Bellinger Abingdon is Moving from 111 Ock Street

Bellinger Abingdon is Moving
The Bellinger Abingdon branch – at 111 Ock Street – is closing on 7th October 2016.
Bellinger Abingdon is Moving
I got a letter this morning. It said … “Your vehicle and contact vehicles will be transferred to the Milton Gate site next door to Milton Park… If you can’t make it to Didcot we also have a large site in Grove.”

111 Ock Street is a long established Abingdon motor car sales centre. At one time it also sold petrol.

So what next for this site? Will it continue as Abingdon’s oldest continuous site for motor car dealers?

Gowrings acquired 111 Ock Street sometime between 1926 and 1930 as a depot for Ford motor cars. etc. The site then expanded to Mayott’s Road, acquiring all the properties between. In 1997 Bellingers took over the site and started selling Vauxhalls instead of Fords.

15 thoughts on “Bellinger Abingdon is Moving from 111 Ock Street

  1. ppjs

    I wonder how Bellingers justify this in terms of customer service and convenience rather than their own. I am not a Vauxhall driver, so have no vested interest. Their current site causes less congestion than the Ford/Citroen/Fiat dealers on Drayton Road!

    Reply
  2. Bemused

    If the land was a petrol station at one time it might make it difficult for developers to build housing on it. Well, I hope it might, not sure we need more blocks of flats in the town?

    Reply
  3. Badger

    I think we all know where this leads… it is after all prime building land, i bet the deal is already done. How long before Hartwells relocate to a greenfield site somewhere, I’d bet someone is itching to build on that and the builders merchants site behind.

    Reply
  4. Concerned

    As a local resident this a little concerning. Especially as three weeks ago a couple of surveyors with all their equipment were out on the forecourt measuring up! There is no sign of any planning applications in yet though.

    Reply
  5. simon

    Bemused, I don’t think the old petrol tanks are a problem. Having watched the Amey site at Sutton Courtney being developed they had to remove old oil/petrol underground tanks from there. There don’t appear to be any planning applications in for the site at present

    Reply
  6. Badger

    Simon – Sometimes old garage and industrial sites require the soil to be remediated but it’s no real problem and as said there may be underground tanks which are also no real issue to remove, I think that’s what Bemused means though.
    I wonder if the site has ever been the subject of an archeological dig, it would be interesting to see what lies beneath. I expect the deal for the land may have already been done so a planning application will follow.

    Reply
  7. Badger

    Bellingers departure also ends a long presence in the town for Vauxhall previously represented by St Helens Garage in West St Helens St and then in the Vineyard.

    Reply
  8. Captainkaos2

    Myself and my three neighbours were approached by Churchill homes, (the retirement complex people) they wanted to buy our properties and knock them down to build a retirement complex, they made a very attractive offer which we all declined, however I did exchange many letters with them and indeed suggested Bellingers as an alternative site , they have quite a rigid criteria as far as location is concerned, must be comfortable walking distance to a town centre, at the time they were also looking at the Crosd Keys and the Occ intervention hub along Stratton way too.

    Reply
  9. Houdini

    The Drayton Road houses built opposite Hartwells used to be a petrol station. Also flooded there badly. Neither stopped them building on that site.

    Reply
  10. Stephen

    Bellinger’s site at Milton Gate is on enterprise zone land, which specifically required new businesses, not relocated ones. Enterprise zones have business rate relief.

    Reply
  11. ColinB

    Expected this for a while now. They have been very few Vauxhalls on the site, an outlet for their Part Exchange vehicles. I will start to take my Vauxhall to an Independant Garage now. Grove too far for me, Milton Impossible…

    Reply
  12. ColinB

    I rang them enquiring about service contracts etc, Closing today. They are ‘transferring all servicing to Milton/Didcot and Grove/Wantage service centres. They offer loan cars or a collection/delivery for annual servicing.

    Reply
  13. Badger

    How very Americanised everything seems, requiring a car journey for every single step in life. To me Milton Gate at certain times of the day is just as unreachable as Oxford and that’s now not 10 or 15 years from now!

    Reply

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