Compton’s Garage – Leamington

Compton’s Garage at 77 Rugby Road, Leamington was originally a local family run concern dating back to around 1947, until 2007 was run by Neville Compton after inheriting it from his father Reginald.

The first advert I can find is on 1st December by Exide Batteries as Comptons Garage as one of their many suppliers.

On 23 May 2006 garage owner Neville Compton claims that a £250,000 scam at another Leamington petrol station has caused a slump in his trade.

The Evening Telegraph recently told how 127 motorists who used chip and pin debit and credit cards at the Shell petrol station in Clarendon Avenue were victims of hi-tech fraudsters operating across the globe.

But Mr Compton, who also sells Shell fuel from his independently-owned garage, said people were mixing up the two garages.

Mr Compton also hit out at the oil company for forcing him to charge his customers up to 5p more for a litre of petrol than at the Clarendon Avenue outlet.

Shell put up the price about two months ago and Mr Compton, who is planning to sell up in 12 months time, says it has dealt his business a second blow.

He said: “Our petrol comes from the same tanker as the one that delivers to Clarendon Avenue, so I don’t know how they justify it.

In 2007 the company has been sold to Mr Brian John Tew and Vicky Ann Tew.

In March 2013 it is incorporated as Nearly New Tyres Ltd and have two Directors a Mr Brian John Tew and Vicky Ann Tew.

Father and daughter team, Brian and Susie Tew, Simon Smith Retail, which was listed at number 45 in this year’s Top 50 Indies, was a small, family business based in Gloucester, with seven modern, well-developed forecourts.

The company was formed more than 40 years ago by Brian when he left Shell, and he and his wife Vicky became licensees of a small, Shell-owned site in Cheltenham. Over the years they built up their business, buying and selling sites.
Always keen to keep up with the latest retail trends, the company spent a lot of time and money developing its sites to ensure they stayed relevant to today’s ever-demanding consumers. The design was key, across both the forecourts and stores, as was ‘building a rapport with customers and delivering great service in order to keep them coming back.

Simon Smith also saw great value in working with big fuel brands and favoured Gulf and Shell.

The business has now been sold to MFG. MFG is the UK’s biggest independent retailer with circa 900 sites.

Its name was changed then in March 2019 to Compton’s Garage Services Ltd.

On 11 June 2019, Mr Steven John Twissell becomes a shareholder and Director.

By – The Newsroom (Warwickshire World)
Wednesday, 18th January 2017.
Comptons Garage, 77, Rugby Road, Cubbington, recently reopened its doors, following a major revamp to the garage.

The petrol station in Rugby Road, which has been open in the village for about 70 years now has a brand new ‘oversized’ forecourt and a Spar mini-market with a specialist frozen meals section and Subway sandwich takeaway have replaced the shop.

The MOT test centre has also been updated and improved to cater for most classes of vehicles.

Work started in October and the station will now be open seven days a week from 6am to 10.30pm

Owner Brian Tew, 74, of Simon Smith Retail Ltd which specialises in running petrol stations, had first visited Comptons and set his sights on buying it 15 years ago after he had been to the Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park.

He then bought the site ten years ago from the previous owner and villager Neville Compton, who had inherited it from his father.

Mr Tew had been planning to bring the site more up-to-date since then.

He said: “In the end, we believe we got the best design possible which fits in with the landscape.

“We wanted to improve that little corner by the roundabout and we hope the garage will serve the community really well.”

The petrol station was opened on Saturday by village vicar The Rev Graham Coles.