Shell - Hartwells (& Kings Motors of Oxford) 14 & 15 Park End Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 1HH 18th Aug 1962
Two garages next door to each other here in 1962. The nearer one, Kings Motors of Oxford, were renowned for motorcycle sales. They lasted at this location into the 1970s before closing down. There is an amazing video on Youtube showing life at the garage at its peak in the 1950s here.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCx5dazJYHs
There is a company in existence today, Kings Two Wheels Centre, which was originally a part of the main Kings
Motors in Kennington. In the present day they are based in Kidlington having been in Cowley in between. The premises seen here much later on became a KwikFit as can be seen in the early Streetview images. The more recent images suggest the premises has been empty for the last seven years or so.
Hartwells premises survives with one tiny clue as to its previous occupants. There is a single letter H mounted on the top of the building to this day.
www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/ghost_signs/park_end_har...
The premises here more recently were occupied by a branch of Staples office supplies but they too now seem to be empty.
A brief history of Hartwells can be read here
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4555796.driven-survive/
Should anyone be interested, there are architectural plans in an article posted online here, you'll need to scroll down about twenty pages or so.
www.oxoniensia.org/volumes/2017/Curthoys.pdf
As for the same view today, it's a far cry from how it looked here in 1962. All the premises empty now, a sign of the economic times whereas in 1962 the UK was just at the end of the post war boom.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7527091,-1.26706,3a,75y,56.27h,...
Shell - Hartwells (& Kings Motors of Oxford) 14 & 15 Park End Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 1HH 18th Aug 1962
Two garages next door to each other here in 1962. The nearer one, Kings Motors of Oxford, were renowned for motorcycle sales. They lasted at this location into the 1970s before closing down. There is an amazing video on Youtube showing life at the garage at its peak in the 1950s here.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCx5dazJYHs
There is a company in existence today, Kings Two Wheels Centre, which was originally a part of the main Kings
Motors in Kennington. In the present day they are based in Kidlington having been in Cowley in between. The premises seen here much later on became a KwikFit as can be seen in the early Streetview images. The more recent images suggest the premises has been empty for the last seven years or so.
Hartwells premises survives with one tiny clue as to its previous occupants. There is a single letter H mounted on the top of the building to this day.
www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/ghost_signs/park_end_har...
The premises here more recently were occupied by a branch of Staples office supplies but they too now seem to be empty.
A brief history of Hartwells can be read here
www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4555796.driven-survive/
Should anyone be interested, there are architectural plans in an article posted online here, you'll need to scroll down about twenty pages or so.
www.oxoniensia.org/volumes/2017/Curthoys.pdf
As for the same view today, it's a far cry from how it looked here in 1962. All the premises empty now, a sign of the economic times whereas in 1962 the UK was just at the end of the post war boom.
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.7527091,-1.26706,3a,75y,56.27h,...