Former Top Gear host Tiff Needell has joined a campaign to stop England’s oldest petrol station from being turned into a house by a married couple.
Tiff Needell, 72, who presented Top Gear from 1987-2001, criticised plans to renovate the Grade II-listed site in the Golden Valley village of Turnastone, Herefordshire, saying it should be preserved as a museum.
“We have to try to keep things as they were so people can walk past them to soak up that feeling of ‘wow this is what it was like then’, and it can be a place for enthusiasts to drive by and know about,” Mr Needell told the Daily Telegraph.
“To walk through these histories is just a wonderful feeling. And it just seems unnecessary to ruin this tiny part of history.”
It comes after Mike Clark, 63, a software engineer, bought the property in February 2023 as a place he and his wife would be able to retire to.
The former petrol station was bought in February 2023 as a place owner Mike Clark and his wife could retire to— (Philip Pankhurst/Geograph)
The couple have spent around £60,000 on surveys for planning permission to repair the existing outbuilding and build a detached garage.
Mr Clark said he would keep the petrol pumps outside and said he would not be adverse to people taking pictures with them.
He added the campaign was a chance for people to “show off” and his renovation of the building was a labour of love, with time spent clearing rubbish and repairing walls and windows.
Mr Clark said he would keep the petrol pumps outside and people could take pictures with them— (Philip Halling/Geograph)
“It is kind of strange really, we are not anti people coming and taking photos of the pumps with their cars, and we are going to keep the pumps,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
The petrol station was last used in 2010 and has been abandoned ever since. It was founded by H James Charles Wilding and taken over by his sons Hedley and Percy.
Hedley continued to run the business into his nineties and his son then continued the business until more recently.
There are two petrol pumps in the front garden of the property, either side of the substantial arched hedge. One is a Wayne and other is an Avery-Hardoll, probably dating from the 1950s and 1930s respectively.
