The Marvellous Amstrad Museum

The Amstrad founder is looking to build a collection of his past products and put them on display – but which machine does he regret making?

Lord Sugar has something up his sleeve…

I just decided it could be useful to start collecting these items Lord Sugar

Boredom can lead to great ideas, and that was starkly the case when Amstrad founder Lord Alan Sugar revealed plans to buy up his old products and use them as the basis of a new museum. He spoke of his desire after social media users began tweeting him photos of their retro Amstrad machines. “Nothing much inspired this desire to revisit the past other than having nothing else to do at the moment,” he tells Retro Gamer in an exclusive interview.

The proposal emerged at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and it could have been seen as a throwaway remark. But Lord Sugar is serious about bringing his computers, hi-fis and even the odd E-mailer together in one place, and he’s started to flesh out his plan. “I’m thinking of taking one of my warehouses somewhere and just allocating a space where I can collect all these things and put them nicely on display,” he says. “I just decided it could be useful to start collecting these items.”

Like most of the world, Lord

Sugar has been in lockdown, albeit in a lush apartment in Florida so the plan may have to wait until he returns to the UK. He’s not been short of support, however, with fans of the company immediately bombarding him with offers of help – or at the very least items they’ve dragged down from the loft and are willing to sell.

Roland Perry, Amstrad’s former group technical consultant who played a pivotal role in the development of the CPC and PCW range, is keen to get involved – “I’ve got a few things but would be happy to help co-ordinate a larger collection,” he tweeted). The Centre For Computing History in Cambridge says it is ready to assist, too.

One thing’s for sure, however: this isn’t set to be another money-making venture for the 73-year-old tycoon who launched his electronics company in 1968 selling car aerials from a van on the streets of London’s East End. “I won’t be trying to make a business out of it,” he tells us. “It will be a personal