17/09/2026
🏫 Building of the month! 🏫
Chantry Garage (Glyn Hopkins), Northgate End This deserves mention in this series as one of the few examples of Art Deco architecture in Bishop’s Stortford.
The garage was built in 1934, for H R Moore Ltd, on the site of a row of terrace houses. They had had a motor engineers business at Northgate End since before 1926. The frontage of the garage followed the curve of the road, with a colonnaded ground floor, with petrol pumps to the fore and a car showroom at the rear.
The upper floor was a separate premises, Prior’s Scientific Instruments, approached by a steep ramp at the right of the building. During World War 2 this made gunsights and telescopes.
This closed in the 1950’s and was incorporated into the garage as a service area. The roof top was also used for parking. There was fierce competition for petrol sales at this end of town, with 3 garages within 200 m until the 1990’s.
In later iterations, it was Palmer’s Garage and Chantry Garage (selling Renault cars). Coming right up to date, and reflecting the modern reality, it is now a dealership for two fast growing Chinese brands, Omoda and Jaecoo, having edged the former new Asian insurgents Nissan to the side.
-
