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My husband Pete
Skermer and his father and mother used to run a garage called The Merlin in Haunch Lane, King's Heath after the last war and were
there between 1947 & 1964. It was sold around that time. It used to
be a Regent Petrol Station and carried out motor repairs. We have
quite a few photo's of it. My husband, now retired, would love to
hear from anyone who remembers ' the Merlin Garage' .
Sheila Skermer,.
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The garage was
alongside Billesley Common and next to the old Tudor cinema . There
was quite a steep bank round the side which ran down to the common fence
and one night (very foggy and damp) a chap called Roy Beech whom we knew,
came in asked if he could park on the garage because he didn't
want to continue driving, Pete told him the direction of where
& left it to him. Twenty minutes later Roy re-appeared,
swearing and saying you might have told me there was a bank
there!! We thought he knew, they both went out and there
in the fog was a pre war Ford standing on its bonnet, up
against the fence, it took a lot of heaving out. I hope you can use one
or more of the photo's and maybe it will jog someones memories.
Sheila Skermer
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I thought I would let
you know that it was my husband Pete Skermer [not my Father] I was
referring to who ran the garage in Haunch Lane together with his mother
& father Harry [known as H] & his mother Olive Skermer. We had a
good laugh about this. You were right about the other garage on
the Yardley Wood Road known as Machins, Pete knew them well, Bill
Machin lives in Shropshire. There were certainly quite a few characters
who used to come in to the Merlin. Pete & I did most of our courting
there too because he worked long hours so I used to go and help him by
serving the petrol & on one occasion putting petrol in the carburettor
by mistake, or trying to before the customer stopped me!!. Sheila Skermer |
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A brilliant picture recording a different age. This picture was taken from the top of the Tudor cinema, in the distance can be seen Yardley Wood Road and Chinn Brook Road. I don't know when the picture was taken, sometime in the sixties I should imagine. Does anyone know the make of the tanker. Is it a Leyland Octopus or a Scammell? |
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A fascinating site that brought back
many memories to someone who is less than 2 weeks away from his 'bus pass. As regards the King's Norton entries. Sorry, don't know anything about the one in Bells Lane, but was very surprised when it closed as it had no real competition nearby. The other is one I often used on the way to Redditch and closed about the same time as one about a mile further along Redditch Road towards Redditch. For most of their life both were owned by Patrick Motors along with others in the south of the city (e.g. Longbridge Lane). Their main outlet was the site now run as a Tesco Express on the Bristol Road by the University - the only petrol station I know of with security staff to deter "runners". It was alongside the works shown on the Selly Oak page, which strictly speaking is Bournbrook - Selly Oak is the other side of the railway bridge. An Aldi supermarket now stands where Ray's Garage was by Selly Oak Library. My "local" in the 1950s/60s was Hazelwell Garage in Vicarage Road, King's Heath, but commuting to town I used Timms Garage on the Moseley Road and well remember them letting me completely fill the tank of my MGB during the petrol shortages in the 1970s(?) when casual callers were restricted to a couple of gallons. Keep up the good work. Michael Jakeman King's Heath |
