P W Barker Ltd of Worcester - Triumph Car dealers 26

This is the 26th article in my series about Triumph car dealers and features P W Barker Ltd of Worcester.

P W Barker Ltd enamel plaque

A long established business the earliest reference I have found is in the Institution of Automobile Engineers year book for 1910-1911 which lists Mr P W Barker of Barker's Garage, Lowesmoor Place, Worcester as a member. The business was founded in 1906 and started selling Standard cars before the 1914-18 world war. They were appointed as a distibutor for Standard cars in 1921.

A company called P W Barker Ltd (company number 357729) was incorporated on 17 November 1939 and dissolved 22 October 1996 having ceased trading during 1984.

P.W.Baker Ltd of Worcester advert in Autocar 18 Oct 1957

Holloway Barker Ltd invoice from 1976

The business became known as Holloway Barker Ltd as can be seen in this invoice for a new Triumph Toledo dated 15 March 1976. Holloway Barker Ltd (company number 535678) was incorporated 12 July 1954 and dissolved 22 October 1996.

Holloway Barker Ltd, Worcester December 1978 

 

 

Standard Triumph Review cover with P W Barker dealer address stamp

Show and Service Week promotion

Staff from Standard Triumph HQ visited the business and assisted the firm with a week long Show and Service promotion. This was held by the firm at their 82-84 Lowesmoor premises 16 to 20 November 1964.

A family business

R B Barker

Philip Walter Barker the founder died in April 1959 aged 80.

Robert Blakeley Barker son of P W Barker joined the firm in 1939. He remained a director until the business ceased trading in 1984 and died in 2012 when aged 96.  He had been a long term member of the Worcestershire Motor Club and took part in the 1939 RAC Rally.

Symington Table Creams competition

Symington Table Creams competition winner outside P W Barker of Worcester

It was reported in the Standard Triumph Review dated February 1964 that:
Mrs D Timmis, of Barnt Green, Worcestershire, one of the winners of the country-wide Symington Table Creams competition, is presented with the key to her prize - a new Triumph Herald 12/50 saloon car - by Mr P Dolphin, Symington's regional sales manager, outside the showrooms of P W Barker Ltd, Lowesmore, Worcester. Mr R B Barker, Director, looks on approvingly. Mr. R B Blakeley also of P W Barker is on the right.

Triumph car dealers in Worcester

April 1952:
H A Sanders Ltd, Austin House.
Eric Williams Ltd, Pierpoint Street.

1955:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.    distributor
H R Broadhurst, Kempsey.
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts, 24hr service
F Norman & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, St. John's Garage.
F Sanders, Barbourne Motor Garage, 6 Barbourne Road.
Reginald Wall Ltd, 50 Ombersley Road.
Eric Williams Ltd, Pierpoint Street.

1959:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor. distributor
Barneshall Garage Ltd, Bath Road.
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts
F Norman & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, St. John's Garage
F Sanders, Barbourne Motor Garage, 6 Barbourne Road
Eric Williams Ltd, Pierpoint Street

August 1961
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Barneshall Garage Ltd, Bath Road.        24hr service
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts    24hr service
F Norman & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, St. John's Garage
F Sanders, Barbourne Motor Garage, 6 Barbourne Road
Eric Williams Ltd, Pierpoint Street

February 1965:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Bromyard Road Motors (W D Smith & Son), Bromyard Road.
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts.
F Norman & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, St. John's Garage
Sanders Garage (Barbourne) Ltd, Little London
Eric Williams Ltd, Pierpoint Street

September 1968:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts.
F Norman & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, St. John's Garage
Marshall Motors (Worcester) Ltd, Hallow

March 1970:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd, The Butts.

March 1972:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Foley Caravans (Motorised) Ltd, Hallow Road - same phone number as Marshall Motors (Worcester) Ltd

March 1974:
P W Barker Ltd, 82/84 Lowesmoor.        distributor
Preston's Garage, Fernhill Heath, nr Worcester

March 1988:
Mann Egerton & Co Ltd, Austin House, Castle Street, WR1 3 AW    distributor

May 1991:
Startins of Worcester, 391 Ombersley Road, WR3 7DG    Main dealer

Plea for more information

If you have any more information or recollections about P W Barker Ltd of Worcester, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to a blog post Carmichael & Sons (Worcester) Ltd

Link to a post about F. Norman & Sons Ltd of Worcester

Link to facebook page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group which includes many photos of Standard Triumph garages etc from my collection and many other contributors .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credits: Symington Table Creams competition winner photo from Standard Triumph Review February 1964; Holloway Barker Ltd invoice from 1976 photo from Rob Marshall; other images from Jez Phillips; Standard Triumph Review cover with P W Barker dealer address stamp image from Michel Grimaldier.

Standard Vanguard Phase III Motor Trader service data

Standard Vanguard Phase III

I have recently scanned some more of my collection of Motor Trader articles. The Standard Vanguard Phase III Motor Trader service data is number 359 and dated 26 September 1956.

I have Motor Trader service data for several other Standard cars and have been gradually adding them to my website:  http://vitessesteve.co.uk/MotorTrader_StandardCars.htm

Merry Christmas 2016

1963 Triumph Herald Christmas advert

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all my readers and contributors.

