Auntie Wainwright or Arkwright

Kall

Kall

Well-Known Member
Who was the meanest? Arkwright from Open All Hours or Auntie Wainwright? Who do you think was the most cunning out of the two and the tightest?
It's a hard one for me, both are cunning as each other I think, both tight to their own relatives ect. I think Auntie Wainwright just abouts edges it.
I think Arkwright has a weakness in Nurse Gladys and I don't think he would ever overcharge her at all. It's a hard one to say really? I think Arkwright had the odd soft moment with Arkwright looking for some biscuits for Granville to go to hospital with him, I know it was broken but Auntie Wainwright would have charged full price! Arkwright was also terrified of the Black Widow, I feel! In these shows the northern women always get the last word! Auntie Wainwright always treated Smiler horribly too!

Who do you think?
 
What a great question, I do remember an interview with Jean where she told Roy Clarke her character was a clone of Arkwright!

I agree that Auntie probably edged it on the meanest stakes, I recall her giving cooking her staff Christmas dinner in A Tale of Two Sweaters and once she bought them cakes from Ivy's but other than those 2 occasions I think she was pretty hard faced!
 
Kall said:
I don't think he would ever overcharge her at all
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He did try and palm her off with other things and although he didn't charge her he did save a few bob in the context of what he should have maybe paid to show his true affection for Nurse Gladys . The plastic rose when he climbed the ladder to her boudoir [he gives her the Rose , she throws it back at him , he retrieves it and uses it next time ] , the battered box of Milk Tray the lady who Granville frightened threw at Arkwright, the pair of tights Arkwright stuck on the bill spike , the out of date cream cakes and crackers for his birthday party . For me its Arkwright the sheer inventiveness and cunning he uses to sell things , for example the Jamaican Ginger cake , the fig biscuits [to our Nora amongst others] , the black lead its sheer quality writing from Roy Clarke . :)
 
That is a tough I think one since they are such kindred spirits. As far as money is concerned I put them both very close in cunning ways to aquire it from others. They are the BlackAdder's of the local cornershop for cunning. I feel like I know more about Arkwright since we get to spend most of the show episodes with him. With Auntie we see her in a few minute snippets during some shows. Which is understandable since she is not the main focus of the series.

Auntie seems quick as a whip on ideas to get someone in the store. Such as faking her back going out and needing help to get into the store before a potential customer might wander past. Arkwright I feel is more of a plotter of schemes in thinking them out beforehand to garner interest in his products. Such as cans of mystery tins, each can a surprise!, buy one get the second for the same price. :29:

I put Auntie down as more spontaneous schemes since we don't spend enough time with her to see her actually plotting things out. I get the impression she has a Eureka! moment as she thinks of a way to get a customer to buy something. Yet her back going out trick very well could be something tried and true she has done many times before and not actually just thought of it spur of the moment.

We do see a kinder side to Arkwright in his romance interest of Nurse Gladys. He also cares about Granville as if he were his own. Auntie does not have anyone in the show which she cares for on an emotional level. Both are characters I enjoy watching in their shows.
 
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I'd say Auntie Wainwright is more cunning in getting a sale. As she said herself "There's nobody ever walked out of this shop without buying something." The same can't be said for Arkwright.
 
Everything in Auntie's was second-hand and everyone knew it. On the other hand, Arkwright was known for putting out old stuff; opening a bag, eating one or two things and then putting the bag back; and other tricks to make old stuff look new. Both had a lot of stuff artfully arranged outside.
 
I think it would have been a marriage made in Heaven,
can you imagine Clegg going into their shop, he was a nervous wreck with Auntie Wainwright.
 
Clever Arkwright actually charged a lady for dirt from his floor. He withdrew a potato from those sold after they broke through the bottom of a carrier bag a lady was holding and dropped to the floor. When challenged he said they got heavier, haha.

I do remember Arkwright also selling an injured man a single bandaid after he got hurt building a drinks cabinet or some DIY his wife wanted. If memory serves Arkwright offered the guy a beer as consolation and then charged him for it after he had a drink. Though I have the impression bandaids / plaster were sold that way at the time and not a small box full assorted bandaids like I recall from growing up.

I do admire both Arkwright and Auntie for cleverness. Both great characters.
 
I also seem to remember Arkwright(or Granville) selling some liquid concoction they mixed up and included the glass bottle container "for free".

On the pro-Auntie side she was more entrepreneurial in running multiple businesses at the same time. A junkyard, her second hand shop, was it a money-lender store that she had Smiler in the window? Seems odd imagining Auntie lending money to someone else even with the intent of getting more back in return. It was such a struggle for her to part with change to buy tea and a bun at Ivy's. Didn't she have another business going as well? Too early for the coffee to kick in and I feel like I thought of it last night but escapes me now. :oops:
 
RickAns said:
On the pro-Auntie side she was more entrepreneurial in running multiple businesses at the same time
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Arkwright did try but sadly failed to branch out Arkwright's Mobile Stores , the firelighter production sideline . He of course wanted to market and sell Aaarkwright's TTTTTTTreacle TTTTToffee but it failed to materialise because he didn't think he'd get a lorry long enough to take the logo on the side. :)
 
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