Many of London’s garages have now gone. Peter Marshall captured a few on camera as he strolled about the city in the 1980s and 90s.
Halstow Garage, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, 1990
F H Taxis, Railway Arches, Dunbridge St, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, 1993
The Romans founded London in 43 AD, and brought roads with them. As the hub of Roman Britain, straight road suited to invading marching up and down began in London and stretched out. The Anglo-Saxons who came later preferred roads that followed river bends and natural curves in the land. Medieval ruler built more. The 14th Century map bequeathed by Richard Gough to the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford showed a national road system that centred on the city.
Fast forward to the Industrial Revolution and London’s swollen population needed more of everything. Several more ring roads were constructed in the early part of the 20th Century, and in the 1960s highway planning was dominated by the idea of ‘predict and provide’ – you work out how many car journeys there will be in ten years time, and then build the roads needed to accommodate them. As car ownership was growing and public transport was not, London’s highways planners kept predicting they’d need more roads. (You can read about the how that policy nearly destroyed London here).
Today cars are seen as bad things in the city, with successive mayors keen to drive more people onto the over-priced, creaking Tube system. The introduction of pay to enter zones and eye-watering high parking charges has made driving in London expensive and easily affordable for only the better off. And feweer cars means fewer garages to service them.
Garage, Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
Car Parts, Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
Pedley St, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets. 1980
Car Sales, Albany Rd, Walworth, Southwark, 1988
Piston Broke, Dirty Den’s, Car Spares, Ripple Rd, Barking, Barking & Dagenham, 1990
Car Spares, Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
Car Supermarket, Acton, Ealing, 1990
Voltaire Motors, Voltaire Rd, Clapham, Lambeth. 1980
Garage, Railway Arch, Ridgway Rd, Loughborough Jct, Lambeth, 1989
Three Colts Garage, Three Colts Lane, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets, 1993
RJP, Garage, Plato Rd, Brixton, Lambeth, 1989
Acton Broadway Garage, Acton, Ealing, 1990
Garage, Bromell’s Rd area, Clapham, Lambeth, 1992
Garage, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, 1990
Garage, Kings Rd, Chelsea, Kensington & Chelsea, 1988
Garage, Twyford Abbey Rd, Park Royal, Brent, 1990
Garage, Armoury Way, Wandsworth, 1991
Garage, Lothian Rd, Camberwell, Lambeth, 1989
Kaporta Boya, Elektrik Servis, Sovereigh Garage, London, 1993
Enid Garage, Old Jamaica Rd, Bermondsey, Southwark, 1988
Garage, Camberwell Station Rd, Camberwell, Southwark, 1989
Garage, Bromell’s Rd area, Clapham, Lambeth, 1992,
Garage, Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
Hope Garage, Brighton Road, Stoke Newington, Hackney, 1989
L & B Autos, Garage, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
Garage, Rothbury Rd, Hackney Wick, Tower Hamlets, 1992
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