Fill it up

The newest location where you can replenish your tank of petrol is probably Morrison's, and that has been around for some years now.  The oldest still in operation is the Shell filling station at Smallford, begun as an independent by Ralph Pinnock in the early 1930s.  As we will discover below, the number of locations at which we can "fill up" has fallen significantly in the last decade, and if evidence from our east end is anything to go by, the numbers peaked in the post-war years up to c1970.

It seems there are three criteria for survival.  Location, not only along a major road but in a position to be noticed, aided of course by bright and colourful canopies and signs; second, large sites which can accommodate several pumps and the ability to get waiting motorists off the road; those large sites are also expected to serve more than petrol, of course.  Shops for groceries and other general purpose goods are a must.  Third, the retailer's profit on a gallon (or litre) of fuel is counted in a small number of pennies, so a large through-put and ancillary services are important, to keep a business bouyant.

It may be a shame sometimes not to have an attendant on hand to serve us, and perhaps clean the windscreen.  Those were the days.

Part of Grimaldi's Garage photographed in 1964.
Courtesy MoSTA

From the earliest days of motoring Hatfield Road, Fleetville, sported four filling stations on the south side of the road.  First was Mr Tuck (near the Rats' Castle), who would fill you up on the road, by swinging the delivery hose over the pavement.  Then, where Kwik-Fit is now, was A Hobbs who had a couple of pumps by the edge of the pavement.  Further still was Mr Grimaldi, who had the largest and most modern site in the fifties.  Two glazed sculptured pumps stood at the drive-ins, lit internally by night with white, green and blue fluorescent tubes.  Magnet and Topps Tiles are here now.  Finally,  Robb Butler dispensed petrol from a small square site, now houses, at the junction with Cavendish Road.

Pinnock's Garage at Smallford in c1930, operating from a
wooden shed.  Courtesy ANDY LAWRENCE

From  the mid-sixties two filling stations opened opposite each other.  One partly replacing Tuck's and run by the Co-op (now replaced by two blocks of flats), and the other which pre-war had been Currell's Garage, and opened on an enlarged site, the only station on the north side of the road.  Until recently, Milcars had operated from here.

Much has changed today, but the Smallford site is still
a petrol filling station.

Away from Hatfield Road, when The Quadrant first opened the key double unit in the centre was acquired by Mr Cockram, and became Marshalswick Motor Company.  When the corner site in Marshalswick Lane became available, he built a much larger showroom, enabling Bishops Stores to expand in the parade.  By 1966, he sold the business, presumably for a healthy profit.  The purchaser was Gerald Ronson's Heron company, which opened large numbers of filling stations under the family Heron name.  The original Cockram building no longer exists, but it is a highly successful Sainsbury's Local petrol and shop business, trading very much in the Heron mould, relying on high through-put to keep the price of fuel at the low end of the market.