I took it to Clwyd Auto Electrics, they get great reviews.

The Landy has been stood for a year and started approx 4 times. (It turned over really slow but always fired) The last attempt gave a click, I changed the battery as I had been charging it throughout the year.

I took the starter off to see if it would spin without the load. It was dead so I took it to Clwyd Auto Electrics. On their bench the starter wouldn’t move either. They stripped it, put new brushes in and cleaned everything up. £25.00 bargain.

It now works a treat.

OK, they're not so local to me, and carriage would probably double the price! But £25 is well worth getting it done properly. Now I know what to expect, I'll hunt around local places to see if someone nearby is prepared to do the same. Most electrical places around here seems to be more interested in OBDII, etc, though...

Cheers!

There's a brilliant place in Uxbridge, would probably do it while you wait. I know its not near but if you have a reason to be in the area.
If its already off its about an hours work to clean one up (that £25 was a bargain). The brushes are about £7 but ther are some challenges:
Getting the right size brushes, there are a couple of sizes
The brushes may be soldered in and its a big wire so you need a big soldering iron
There's a real knack to getting the brush holder back on.
If you have an hour its worth taking the end off, cleaning the commutator and brushes and putting it back, may be enough. You can slip the brush cover back and clean it with cotton buds with no dismantling.

That's closer than Chester, but still not somewhere I'm likely to be passing. But thanks for the suggestion anyway. I may well stick with plan A and have a go at this myself...

I actually already bought a set of brushes on the assumption I'd be fitting those as a minimum. I saw there were 2 types, but hadn't appreciated there might be different sizes of either. Fingers crossed I have the right ones - no big deal if I need to buy a new set, but I was definitely going to replace those, regardless.

I'll take a closer look when I remove it from the engine (which is out at the moment), and see how easy I think it will be to have a go myself. My soldering iron is a bit 'delicate', but I have some friends who almost certainly have something more industrial!

Cheers,
Adam