The Brock Transport Cafe

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=215 BGCOLOR="#CC0000" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="7e4bd730.png" border=0 width="189" height="115" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> These pictures were taken at a  rally held at the Old Mayfied cafe which is a few miles further North then the Brock. I remember staying here in the 60's when I was hauling potatoes from Montrose to Smiths Crisps at Fleetwood. The sleeping arrangement was very similar to an army barracks, with about 20 beds in a large dormitory. This picture shows the building in the back ground, it is now a large Hotel called The Crofters.The old A6 road can be seen on the right. I have put an enlarged copy of this picture at the bottom of this page.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7e6cb7c0.png" border=0 width="203" height="124" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Pictures of Crofters by courtesy</div> <div> of  David Gates.</div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC0000" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Big Al's Truck Stop</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Als Truck Stop"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My History"><U>My History</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Album"><U>Photo Album</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Classic Lorries"><U>Classic Lorries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Atkinson Lorries"><U>Atkinson Lorries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mildred"><U>Mildred</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guest Page"><U>Guest Page</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Dubai"><U>More Dubai</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Picture Links"><U>Picture Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Leyland Rally Day"><U>Leyland Rally Day</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Barnard Castle Truck Show"><U>Barnard Castle Truck Show</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old British Haulage Firms"><U>Old British Haulage Firms</U></A>   |   <B>The Brock Transport Cafe</B>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lowloaders"><U>Lowloaders</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Work"><U>Work</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Guests and Their Trucks"><U>Guests and Their Trucks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lorries Trucks"><U>Lorries & Trucks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old Lorries"><U>Old Lorries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Demob Holmfirth"><U>Demob Holmfirth</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Holmfirth 2"><U>Holmfirth 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Holmfirth 3"><U>Holmfirth 3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="USA Trucks"><U>USA Trucks</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thornycroft Lorries"><U>Thornycroft Lorries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ex War Dept"><U>Ex War Dept</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ERF"><U>ERF</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Model Lorries"><U>Model Lorries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Accidents will happen"><U>Accidents will happen</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Thornycroft"><U>More Thornycroft</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thornycroft Basingstoke"><U>Thornycroft Basingstoke</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Work 2"><U>Work 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Clear out"><U>Clear out</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vintage Rally"><U>Vintage Rally</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="H.C Wilson Transport Ltd"><U>H.C Wilson Transport Ltd</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dubai"><U>Dubai</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Foden"><U>Foden</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preston Trunk"><U>Preston Trunk</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Real Big Boys Toys"><U>Real Big Boys Toys</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Showmans Wreckers"><U>Showmans & Wreckers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FF0000" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>The Brock Transport Cafe</I></div> <div> <B>A few months ago through a friend of mine, David Gates, I was introduced to Terry Swarbrick who with his wife Jean run</B></div> <div> <B>a guest house on the old A6 road at Bilsborrow, about 6 miles North of Preston. The guest house is now called the Glen Darvel</B></div> <div> <B>but most of my older visitors will know it better as the Brock Cafe. In the days before sleeper cabs were invented long distance</B></div> <div> <B>lorry drivers would stay in Transport digs, there was a network of houses and cafes the length and breadth of the United Kingdom</B></div> <div> <B>that catered for the needs of drivers engaged in long distant haulage. There were a good few along the stretch of road from</B></div> <div> <B>Bilsborrow to Garstang, The Brock, Dirty Dick's and the Mayfield spring to mind. Prior to the opening of the M6 the A6 was </B></div> <div> <B>the main road from the west side of the country through to Scotland. The Brock originally became a cafe / transport digs during</B></div> <div> <B>the 2nd World War when the War Department was moving essential supplies they commandered the house and parking area</B></div> <div> <B>for drivers to use as a resting place. After the war with few cars about or the money to buy them people turned to bicycles to</B></div> <div> <B>get out of the towns and cities to visit the countryside. As a result of this a network of cycle cafes sprung up throughout the</B></div> <div> <B>country, later with the demise of cycling and with more lorries and cars on the road the ones along side main trunk roads became</B></div> <div> <B>transport cafes. So the Bilsborrow Transport Cafe came to be, Terry tells me this soon got shortened to The Brock. In the years</B></div> <div> <B>after the war it was owned and run by Andrew Collinson, after him it was taken over in 1960 by Ernie and Joe Nicholson and finally</B></div> <div> <B>Terry and Jean Swarbrick who took it over in 1987 and still own it to this day, although the cafe part has closed down they still</B></div> <div> <B>run it as a guest house "THE GLEN DARVEL" telephone number 01995 640446. In the dining room the walls are covered</B></div> <div> <B>with pictures of lorries and their drivers who have stayed there in the past. Terry kindly lent me an album of photographs  taken</B></div> <div> <B>sometime around the late 80's which I have scanned and reproduce below with  Terry's kind permission. If you see yourself or</B></div> <div> <B>your lorry and would like a copy I will be happy to print one and send it onto you.  See contact me page for details.</B></div> <div> <B>I will try and add a few more pictures everyday till they are all up on the site. I wonder when I look at these photgraphs  how the</B></div> <div> <B>hell did ERF get swallowed up by a German company, MAN.   80 % of the lorries in Terry's pictures are  ERF</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="797e43a0.