Gulf - Pontyrhyl Garage, Bryn Cottages, Pontyrhyl, Bridgend, Wales CF32 8PX 1
I remember this place tormented me when I was trying to find its location from the old photo I have of it as an Esso site in the early 1990s. It was loosely labelled Aberkenfig which isn't really that near here. Eventually I did find this location, and more recently still to photograph it as it is now. For most of Streetview this was a Murco site but some time beotween 2015 and 2021 it rebranded to the Gulf site you see here. One thing that's very clear from comparison with the 1990 photo is that the trees have grown a lot over the intervening thirty plus years. The other big difference is the front of the building has been painted white whereas in earlier Streetview shots and the old Esso one it is plain brick. This seems to have coincided with the change of brand to Gulf. The pumps are the same as they were in the first Streetview shot but they are upgraded from 1990!
Overall the garage has done very well to survive at all as it is on what is effectively a dead end road, the A4064 heads up into the valley from Brynmenyn (which is just north east of Aberkenfig) through here and on to Blaengawr where it ends and other minor roads stretch a little further before also ending. It must be one of the shorter A roads in the UK!
Below you can see it as the Esso it once was and on Streetiew as a Murco.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5916962,-3.5784014,3a,75y,102.1...
Gulf - Pontyrhyl Garage, Bryn Cottages, Pontyrhyl, Bridgend, Wales CF32 8PX 1
I remember this place tormented me when I was trying to find its location from the old photo I have of it as an Esso site in the early 1990s. It was loosely labelled Aberkenfig which isn't really that near here. Eventually I did find this location, and more recently still to photograph it as it is now. For most of Streetview this was a Murco site but some time beotween 2015 and 2021 it rebranded to the Gulf site you see here. One thing that's very clear from comparison with the 1990 photo is that the trees have grown a lot over the intervening thirty plus years. The other big difference is the front of the building has been painted white whereas in earlier Streetview shots and the old Esso one it is plain brick. This seems to have coincided with the change of brand to Gulf. The pumps are the same as they were in the first Streetview shot but they are upgraded from 1990!
Overall the garage has done very well to survive at all as it is on what is effectively a dead end road, the A4064 heads up into the valley from Brynmenyn (which is just north east of Aberkenfig) through here and on to Blaengawr where it ends and other minor roads stretch a little further before also ending. It must be one of the shorter A roads in the UK!
Below you can see it as the Esso it once was and on Streetiew as a Murco.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5916962,-3.5784014,3a,75y,102.1...