REOPENING OF TESCO PETROL STATION IN BRIGG 'STARS' AS WE TURN BACK THE CLOCK

 

It was good to see drivers filling up their vehicles at the Tesco petrol station in Brigg yesterday afternoon (see picture above).
The much-used facility, off Barnard Avenue, closed temporarily from January 18 go while "maintenance and renovation" was carried out. Tesco told us at the start of the project:  "It will be back open within two weeks."
Although the work has now been completed, we were a shade surprised yesterday that Tesco had not erected a banner nearby to get across the 'Now Open Again' message. It could have occupied the same position as the one (since removed) which announced that the station was shutting for renovation.
Getting the 'Now Open Again' message across was not helped yesterday by the presence of barriers stacked up on the forecourt and featuring our picture. Having seen the barriers still present, some drivers might have drawn the wrong conclusions, we feared. Unless, like us, they saw other motorists filling tanks at the pumps.
The Esso petrol station, on Bridge Street - also adjoining the busy A18 - closed on Wednesday, January 20 - also for refurbishment.
This only took one day to complete but meant that - for a short period - Brigg was without a single outlet where drivers could top up.
In years to come, this hopefully unique occurrence might be worthy of inclusion in a local quiz question.
And while on this topic: Which business offered the first petrol provision in Brigg?
We've seen a picture taken circa 1900-1910 showing a pump outside E. H. Smith's garage... surrounded by historic cobbles in the Market Place. This building is now occupied by Brown & Co, land and property agents.
George Layne - one of North Lincolnshire's earliest car dealers and motorists - established premises on Bigby Street in 1914, having started in business selling cycles and then motorcycles.
W. A. Sass established the Monument Garage in 1924, while Bridge Street later offered different places to top up on either side of the main road.
Layne's garage closed in 1971 - the showroom later being re-purposed as Brigg Snooker Club. Town houses occupy the site today.
Sass's (car sales, servicing and petrol station) continued near the Monument roundabout until the early 1980s. We had a nippy Mini at the time - a vehicle designed to run on cheap two star fuel, but we didn't risk it and opted to top up with three star.
Refuelling continued for many years after Sass's - under different operators. The forecourt is now the base of Brigg Hand Car Wash.
Listing the names of famous petrol brands which have appeared down the decades on the Bridge Street petrol station's frontage would merit another local quiz question. There have been quite a few. Texaco, with its world famous emblem, was one of the star names to offer four star!
Layne's must have sold Esso, as we recall calling at the showroom, off Bigby Street, as a child in the 1960s, to pick up some free tigers' tails (made from fabric) which were being given away in a promotion featuring Tony the Tiger - the company's slogan being: "Put a Tiger in your tank.
Green Shield Stamps were later linked to petrol sales and became big business; books filled with these gummed give-aways could be cashed in by Brigg motorists for a range of consumer goods.
Returning to our original topic in this post, Tesco was one of the first grocery concerns to offer Green Shield Stamps.