, by establishing its market in the United Kingdom, Middle East, and the Far East. It was selling computers through retailers, and a chain of stores, ''The Computer Shop'', which was established by ''Granville Technology Group''. In 1999, Time offered a "free PC" where customers could obtain a Windows 98 PC for no upfront cost, but were required to sign up to Time's

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

for 24 months. Mohsan subdivided the company into ''Time Computers'' and ''Time Computer Systems'', in order to segregate manufacturing and retailing. The company went into administration on 27 July 2005. In March 2006, the brand was rebranded as Time UK. ''Time UK'' television commercials used

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...

, of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' fame, who reprised his ''Mr. Spock'' character. In August 2000, Time UK handed its advertising account to HHCL & Partners, which saw the end of the adverts featuring Leonard Nimoy.

Lawsuits

In 2000 Time UK sued IBM over supplying Time UK with faulty components but eventually Time UK won an out-of-court settlement and no further charges were held against IBM.

References

{{Reflist Defunct companies of England Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1994 Retail companies disestablished in 2005 Computer companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Lancashire