The Devon village with a vintage petrol station
Colyford, a small village on the Axe Estuary in East Devon, is home to one of the region’s most unusual roadside attractions: a 1930s filling station preserved almost exactly as motorists would have found it decades ago.
Beside the A3052, the wooden‐framed forecourt charts the evolution of fuel retailing through the entire 20th century. Here’s how it went from a working garage to a living museum!
1930s origins – four hand‑operated Hammond pumps
Photographs from the early 1930s show a modest timber canopy with four tall, glass‑globe Hammond visible pumps.
Drivers of Austin Sevens and Morris Eights pulled up, cranked the handle, and watched petrol slosh into the calibrated chambers before gravity fed it into their tanks.
The glass cylinders helped wary customers see exactly what they were buying at a time when fuel quality varied wildly.
Behind the pumps, a simple weatherboard building doubled as workshop and office. Stocked with engine oil and fan belts, it served the growing traffic on the newly designated A‑road linking Exeter with the Dorset border.
1950s – hand pumps still in service after 25 years
Post‑war road travel boomed, yet Colyford clung to its original equipment well into the 1950s.
New signs promoted Shell Mex & BP – a joint marketing venture formed in 1932 – but customers still pumped by hand.
Wartime petrol rationing had ended only in 1950, so keeping the business alive at all was an achievement!
Late 1950s – Avery‑Hardoll automatics and Shell‑BP branding
By the closing years of the 1950s five squat Avery‑Hardoll electric pumps replaced the older Hammonds.
They dispensed Shell and BP grades only; rival brands Cleveland and Esso disappeared from the forecourt.
Shell’s national advertising campaigns reached rural Devon via enamel signs on the pump island. Yet Colyford kept its village feel.
Drivers still paid inside a tiny kiosk.
1960s–70s – mixed‑brand forecourt and the switch to litres
Period photos show an eclectic mix of pump heads during the 1960s: some Avery‑Hardolls, a pair of Gilbarcos, even a Wayne dispenser acquired second‑hand.
Colour coding multiplied as suppliers merged and rebranded.
While gallons remained the unit on pump dials for most of the decade, a later upgrade introduced Tokheim heads capable of dispensing in litres – a nod to the UK’s slow move towards metrication.
Supply contracts shifted too. Shell stopped deliveries in 1977 as it rationalised its rural network. In 1982 Texaco stepped in under the Regent brand, painting the pipework red and blue. The canopy’s timber trusses soldiered on, though repairs became ever more frequent as traffic inched higher and lorries grew heavier.
1990s – refurbishment and the final fill‑ups
By the 1990s environmental regulations demanded interceptor drains and double‑walled tanks. Colyford’s owner opted for a sympathetic refurbishment rather than demolition.
Pumps were overhauled, forecourt concrete recast, and signage restored to tidy condition. Tokheim litres‑only heads dispensed the last petrol and diesel sold here during the summer of 1999.
The final customer reportedly drove away in a powder‑blue Triumph Herald – fitting for a garage steeped in motoring nostalgia.
With commercial viability slipping, the proprietor locked the pumps, cleared the workshop, and began plans to safeguard the site for future generations.
2003 onwards – transformation into a roadside museum
In 2003 the filling station reopened, not as a business but as a museum! Display boards now line the interior, telling visitors how motoring changed the Devon countryside.
The original coach house next door was converted to house larger exhibits and period vehicles, completed in 2004.
Entry is free and the site sits beside a handy lay‑by, making it a perfect stop if you’re exploring the Jurassic Coast or heading to Seaton Tramway – which you can read about here.
