The Humer Unbeam Interesting Filling Stations Thread

[P5BNij]

Mr Peel said:

^^^Harbury.

Still there but looks a lot tattier than this and may not be trading. Will get an up-to-date pic.

Thanks, will have a shuftie too next time I'm out that way. A bit further north where the railway passes over the Fosse there's a garage selling BMW Minis, behind it away from public eyes is all sorts of old stuff, lorries, tractors etc, you can see it from the railway in Winter when the leaves are off the trees.

[Wacky Racer]

pmfinch said:

This one is Tower Garage in Alderley Edge



Started life as a filling station and showroom and is now a deli/coffee shop still owned by the garage/family. Now listed thankfully!

More info here:

http://www.alderleyedge.com/news/article/6854/towe...
And:
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/li...

Peter.

I remember that being built. There used to have some nice classic 60's sports cars for sale there around 1969.

[dsmith1990]

My second one to add and not sure if it has been posted before.

The backstory is me and a group of mates headed up to Aultbea in Scotland all the way from Surrey as one of them is into hiking & climbing - family friends of his have a holiday home there we used for free over the Easter holidays back in 2011. I was one of 2 drivers & also one of 3 people who came under-equipped for the week...namely inappropriate footwear for 2 of us and one even bigger idiot who forgot to bring a jacket to Scotland! Naturally, we were a week out of season as instructed by the local hiking shop's sign in the window which meant a 120 mile round trip to Ullapool

Thought I would fill up on the way if there was anything just as a precaution - eventually came across a little station but they were all out. I have found it on streetview with an image taken from the year before & the below image from another site. A little digging and it seems the station was part of the Dundonnell Hotel opposite but the station is now closed


https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.841918,-5.221360...

[markymarkthree]

In the village of Aust.
Probably very busy in its heyday as it was a stones throw from the Aust ferry to Wales.



Wickwar in South Gloucestershire taken last year.



My favourite in the darkest depths of Devon.

[DickyC]

markymarkthree said:

In the village of Aust.
Probably very busy in its heyday as it was a stones throw from the Aust ferry to Wales.

And to think I went to Aust looking for the disused ferry terminal where Bob Dylan was photographed waiting to cross just before the bridge was opened. I didn't think to go into the village.

And that would be a Savage you're driving. Very nice. And Rare.

[thecremeegg]

Not sure if this counts as it's not a petrol station as such ( I swear there was a service station architecture thread somewhere?) but interesting none the less and I saw it on reddit today - it was by the A14 until it was torn down:

|https://thumbsnap.com/6kZW5Vnn[/url]

[Europa1]

Wacky Racer said:

I remember that being built. There used to have some nice classic 60's sports cars for sale there around 1969.

Surely in 1969 they were simply "secondhand sports cars"?

[DickyC]

Yesterday I returned a customer's 5 Series. Hermitage near Newbury to Corscombe near Dorchester. The mended Beemer was lovely and flying along the A303 in it was a pleasure. The courtesy car I had to bring back wasn't lovely. It was a tired Astra that had apparently given up the unequal struggle shortly after I dropped it off last week. It had an awful misfire and no power to speak of. It had to come back though. A problem for motorists using the 303 - apart from the bottlenecks - is the distinct lack of facilities. The gaps between outposts of civilisation are surprisingly long. So I decided to come back along the A30, reasoning that there would be villages along the road and when I broke down help wouldn't be too far away. I was glad I did, there were several points of Humer Unbeam interest, one of which was scaffolded and halfway along a single lane stretch of roadworks controlled by lights that will require a return visit. Another was the Causeway Garage in Shaftesbury:















A bit of searching produced these:

[DickyC]

HJ Taylor in Willersey in Gloucestershire. Owned by Peter and Amanda Taylor. Peter is the son of the founder HJ - whose name I forgot to ask. Peter's grandfather was also involved, not least because his house was incorporated into the garage buildings. The garage opened in the 1920s and supplied petrol, servicing and new and secondhand cars.













The garage have been agents for different cars over the years including MG.



A buyer colleting his new Bullnose Morris from Peter's father in 1929.



Another view of the garage around that time sporting one petrol pump.

There's a lot of history here.



This building on the opposite side of the road was constructed by German prisoners of war.

Peter very kindly said he will fish out a picture of the garage from my favourite era showing petrol pumps with illuminated globes.

[Escort3500]

Wonderful bit of history there, thanks for posting.

[penrhos]

On the A417 today, between Stretton Grandison and the amusingly-named village of Trumpet, I passed Blacklands Garage, which sadly seems to have pumped its last litre since the below Streetview was taken.

