History

Chew & Osborne was formed in 1963 by Mervyn Osborne and William Chew. The first shop in Epping was opened on the site of Oakley & Osborne's fish and chips. Harold Osborne was wounded in the first world war and despite being a Cornishman found himself in St Margarets hospital, Epping. Whilst recovering from his wounds he met Oakley who persuaded him that he should switch from gardening to fish & chip shop owner. Despite a change in name to Osborne & Son childhood friends Mervyn & Bill decided that with both having a deep interest in both music and electronics a move into the growing world of Hi-fi was more attractive than continuing with food retailing and Chew & Osborne Ltd was born.

In the early days both Quad and Leak were mainstays of the business with Bang & Olufsen following in the mid 1960’s. Other early brands were Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) and Roberts.

In the late 1960’s we began selling colour TVs as the first regular broadcasts began early winners were Profil from Sony, a set well ahead of its time with a media box similar to those found on some better Plasma screens.

In 1975 we opened the second branch in the pretty Market town of Saffron Walden. Following the passion for music this branch contained a record (now CD) department with a good selection of both popular and classical music.

1983 saw our first foray into the world of custom installation with a large B&O multi room link system. Although basic by modern standards it did allow single source audio distribution through the home which could be controlled from each room with track/ source change with group volume control.

In 1994 Mervyn's son Nick moved from a career in retail management at Marks & Spencer back into the family business.

Latterly we have moved from the early forms of control system to the exciting area of home automation. With the integration of every remote controlled device in the home to one system controller, one full colour touch panel can handle everything from climate control through curtains to audio and video distribution from a central site.