Thank you very much for your contributions to my project to write about Standard Triumph dealers.  I have now published over 25 articles and much material for many more. http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/TriumphCarDealers

I have scanned a whole library of big saloon articles and brochures started to share it. Initially material has been shared on facebook. 

As ever my website http://vitessesteve.co.uk/ has been slowly evolving with new content added periodically. Most recently I have added a page with Motor Trader articles about Standard cars. 

Many of the photos used in my blog posts can also be found on flickr  Triumph Car Dealers Flickr gallery of images I have found on Flickr. or my Triumph car dealer group.  

Leyland cars North America Dealer directory for 1974

The British Leyland North America Dealer directory for 1974 which covers the Austn, MG, Jaguar, Triumph and  Land Rover brands.  You can preview and download a copy from:   https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CE2l4Osa3SemMyLUp0OVJTWlU/view?usp=sharing

I found this on Bobs TR6 site which has a lot useful stuff on it.

Central Garage of Brixham - Triumph car dealer 25

The owner and Ashley family members outside the original showroom

This is the 25th article in my series about Triumph car dealers and features Central Garage of Brixham.

A new showroom in 1965

Central Garage advert which featured in the Herald Express in the 1960's

Central Garage of Brixham a short history

In 1954 Norman Ashley, his wife, Christine, and their three sons Michael, Peter and John, left 'Yat Garage', in Ross On Wye, and headed down to sunny Torbay to open a new garage.  Central Garage in Milton Street, Brixham, was born and consisted of a small workshop and 2 pairs of petrol pumps.

Norman Ashley died age 56 in 1958 leaving Christine and their three sons to continue his legacy.  A year later, in 1959, after five successful years of trading, it was time to expand. Some adjacent land, including another house for the growing family to live in, was purchased and a new car lot was built. This expansion of the company continued in 1961 with the addition of a brand new purpose built workshop featuring a 'state of the art' hydraulic lift.

In 1965, Michael, Peter and John purchased an adjoining property and decided to convert it into a new car showroom, really lifting the profile of Central Garage and showing off the 'Standard Triumph' range of cars that were available at the time. In 1967, a large workshop was erected behind the showroom, this workshop is still Central Garages' main Brixham workshop.

As Central Garages' customer base grew, new demands had to be met. One of these was Body Repairs. So, in 1973, a new Body and Paint division was built. In 1975 when Peter and John lost their eldest brother Michael, aged only 40, and, in 1977, their mother Christine sadly passed away, too.

Peter's eldest son, joining the family business in the late 1980s.Central Garage now had the Rover franchise and was selling hundreds of new Rovers every year. When John's eldest son, Scott, and Peter's youngest son, David, joined the company in the early 1990s, the Brixham base was at full capacity and had expanded as much as it could.

Then, in 1995, the Ashley family purchased the old Travis Perkins site on Newton Road, in Torquay. It had the space inside for plenty of offices and a large showroom, including a seven-bay workshop, and ample space outside for a large selection of used cars.  Construction got under way and on fireworks night in 1995,
Central Garage in Torquay opened its doors for the first time.

Peter and Simon looked after the Brixham branch whilst John, Scott and David moved to the Torquay branch. Ten years later, disaster struck. MG Rover went into administration. The business then chose Mazda.  In 2014, however, Mazda took the decision to only have large dealer groups selling new Mazdas. At this point, Central Garage was the second placed dealer in the UK for customer satisfaction!

Building work

Over the years the buildings have been extended and added to.

Central Garages Torbay switched from Mazda to MG in 2014

Central Garage of Brixham switch from Mazda to MG

Since MG Rover's demise, in 2005, the company that bought them had been developing the MG brand and planned to bring the marque back to the UK Shanghai Automotive Industries (SAIC) have been spending millions on the old Longbridge site and were looking for dealers to sell the All New range of MGs.  Central Garage was approached by MG and, after visiting Longbridge and testing the cars, agreed to return to selling MG cars again.

Rear Screen sticker

Central Garage Torquay Rear Screen Sticker

 Thanks to Sottedlaurel on flickr for the above photo.

Polling Station

A polling station has been set up in one Central Garage Brixham showrooms on at least three occasions.

Triumph dealers in Brixham

From the various Triumph car dealer directories I have I can see that:
1951 no dealer
1955 The Torbay Garage Ltd, New Road
1959 no dealer
1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1979 Central Garage (Brixham) Ltd, Milton Street, TQ6 0BY
Austin Rover dealer in March 1988 and Rover dealer May 1991.

Plea for more information

If you have any more information or recollections about Central Garage of Brixham, photos of window stickers, dealer badges or sill plates etc please let me know. I can be contacted via the comments to this post or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.weblin

Further information and sources

Link to the other articles in this series.

Link to facebook page: Triumph Car Dealers.

Link to my Triumph Car Dealers Flickr group .

I have a collection of Standard Triumph car dealer directories: http://vitessesteve.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/triumph-car-dealer-directories.html

Picture credits: Herald Express Brixham local paper; rear window sticker photo by Spottedlaurel on flickr..