The Humer Unbeam Interesting Filling Stations Thread
Discussion
paul.deitch said:
Ex-Gilbarco Basildon man here. Those pumps are Highline1s. Our first electronic pump with Nixie tubes for displays and the motherboard was based on the 8080 prototype layout from Intel. We had a lot to learn! In Scandinavia in winter the static caused by cleaning the plastic pump head made the display show random numbers!!! I have an original brochure somewhere. ETA Looking at the thread again it looks like I;m repeating myself-old age. 
I remember those pumps coming out when I was kid. The shape and the tube display seemed v futuristic at the time. A good piece of design. Edited by paul.deitch on Saturday 29th October 17:32
I did also like the old fashioned (Tokheim?) pumps with the spinny sight glass thing too, even though their mechanical display was a bit rubbish. Funny the things that stick in one's mind. I can't recall what I ate yesterday but I can remember the minutiae of petrol pumps from 45yrs ago...
Article in the local rag about plans to knock down the old garage in St Mawes
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/wa...
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/wa...
The Rotrex Kid said:
Article in the local rag about plans to knock down the old garage in St Mawes
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/wa...
I know I shouldn't but, the grammar in that piece is appalling.https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/wa...
I drove through a lovely village today called Much Wenlock, home of the ‘Father of the Modern Olympic Games’ (William Penny Brooke’s - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Penny_Broo... )
Very interesting indeed.
Anyway, it’s got a great old garage with very old pumps outside. I couldn’t stop but there’s plenty of pics on google.
Birchfield Garage
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oiUfiRoVYdENbeyBA?g_st=ic
I believe it’s been in this thread a couple of times before, but always worth a revisit!!
Very interesting indeed.
Anyway, it’s got a great old garage with very old pumps outside. I couldn’t stop but there’s plenty of pics on google.
Birchfield Garage
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oiUfiRoVYdENbeyBA?g_st=ic
I believe it’s been in this thread a couple of times before, but always worth a revisit!!
DickyC said:
jollysoutherner said:
PACE Petroleum. Are they still about? https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1347450Z...
Castrol for a knave said:
Believe it or not, somebody tried to nick the pumps. Found on their side on morning last year.
They were packaged up in tarps for a few months but back in place, as you saw.
I knew I’d see it here! Still looks great.They were packaged up in tarps for a few months but back in place, as you saw.
No pumps at this one, but a great looking old garage in Ellesmere.
Came across this picture yesterday from a jolly to County Durham in the 90s. It would appear I've been interested in old garages and petrol stations for a long time. The car is a DB5. Hard to tell looking at the mid section but the giveaway is the badge below the wing vent. The DB4 didn't have a 'DB4' badge.
Passed this one at the weekend in Pontrilas in Wales. Looking back at Streetview pictures, it was still selling petrol in 2011, but it looks like the business itself died sometime in the last couple of years. Oddly enough I had started my journey in Llandrindod Wells, just near the original Humer Unbeam place in Post 1.
From another break way out west - Combe Martin, North Devon.
Today;
60 years ago;
Still in the same family but perhaps on borrowed time - lady in reception is married to current Lovering but nearing retirement, and no child looks like taking it on. Lasted four generations so a good innings.
Further along the coast in Ilfracombe we filled up in the High Street. Not many places we frequent have a filling station in the High Street (any more).
Today;
60 years ago;
Still in the same family but perhaps on borrowed time - lady in reception is married to current Lovering but nearing retirement, and no child looks like taking it on. Lasted four generations so a good innings.
Further along the coast in Ilfracombe we filled up in the High Street. Not many places we frequent have a filling station in the High Street (any more).
A couple from Surrey,
Firstly, the Sanford Garage on junction of the Epsom Road and York/Waterden Roads in Guildford, an art deco building originally built in 1933.
This is how it looks now, a Giant Bike dealership.
And how it looked in 1999 when it was still a car dealership.
Secondly, Sparks Garage on the A30 just outside Bagshot on the Jolly Farmer roundabout finally closed in 2014 to make way for flats having been in same family ownership since it was built in the 1920’s.
As it was in the 1930’s
As it was in 2014 still a going concern.
And an interview with the owner in the local newspaper when he finally had to retire at the ripe old age of 90 due to ill health after an accident on Christmas Eve in 2014, "when he was fixing the garage roof and fell through it”
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cambe...
It was demolished some time in 2016 and guess what as of 2022 the flats haven’t been built yet.
Firstly, the Sanford Garage on junction of the Epsom Road and York/Waterden Roads in Guildford, an art deco building originally built in 1933.
This is how it looks now, a Giant Bike dealership.
And how it looked in 1999 when it was still a car dealership.
Secondly, Sparks Garage on the A30 just outside Bagshot on the Jolly Farmer roundabout finally closed in 2014 to make way for flats having been in same family ownership since it was built in the 1920’s.
As it was in the 1930’s
As it was in 2014 still a going concern.
And an interview with the owner in the local newspaper when he finally had to retire at the ripe old age of 90 due to ill health after an accident on Christmas Eve in 2014, "when he was fixing the garage roof and fell through it”
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/cambe...
It was demolished some time in 2016 and guess what as of 2022 the flats haven’t been built yet.
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