Official Opening of New Premises of the Denbigh Smithfield Garage Ltd.

Mr Kerfoot Owen, Managing Director of Denbigh Smithfield Garage - and Abbey Filling Station – happily turns his hand from car parts and petrol to floristry, when the need arises.

The Denbigh Smithfield Garage’s new premises were opened – and filmed “in glorious kodak colour” – on 8/7/1949 and visited by Bargoed actress Doris Hare. Building on this success, the company opened the Abbey Filling Station in the town on 9/12/1954 with the help of local boy Wilfred Wooller, a sporting hero (captain of Glamorganshire Cricket Club and Welsh international rugby player).

Doris Hare (1905-2000), from Bargoed, was born into a theatrical family, her parents owning a travelling theatre, and she started performing at the age of 3, becoming known as “Little Doris Hare”. She was awarded an MBE after WW2 for services to entertainment. During the 1960s she was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre and became particularly well-known as a character in the television series ‘On the Buses’. Wilfred Wooller (1912-1997), from Rhos-on-Sea, Denbighshire, was a cricketer, rugby player and journalist. He is held to be one of the greatest all-round sportsmen Wales has ever had.