National - St Benedict's Garage, Dereham Road, Norwich, Norfolk 31st October 1963
Amazingly the garage still exists today, recently changed brand from BP to Esso as seems to be almost par for the course these days! The BP branding would have taken over from the National branding around 1990 as BP discontinued the National brand in favour of only using their own main name thereafter. Or at least that is what I would have thought but in fact it was branded Jet in 2008 and then Murco by 2011 so it's been in almost constant transition! This all makes sense since I found out it is a site owned by MFG (Motor Fuel Group) and they have ties with five brands, four of which are Esso, BP, Murco and Jet so presumably they are just cycling this one through their various brand options to keep it looking fresh and new. This is an image that has been seen online a fair bit over the years - I have seen a few other people post it but in my case I have waited until a genuine original press photo of this turned up for sale on Ebay - hence I know the exact date of the photo - and if you look closely at this compared to other versions this one has more forecourt showing in the foreground! Anyway, irrespective of that it's a super photo and totally deserves to be seen a bit more!
To see as Jet here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322585,1.2843657,3a,75y,330.28...
and as Murco here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322346,1.284387,3a,75y,342.42h...
and as BP here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322334,1.2844079,3a,75y,342.42...
and as Esso here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322234,1.284459,3a,75y,342.42h...
National - St Benedict's Garage, Dereham Road, Norwich, Norfolk 31st October 1963
Amazingly the garage still exists today, recently changed brand from BP to Esso as seems to be almost par for the course these days! The BP branding would have taken over from the National branding around 1990 as BP discontinued the National brand in favour of only using their own main name thereafter. Or at least that is what I would have thought but in fact it was branded Jet in 2008 and then Murco by 2011 so it's been in almost constant transition! This all makes sense since I found out it is a site owned by MFG (Motor Fuel Group) and they have ties with five brands, four of which are Esso, BP, Murco and Jet so presumably they are just cycling this one through their various brand options to keep it looking fresh and new. This is an image that has been seen online a fair bit over the years - I have seen a few other people post it but in my case I have waited until a genuine original press photo of this turned up for sale on Ebay - hence I know the exact date of the photo - and if you look closely at this compared to other versions this one has more forecourt showing in the foreground! Anyway, irrespective of that it's a super photo and totally deserves to be seen a bit more!
To see as Jet here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322585,1.2843657,3a,75y,330.28...
and as Murco here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322346,1.284387,3a,75y,342.42h...
and as BP here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322334,1.2844079,3a,75y,342.42...
and as Esso here www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.6322234,1.284459,3a,75y,342.42h...