Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Old Wirral Garages

yep thats the name

Atlantic Garage, Moreton:



Roberts Garage, Alport Road, Bromborough:



Poston's Garage, Moreton:

It's still there isn't it?

It is, but I think it's residential now, not used as a garage.

Here's a piccy from a month ago...

Thats him hehe

Three garages that have been around for a long time in different guises in some cases.

The site of palace motors was the actual picture house called the Palace, I use to go there during the early 1950s

Seeing as we are into wirral history how about going back to the times before Garages, after all the motor car is a modern invention. Come on dig deep and start to name the the sites of the stables for the horse drawn veicles and the sites of the horse troughs. Here is a start to the drinking troughs. Half way down holm lane outside the little cottage that was pulled down 2 years ago there was a Half trough up against the garden wall.It was where the new yuppy flats are next to the rugby ground. you all must have seen horses they the things with 4 legs and a tail instead of wheels. ha ha

Birkenhead Corporation Stables, in Corporation Road

"They were a Hillman (Which became Chrysler) dealer and sold Hillmans, Humbers, Sunbeam, Commer and Karrier."

Amazing that of those brands on Chrysler is still going (just!).

I remember Commer vans in the 70's with the curvy fronts!

Hillmans, Humbers, Sunbeam, Commer and Karrier were all part of the british "roots group" which Chrysler bought out. Chrysler bought loads of companies like simca, dodge, Jeep and AMC.

Two of my dream cars were Humber Hawks and Sunbeam Rapiers.

A mate of mine had the Shell garage opposite Senars in Cleveland st, If you ever wondered how you got a full gallon of fuel at the pumps, unannounced on a regular basis the weights and measures people would come around and measure the pumps were delivering the full quota.
Up until its closure a few years ago it still wasn't self service, you still had the part timer greeting the ladies with "To cold to take your knickers off on Bidston hill" Now you don't get service like that anymore.

In response to Jimbob's request, I remember a splendid horse trough in Craven arms, Shropshire. It was marble & on it was engraved "Be Kind and Merciful to all Animals"... It was filled with concrete.
On a more local note, here's a map, about 1875, showing the tram garage in Palm Grove. This would surely have had stables attached.

Cheers, Chris.

Continuing the slight deviation of topic.... does anyone remember the granite (?) horse trough at the top of Singleton Ave. ? Just on the apex of the kerbline twixt Singleton Ave. and Temple Road. ie.outside the substation.

I seem to recall it had deeply engraved lettering "Birkenhead Corporation ......" something ?

Never managed to find a photograph showing it.

to get back to the garages and petrol pumps. In the 1950s and up to at least 1965 there was a company by the name of Pump Maintenance. There local base was in Chester and they had a maintanance contract with most of the petrol company's including the independants well as the big ones. There where 2 fitters who covered the wirral area, both had small vans and they worked 6 days a week. My mother had a sweet shop on Borough Road and was the point of conntact by phone for all the garages that had a pump breakdown to phone and leave there details and the fitterd phoned in 2 twice a day for there work list. We had the rent of the phone which was in the shop payed for by the maintance company and got 6d per phone call relating to a breakdown. Thats 6d in old money. In those days there where a lot of small petrol stations dotted arround the wirral. also the petrol stations had to phone for a fitter when it was time to have there pumps re-calibrated so as not to fall foul of the weights and measures people.