Castle Garage - Westbury Road
Castle Garage - Westbury Road


According to the Gazette and Herald, the owner of Castle Garage, Doug Reed, died on 3rd June in 2001 and Bratton lost a fondly remembered local character. He was born in Cardiff in 1919, and having spent many years travelling, he eventually settled in Edington. He started as a mechanic apprentice with Automower Co of Norton St Phillip and then with E Dennis Ltd of Trowbridge (Ford dealership). The War intervened and he was called up into the transport division of the Royal Army Service Corps where he rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

After the war he returned to Edington and married Kathleen James in 1946 in Bratton Church, going on to serve as a parish councillor in his early years. Initially they opened Bratton Garage in Lower Westbury Road opposite Rosenheim Farm, as well as offering a taxi service and coach tours. Some villagers still fondly remember coach trips to places like Swanage and Weymouth in his slow Morris Bedford coach. For most people in this era, these outings would have been the only time they visited the seaside.

In 1957, Doug acquired part of the Reeves premises known as Top (or Upper) Yard on the south side of Westbury Road, a site which once housed the Bratton horse-drawn fire engine. As seen on this 1978 map, Doug and Kathleen turned it into Castle Garage, which became a prominent part of village life, now also selling diesel and two different grades of petrol as well as selling ice lollies, sweets and cigarettes. They lived in a bungalow at the back. Initially the garage was a one-man operation, with Doug putting down his spanners in the workshop to come out and pump fuel.

However, in 1996 the business closed due to increasing competition from supermarkets selling fuel. Doug and Kathleen retired to a bungalow on Millditch. The garage site is now occupied by three modern detached houses known as the Beeches, opposite the junction with Carpenters Lane.




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