The Williams Hotel (Renamed the Regent Hotel after Princess Victoria’s visit) was owned by John Williams and was a larger replacement for the Bedford Hotel which stood across the road from the Regent Hotel, now the HSBC Bank.

The Williams Hotel opened in 1819 and had stabling for 100 horses and garages for 50 carriages.
The garages replaced Mr King’s Mews and Livery Stables, where Livery Street is today.
In 1904 the Hotel and Garage contents were sold to Mr J. S. Cridlan.

In 1906 the garage was then being run by inventor Richard Tingey of Tingey’s Garage, Regent Hotel who died in June 1909 aged 42 while suffering from stomach pains and then having an operation at the Warnford Hospital.

Mr Bertram Bloomer is now manager of the Regent Hotel Garage and on the10 July 1911, the Regent Hotel played host to a party of around 400 members of the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain and The Imperial Kaiserlicher Motoring Club of Germany, headed by Prince Henry of Prussia driving his own Benz and the Duke of Teek. The garage securely storing the 50 cars overnight, with a guard on duty.
One of the English competitors was the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Homes fame.
The competition was to cover a course with the least amount of breakdowns, which started at Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt and after a grand tour of England and going as far north as Edinburgh, finished in London.

In 1920 the Garage was running Char-a-blanc tours of the area to the likes of Compton Wynyates, Edge Hill and Cheltenham.

In 1922 they are now sole agents for Sunbeam Cars, a Mr S Wood is sales manager.

In 1925 The Regent Garage are agents for Sunbeam, Morris-Oxford and Morris-Cowley Cars and Bean Cars of Dudley.

In 1932 they opened a Car Showroom at 132 The Parade, opposite the New Town Hall.

The Regent Hotel was requisitioned in September 1939. In 1943, the garage was also requisitioned for army vehicle repairs. A German bomb exploded near the garage destroying the archway at the entrance.

1947 announcement of a new company The Regent Garage (Leamington) Ltd.
The Regent Hotel was still under requisition at this time.

1953 Regent Properties (Leamington) Ltd.
Directors: F. J. Cridlan. A. G. Cridlan. Stanley Wood (General Manager).

1968 Jack Green was a Director and General Manager of Regent Garage and also Moss’s Agencies.

2 July 1976, George Kidd Motors in Trinity Street has been taken over by the Regent Garage from then-owner Brian Morris and announced that a new all-purpose building is to be built in Avenue Road and the future of the George Kidd Motor premises will be reviewed then.

On 10 July 1976, Leamington Carnival day, a fire breaks out destroying the Regent Garage’s Commercial Workshop, the Parts Department and the Stock Control Department, luckily though the area of land left from the demolition of the Avenue Road Railway Station had been already been purchased in 1973 and plans were immediately brought forward to start construction of a new building complex.

In February 1986, the Regent Garage reached the finals in a national contest to find the oldest garage in Great Britain being run by The Motor Trader Magazine to celebrate its 80 years of publication, Warfields Garage in Bracknell was the other finalist. (But who won?).

The Avenue Road Show Room and Garage opened 18 months later in October 1978 before being taken over by the Quicks Group in 1989.