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="314" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">  <IMG SRC="7b7f3510.jpg" border=0 width="499" height="337" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Abbey Hill Car transporter  reg No  F264 FTD                                                        Thomas Moss Fruit &  Veg Merchant from Preston</div> <div> <IMG SRC="799e8f10.jpg" border=0 width="488" height="241" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="79af73e0.jpg" border=0 width="503" height="318" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Scottish Road Services                                                                                               Hunter Browning DAF from Scotland  reg no  F377 LGA</div> <div> <IMG SRC="79be41a0.jpg" border=0 width="484" height="282" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="79cf2320.jpg" border=0 width="498" height="306" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> BDH DAF 1900  reg no F676LGA                                                                           George Smart of Alford, Aberdeenshire  reg no LSO 177W</div> <div> <IMG SRC="79df04e0.jpg" border=0 width="496" height="334" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="79eee4e0.jpg" border=0 width="494" height="334" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Hi Line Caravans of Blackpool  reg no D545 MNF                                                Scottish Road Services  DAF  reg no  F773 ASW</div> <div> <IMG SRC="79f0a600.jpg" border=0 width="522" height="352" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7a0327c0.jpg" border=0 width="562" height="380" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Two of Abels pantechnicons  A Bedford and DAF parked up for the night          Brian Armistead filling up at the Brock before heading off to a tractor pull</div> <div> <IMG SRC="77efa490.jpg" border=0 width="506" height="585" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7a1196b0.jpg" border=0 width="537" height="363" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> John Smillie drivers were frequent visitors at The Brock Transport Cafe, The building in the back ground is now Terry's garage and workshop.</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7a2c6180.jpg" border=0 width="454" height="280" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7a32b7c0.jpg" border=0 width="555" height="380" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Smillies again  ERF reg number  F359FHS                                                     William Kirk Transport of Macclesfield  ERF   reg number  E815 JEH</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7a40ace0.jpg" border=0 width="1034" height="718" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Fine brace of ERF's again both John Smillie's It looks like they have the trailers swopped round, i.e the tanker should be on B857 YGB and the flat on F359 FHS</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7a5dd470.jpg" border=0 width="477" height="327" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7a6f95f0.jpg" border=0 width="505" height="351" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Looks like F359 FHS was a frequent visitor                                                    United Coop ERF re number  D455 DVT</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7a7c8f30.jpg" border=0 width="456" height="243" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7a8ce380.jpg" border=0 width="462" height="312" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> One man and his dog Entwisles ERF Bulk tipper  reg OSE 212W                           BOC Transhield  ERF reg number K775 PLK</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7a9e1450.jpg" border=0 width="481" height="325" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7aad0390.jpg" border=0 width="464" height="313" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Forth & Tay Marine Hire Division's ERF E10   reg number  F553 VSC        Three of Scottish & Newcastle ERF's  A113 CSX, A133 CSX,& A135 CSX</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7abdf440.jpg" border=0 width="479" height="324" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7acf2510.jpg" border=0 width="498" height="337" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Lever Industrial     ERF  reg H379 CNE  fleet no 3379 trailer 1705                  J.A.Hutchinson & Sons    ERF   reg number  C608 OEW</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7aec3310.jpg" border=0 width="451" height="305" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7b0cf390.jpg" border=0 width="463" height="313" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Jim Grummitt  ERF  F375 RNR  MalcLindsey Scania B304 HNN      Alcan Glasgow    ERF  reg number G279VGA</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7b2a91f0.jpg" border=0 width="425" height="287" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7b5025b0.jpg" border=0 width="514" height="347" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> J.G.W Glover 8 wheeler reg number  F812 YHF                           RoyalitePlastics    ERF reg number     </div> <div> <IMG SRC="7b9a5190.jpg" border=0 width="421" height="281" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7bb5c6a0.jpg" border=0 width="604" height="362" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> James Kingan  Foden reg number  E465 VSW                           JJBishop  HOR 654</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7bed9a00.jpg" border=0 width="729" height="416" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Foden reg number E281 LFS  and Thwaites Seddon Atkinson reg number E311 KVC</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7da075f0.jpg" border=0 width="519" height="351" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7dcff590.jpg" border=0 width="511" height="345" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>  Enbo from Holland  with a Pegaso reg number  28 - UB - 65                             Scotflow Truck & Trailer Rental  reg number  MSR 160Y</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7de04250.jpg" border=0 width="516" height="293" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> <IMG SRC="7e005320.jpg" border=0 width="517" height="306" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Scammell  reg number   B799 YUH   drivers cb handle Peg Leg ?                    Benton Bros of Boston  reg number E707 AFE</div> <div> <IMG SRC="7e81e830.png" border=0 width="1054" height="643" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> As promised an enlarged shot of the Old Mayfield cafe now The Crofters Hotel at Garstang. It has certainly grown since I last stayed there,</div> <div> although I am informed that part of the old Mayfield is incorporated in the building. When I met Terry Swarbrick of the Brock cafe he</div> <div> introduced me to Ron Clark whose family owned the Mayfield from 1945 through into the Fifties, Ron promised me some old pictures</div> <div> and more info on the old cafe. From the line up of lorries in the picture I guess it must have been an Albion vehicle rally, </div> <div> The A6 road is on the right with the box van heading north.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>