Bexhill's forgotten garages areremembered in new exhibition

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In the days before a series of amalgamations reduced the British motor industry to a shadow of its former self, Bexhillians were spoiled for choice when it came to motor dealers and car marques.

Now a new photo exhibition at Bexhill Museum casts fresh light on half-forgotten businesses and long-defunct makes.

Once, the likes of Morris House, Dodson’s, Bexhill Motors, Russell’s, Buck’s, Waghorn’s, Marina Garage and the Black and White were household names in Bexhill while the products of the Austin and Morris factories and those of Hillman and Riley and Standard Triumph puttered along streets that appear near-deserted in the fading photographs.

Museum administrator Don Phillips has provided the independent, voluntarily-run establishment with some delightful railway exhibitions in the past. Now he and curator Julian Porter, assisted by volunteers Ken and Mary Bywater, have turned their attentions to the town’s motoring heritage.

For this they have trawled the museum’s photo archive – recently considerably augmented by the Bexhill Observer’s photo files.

Well-wishers have donated photos and the museum has acquired others from a specialist dealer.

Long ago the Bexhill Motor Mart traded “opposite Bexhill GPO” to quote its advertisement.