The great Norwich Dyson war

All super-heroes have a nemesis. Turns out that the same goes for vacuum-cleaner-repair engineers in Norwich.

Nik Grey, aka The Dyson Doctor, was recommended to me by a family member when my vacuum cleaner needed a bit of a spruce-up: it had been in storage for three years and seemed to have calcified somehow, like an oddly modernist fossil.

Except it turned out later that it wasn't Nik Grey who had been recommended to me. It was someone else...

"Yup. I've got a former apprentice who has set up shop 40 metres away as Dr Dyson and lots of people understandably get us confused," Grey explained ruefully at his kitchen table, waving in the general direction of the Dixons Centre on Reepham Road.

You see, Chris Emmerson aka Dr Dyson and Nik Grey, The Dyson Doctor - note the word order - have what you would call "a history".

Both are former DJs who have worked in Corfu, both did a stint on hospital radio at the Norfolk and Norwich, both have a talent for fixing mechanical things and both of them... hold a grudge.

"I went to Links Repair Shop at the beginning of lockdown," explained Mr Emmerson in an email, "to do two afternoons a week as Nik had advertised for help. But then he got himself a new girlfriend who was also helping out with the business. And he told me it was either me or her, as he wasn't making enough to pay us both."

Grey's version of events differs from Emmerson's on a few key points.

"I paid him £20 an hour all through lockdown because his DJing work had come to an end and he needed to support his family," said Grey. "I needed some help and had been given permission to stay open as an essential business."

Grey's business is run from the Links Repair Shop, a purpose-built workshop at the side of his home on Links Avenue, a stone's throw from Dixon's.

"I wasn't paying my now-ex-girlfriend but the arrangement with Chris wasn't really working, so I gave him some work benches and some money and had to let him go."

Now, we all look back on lockdown slightly differently. It was an intense period for many - and one that most of us are grateful to put behind us.

But for Nik Grey and Chris Emmerson that really wasn't the end of it.

"Almost six months later to the day, I had a call from a friend asking me whether I was aware that Chris had opened up around the corner using, essentially, my name and was sitting right at the front of Dixons. That was nearly four years ago and he's still there," said Grey, sounding a bit frazzled.

"He drives 12 miles to Dixons all the way from Wymondham most days of the week, I think basically just to annoy me. We haven't spoken since he opened up: I don't trust myself not to lose my temper."

So has he succeeded in annoying you, Nik?

"Yes."

For his part, Emmerson - who refused to meet me in person - maintains that Grey serviced more lawn mowers than vacuum cleaners while they worked together. Grey disputes this.

What's certain, though, is that they are not the only people in the UK calling themselves Dyson Doctors and there is no point dwelling too long on the intellectual property ramifications of all this.

Both have many, many five-star reviews from satisfied customers and more than enough work to support themselves.

So there is a pretty big upside for the people of Norwich. You know how London has Hatton Garden and Birmingham has the Jewellery Quarter, where competing jewellers work shoulder to shoulder? Or how there used to be a Meat Packing District in New York, where for many decades the entire city and beyond bought wholesale meat? Well, Norwich now has a Dyson District.

If their vacuum cleaners need servicing Norvicians have an area of town where they can head - and if one of these guys isn't open the other one very well may be. But whatever you do don't call it a "Hoover" when you get there, or there may be consequences...

• If you enjoyed this, why not try another 24hournorwich story? Perhaps this one about the Norwich man who made the rhino harness for Ridley Scott in Gladiator 2. Or this one about a 17th century Norwich dog called Fuddle who deserves a plaque on Tombland.
• If you've got a story you think I may be interested in please contact me on emma@24hourlondon.co.uk I'd love to hear from you.