Pelham Puppets were situated in Marlborough Wiltshire and it was from here that over nine million puppets were produced over a period of nearly 40 years

It was in a small first floor two-room workshop in Silverless Street, that Bob Pelham began his toy-making venture. The puppet making began in 1947 after Bob Pelham relocated his workshop to Victoria House, in Kingsbury Street.

When production increased, it became necessary to find larger premises in Elcot Lane in 1952 and Victoria House became the home for the offices and the retail unit.  By the following year, Pelham was able to purchase a site in London Road and this became the long term base for Pelham Puppets until 1987.

The original London Road factory was a three story building situated on the south bank of the River Kennet. On October 18th 1961, this building was completely destroyed by fire and huge stocks were lost to the flames. It wasn't long before a new factory was built on the site.

Additions were made to the existing buildings as production continued to increase and extra land was purchased on the north bank of the River Kennet.

This area was connected to the main factory site by a foot-bridge built by Bob Pelham, and some of his employees! It was here, amid the quacking of ducks on the river and the tapping of hammers, humming of machines and the smell of coffee, paint and sawdust, that all the beautiful, puppet creations were produced!

After the Company changed hands in 1986, the factory was moved to Collinbourne Ducis ten miles south of Marlborough and the London Road factory was demolished in 1989. The site is now called Pelham's Court.

Map of Marlborough showing location of Victoria House and Pelham Puppet Factory site

The bottom photograph to the right shows Duck’s Toy shop that used to be in Marlborough High Street. Often Bob would try out new Pelham Puppets to assess public reaction in Duck’s toy shop before putting them into regular production.