Replica garage for museum

A historic former garage is on the verge of being completely rebuilt and brought back to life at the Black Country Living Museum.

A replica of the Conway Garage, which was once based in Sedgley Road, Wolverhampton, is about to be created at the museum in Tipton Road, Dudley. Experts have been busy creating the replica and the groundwork has been laid at the museum ready for it to be moved on to the site within the next few months.

One of the cars, a 1934 Sunbeam “Twenty”, originally belonging to the garage owner, the late Alec Broome, has already been delivered to the site in preparation for the move.

It is to go on show outside the garage, which is expected to be open for visitors to see later this year as the first stage of a £10 million expansion of the tourist attraction.

The garage will form part of a new 1930s High Street, Old Birmingham Road, at the museum. Museum costumed guides will be on hand to fill visitors in on the history of the exhibits.

Mr Broome initially worked for Sunbeam as a racing mechanic.

When the company closed he started his own garage in 1936.

He ran it well into his 80s, finally retiring more than 20 years ago.

The museum wanted to exhibit a traditional small garage and one of the curators, Ray Jones, suggested modelling the design on Mr Broome’s garage. Mr Jones worked at Conway Garage when he was a young boy serving petrol and thought it would be ideal for the museum.

He said that the garage was a large wooden shed with a shop at the side and work benches at the rear, along with an area where tools were stored.

Mr Broome’s black 1931 Sunbeam, his pride and joy, was always on show inside the garage for customers to see and admire.

Museum director Ian Walden said: “We wanted to show what a traditional small garage would have looked like in the 1930s.

“Mr Broome was quite a character and the idea is for our costumed guides to tell the story of Mr Broome and the Sunbeam.”

Opening at about the same time will be The Cradley Heath Workers’ Institute which is in progress thanks to a £1.5 million lottery grant.