OPPOSITE the Broadway in Bridge Street now stands a block of flats that was built by Linden Homes in 2003 and is called Clarence Court. Before that, it had been the premises of builder’s merchant Travis Perkins who took over from Kennedy’s who were in a similar business. However, before 1962 it was a branch of Anna Valley Motors - on the site since the mid-1920s – and who had a branch in Salisbury and later in Amesbury. The late Percy Trodd, a long-time employee of the firm, wrote extensively about Anna Valley Motors in his memoir, published in 2014.

The business was a successful one and any expansion had been measured; but this changed in 1958 when George Michael Shurety, a former oil salesman from Wimbledon, became a director. He took overall control the following year on the retirement of fellow director, Harold E Hill. Mr Shurety was a man in a hurry with grand ideas. His ambition was to acquire three separate companies, and with this in mind he bought some disused garage premises in Weyhill on which he built a petrol filling station, as well as some adjacent land for the sale of used vehicles, manned by a staff of four. This enterprise he named Shurety Garages Ltd.

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Film Star John Gregson performing the official opening beside George M ShuretyFilm Star John Gregson performing the official opening beside George M Shurety (Image: Charles Wardell)

In addition, and in quick succession, another set of premises, which included land and a bungalow, known as the Motordrome, was purchased in Weyhill Road, just west of the railway bridge. After re-building a new workshop and showroom there, he called it Andover Motor Company Ltd. All three companies were run by Mr Shurety with his wife Edith as co-director. Thus, in a short space of time Shurety had achieved his three-company ambition.

In Weyhill Road, after buying the premises in September 1959, an architect Mr A P Gainsford of The Square, Winchester, was brought in to completely re-design the old servicing unit and to transform it into a ‘first-class showroom, which involved rebuilding the front and putting in spacious windows. This reconstruction was carried out by Emery and Jenkinson Ltd of London Street, Andover. There was a new terrazzo floor, put in by Southampton Flooring and Paving Co Ltd and fluorescent lighting by local firm F Found and Son of Penton, who also did all the other electrical work, including lighting for the petrol pumps.

It was claimed that the new stores department carried the most comprehensive range of spare parts of any garage in north Hampshire and that gear boxes and new engines could be supplied direct from the stores. For customers’ convenience, there was even a new lounge installed so that they could wait in comfort while minor jobs were carried out on their vehicle.

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The new Motordrome premises in Weyhill Road, ready for the opening ceremony (Image: Charles Wardell) On a Saturday evening in December 1959, there was a grand opening ceremony where 150 customers and representatives of the motor trade gathered. Film star, John Gregson, who had played in a string of Ealing comedies, as well as having principal roles in the 1953 hit Genevieve and also The Battle of the River Plate in 1956, was brought in to open officially the new enterprise. Mr Shurety outlined the new firm’s policy, saying he would be retailing a wide range of Austin and BMC (British Motor Company Ltd who had taken over both Morris and Austin in 1952) vehicles, while supplying Regent petrol. ‘I look upon a garage as a hospital and we must give service around the clock’, he said. His celebrity guest made a short, witty speech, and talked of his admiration for the enterprise and wished it every success.

The new Andover Motor Company’s advertisements in the Andover Advertiser give a snapshot of the period. There were four new Austin models that year: The A99 Westminster was on sale for £810 plus £338 purchase tax; the Austin Seven was £350 plus £146 tax; the A40 was £450 plus £188 tax and the A55 Cambridge Mk II from £565 plus £236 tax. Purchase tax was first instituted in 1940 on luxury goods (such as cars) and remained in force until 1973 when it was superseded by VAT.

Sadly, the razzamatazz of the opening did not go hand-in-hand with future success, and it soon started to unravel. By November 1962 Shurety’s creditors had filed for bankruptcy, forcing the closure of all three motor companies.

As Percy Trodd relates: "When his three-company dream finally ended in 1962, he sold his house at East Cholderton and became an oil salesman again, [a business] which was controlled by his wife. Acquired under a leasing agreement, Mrs Shurety ran the grocer’s shop in Weyhill with accommodation provided."

The shop was also the village post office but within a couple of years the Shuretys had moved on. They settled in Ledbury, Herefordshire, where Mrs Edith Shurety died in 1974 at the age of 56. Her husband remarried in 1976 but he died in 1990.