This is just a few miles from where I live, here’s the story.
It’s easy to forget just how different motoring looked a century ago. Today we pull into a forecourt without a second thought, but in the early days of British motoring, buying fuel was a very different experience. Most drivers bought petrol in two‑gallon cans from chemists, hardware shops, or even the local blacksmith.
That changed in 1919, when the UK’s first purpose‑built petrol station opened on London’s Aldermaston Road. It was a modest little structure by modern standards — a single hand‑operated pump under a wooden canopy — but it marked a turning point. For the first time, motorists could refuel quickly, cleanly, and safely without wrestling with tins or funnels.
The idea caught on fast. Within a decade, petrol stations were appearing along major routes across the country, helping to shape the freedom and spontaneity we now associate with driving. For anyone who loves vintage motoring, that first station is a reminder of how rapidly the world changed once the motor car took hold.
A small wooden hut, a single pump, and a big leap forward — not a bad way to start a revolution.
Kirsten O’Brien shares its hidden history.