A pleasingly austere set up - two pumps and a Michelin chart stuck on a wall:

[DickyC]

Feast or Famine on the Humer Unbeam Thread.

Days of nothing and then a burst of activity. There's penrhos and his Trumpet and I saw two different establishments today that I thought deserved to be in here; one in Botley in Hampshire and one north of Woodstock. Oh, man. Woodstock, man. No, the other Woodstock. On the A44.

In Botley is this interesting place that should be researched. I'm guessing it was a garage at one time and when traffic increased it became inconvenient. There was no one to ask but I'll try and find out.











Whatever it was there's definitely a story there.

That was this morning and then, this afternoon, minding my own business on the A44 north of Woodstock I saw a fairly regular garage:



with an adjoining car sales emporium:



selling Audis and Fords and Skodas



and a McLaren.











Heat shield: gold. Of course it is. It's a McLaren tradition.



Nice. The guvnor said they get interesting cars among the more run of the mill stuff:



Original with only 30,000 miles. As seen on Grand Tour being driven round a quarry by Clarkson to demonstrate Audis prowess in rallying. Such japes.

Oh, yes, forgot to say:

[Wacky Racer]

Ravenglass Cumbria

[irocfan]

pmfinch said:

This one is Tower Garage in Alderley Edge



Started life as a filling station and showroom and is now a deli/coffee shop still owned by the garage/family. Now listed thankfully!

More info here:

http://www.alderleyedge.com/news/article/6854/towe...
And:
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/li...

Peter.

Well I'll be visiting that next week

[Bobberoo99]

Don't know if we've had this yet but i've only got to page 27!!! Used to pass this place regularly on the way to work in Salisbury, before it became the poison capitol of England!! Lovely old place at Sherfield English!! https://goo.gl/maps/PHZniF1Fjk42

[lowdrag]

My father ran a Ford dealership in Fareham, right next to Trinity Church. Croker and Farrell it was called, and if anyone knows how to find a photo I'd be more than grateful. He sold up in 1959 and it was torn down to build a big shop. I have often wondered if they took the big petrol tanks out before building!

[DickyC]

We'll get on to it, lowdrag. This sort of investigation has already been considered, I'm about to contact the local history society about a garage near me.

/mildlyobsessive

[lowdrag]

Very kind of you. I wrote to the Portsmouth Evening News twice and they never bothered to reply.

[HTP99]

Local fuel station back in the day:



As it is now:

[Bobberoo99]

lowdrag said:

My father ran a Ford dealership in Fareham, right next to Trinity Church. Croker and Farrell it was called, and if anyone knows how to find a photo I'd be more than grateful. He sold up in 1959 and it was torn down to build a big shop. I have often wondered if they took the big petrol tanks out before building!

Hi lowdrag, DickyC asked if I could have a look into this for you, so far unable to find any pictures, but I did find this, it's from a site called Francis Frith Fareham memories,

I attended Fareham Secondary School at Southampton and Harrison Roads from 1950 to 1954. Then I started work as an apprentice at Croker and Farrell, who was the Ford dealer, which was situated right next to Trinity Church. The dealer closed in late 1955 and my apprenticeship got transferred to E.J. Hinxman & Son who were the Austin dealer in town. They were situated near the entrance to Quay Street, right opposite to where Lloyds Bank is today. My apprenticeship was completed in 1959, so I then moved on to work in Portchester, and then Drayton, near Cosham.

I grew up at Hundred Acres near Wickham, and moved to Portchester when I got married to my wife Patti. My father was a Market Gardener who grew produce for the local markets

In 1963 my wife and I emigrated to the USA where we have lived for the past 50 years. Whenever we come back to the UK we always stop in Fareham, just to see how it has changed, also to visit both relatives and friends who still live in the area.

For me there are many happy memories of both my school days and work in Fareham. I saw many movies at both of the cinemas, the Embassy and the Savoy. I also played football for a team that was made up of mostly Postal employees, but who could not get quite enough players to complete a team.

Fareham has changed substantially compared to when I worked there. I remember the car parking arrangement in the middle of West Street, the Hants & Dorset Bus Station at the top of Portland Street, Cedar Garage at the top of Bath Lane and East Street, all of which are gone. Only the lower end of the High Street still looks somewhat familiar to what I remember.

A great place to grow up to work and play, and the school provided me with a great foundation with which to explore another world.

A memory shared by Harry Crook on Apr 4th, 2014.

It does throw up a slight discrepancy as he suggests Croker and Farrell was closed in 1955, also can you tell me as you look at the front of Trinity church which side would the dealership have been? Did find a couple of pictures from that era though, Boniface & Cousins,


West street parking, 1950's style!!