Buying chess sets and clocks online in the UK / Ireland

Heyas, thought i would use the wealth of knowledge here to see if anyone has recommendations of where to buy chess sets (nothing fancy, good sized and sturdy fer pub play etc) and chess clocks from online in either the UK or Ireland please?

Failing that, i guess i could order anywhere in the world but i imagine postage etc will be much more. If ye have experience of the store and care to give some feedback that would be amazin cheers!

edit: not having much luck finding a reasonably priced online store so looked at Amazon.co.uk and for clocks there only seems to be this for £30:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chess-Clock-Digital-Precision-Blue/dp/B00172S8GS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=kids&qid=1212095142&sr=1-2

 Any ideas what its like and the value?

this is where i buy my stuff, its here in spain but they do shipping to UK too so take a look if you wish.

http://www.lacasadelajedrez.com/tienda/catalog/default.php/language/en

Thanks guys :) Azoth, that site only seems to have 1 set of pieces, looks good for books though cheers.

Ah ok Erik that chess.co.uk has plenty of options cheers. I had no idea they were soo expensive though! *goes back to browse*

edit: eeek i just read their shipping policy.... i am shocked i have to admit.. they charge 10%.... of the value of purchase.. for shipping in the UK and 20 freakin % to Europe.... wtf!?  Shipping should always be a set rate of weight/size/volume   :s Sorry, i dont like companies that play games like that. Ill check out the US site..

edit: lol the US site has a huge front page feature of money off "to our Troops".. and money i spend goes to support the troops...  WTF!?   "send us a photo of your soldier!"....... bah, i have enough anger at the murderous war games and having my taxes go to it that i wont spend money voluntarily which goes toward it, or support companies that support the "war" effort. *sigh*  

Cheers anyway guys, guess there is always Amazon fer me.

Pistoleer> i wont spend money voluntarily which goes toward it, or support companies that support the "war" effort. *sigh* ..

They use the money to send chess sets to soldiers, not guns, and you have to opt-in by typing the code TROOPS at checkout. Of course, you must do what feels right to you... just wanted to point those things out. ;)

From their blog: 

"Chess is a great stress reliever in that it takes a person's mind off their problems while they concentrate on the game. It also offers numerous life lessons," she said.

"A few years ago, we had one customer in a mid-eastern country that we emailed when their country was under attack to see if they were okay. He emailed back that he was, but that he wished all of life's battles could be fought over a chess board.' That really touched me," Graham said. "If we can promote that idea in any way, it will be a very good thing."

Ah excellent thanks Meemo, thats the sort of site i was lookin fer, very good cheers! :)

likesforests ;P aye yer right of course re it being optional, but i resent the fact that they are playing the "support our troops" card. Some customers will buy from them because they get to feel like they are supporting their troops etc.. I get that the concept may be good fer the soldiers but still the "support our troops" rally call has always frustrated me because it is very political and what the US and UK governments resorted to very emotively once they realised that many people saw through their bogus wars.  Cheers fer bein so diplomatic in yer post :D I didnt mean to make this thread an "antiwar rant" but i was so shocked that even a simple and beautiful thing like chess was being used for political/warmongering purposes like that company is doing. (yep i feel very strongly about the US/UK government foreign polices heh, but thats not fer this thread :P)

regardless of whether or not you feel the war is justified, some people feel that supporting the men and women in the armed forces & their families (through non-government agencies) is a good thing to do. there is a difference between supporting the troops and supporting the war. :)

:) I would agree, Erik, if there was a draft and people were forced to be in the forces.. but as it is (i know many people may feel they have little other choice, but they still do) people choose to be in the forces. They get paid to do so, it is a job with clear potential outcomes. Doin so makes them a pawn (pardon the pun) of the government.  The government supports the war and so by proxy so do the troops, and so by proxy are those supporting the troops.

As i was intimating above, the governments realised that most of the public didnt want to "support the war" so they changed the words of the PR to "support the troops".  Same thing at the end of the day however, except that some people dont think it is the same, thus it becomes effective PR.

Dont think im knocking the toops per say.. heck i once passed the PRC for the Royal Marine Commandos and just before i was finally offically signed on i thought better of it. I just realised and have realsied moreso since then that ye are a pawn pure and simple. The question then is do i trust the government? Not at all, pure and simple.

"Support the troops" impo should always be followed by the following lines.. "Support the troops - Bring em home".

As far as the shop goes though, clearly the question about war and troops is a sensitive issue and a shop that so brazenly makes a stand is going to affect business, one way or the other.  Like any advertisement or promotion policy it is geared towards certain people. In my case i will never buy from them. In other cases im sure people will switch to buy from them.

hehe aye it could look that way *chuckles* Glad i could write something half interesting ;)

In truth though i never expected to encounted such a scenario looking for chess sets. I would also take it fer granted that there are always "conditions" when looking fer something to buy. Well fer me anyway. eg. I love a good bargain, but i won't buy from certain clothes shops when i know they get their cheap prices by essentially using slave labour.  Or i will only buy freerange eggs and chicken, due to my displeasure at factory farming, fer example. Or i wouldn't buy Californian wine (i buy a lot of wine as some of ye know heh) because that is my own little essentially meaningless boycott of US goods. 

In the case of wine fer example if im askin someone else to get me a bottle fer some reason if they are goin to the shop fer me, I would stipulate to get anything but Californian. Generally though these stipulations aren't needed and i was pretty sure i didn't need it when it came to chess sets!  All good though, and again cheers fer yer diplomacy. btw i love that word "dichotomy"! Cheers!

Lol,

Endless possibilities to get into trouble on this thread!!!!!

I am resisting the urge, for now, but my good friend alcohol may intervene later :-)

Ichthys

You learn something new every day.  Thanks SFS13

:) As much as i'd enjoy conversing reasonably re these topics that we have strayed into, I probably best, in this thread at least, say thanks to everyone and that my question has been answered.. a good selection of chess equipment to be found in the UK at chessbaron.co.uk (cheers Meemo!)

There is always the open forum fer chat which isnt allowed in this main forum, in this case we are risking things getting a bit political and I wouldnae want to cause  Erik an Co. to think they need to give any o us a spankin fer writing about taboo/ferbidden forum  topics ;)  So feel free to discuss futher at the link below should ye wish.

http://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/sales-tactics-memorial-day-supporting-the-troops-etc

Perhaps we can consider this thread closed except if anyone had any other info to add re buying chess equipment in the UK and Ireland :)  Cheers

I would support any person or business who displayed an ICTHUS

 If you're attempting to correct my spelling, there are four or five proper ways to spell that word.  Look it up.

 Ooh!  I like the format.  I typically use www.dictionary.com, but may switch.