November 2019

loved and appreciated where I was. Beyond that, looking out for the customers in terms of the service that was being provided and the way that they were doing things, I thought I could do a better job for myself and the customers if I struck out on my own. That was my drive. I always wanted to provide a service than is better than someone is going to get anywhere else." For Martyn, the business of running a garage is much more than car repairs: "Anyone can fix a car. What the business it is really about how you communicate with customers, if everything is presentable for them at the garage, if you are providing transport in the form of lifts for the customers, how timely you are in completing the work, whether you wash a car before you return. Where I was, this was not happening. I had to go my own way in order to be able to do things the right way." Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre was not always on its current site: "We did not start here," said Martyn. “We had a unit A ftermarket picked a good day to head out to visit Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre. Beautiful sunshine and 25°C, but we would have appreciated the experience whatever the weather. The site, based on the edge of the village of Staverton, just outside Cheltenham is an excellently presented textbook example of how an independent garage could and should be. Once you get past the professional, clean and inviting customer reception area, the business fields eight bays, and four ramps. There is plentiful customer parking at the front. Once cars are in, they are moved to the pre-work waiting area. From here they might go to the clean- work servicing and MOT areas, the diagnostic bay, or the tyre/air-con bay. If the job is more serious, there is another bay dedicated to long-term and heavy jobs, including engine rebuilds and gearbox jobs. "This keeps all the mess and the shouting out of the way of customers," explained owner and founder Martyn Langbridge. "Including himself, there are 10 members of staff. "We have six techs, two front of house and me and Carol. One of these is a new apprentice. We always have at least one. I think 80% of our workforce we brought through from being an apprentice. We could not exist without it. You know their strengths and weaknesses much better and can train them your way." Staff get to do a bit of everything: "We don't have set roles, everyone moves around. In the main area it is mostly servicing and MOTs. All the clean work gets done over here. On the left we have the diagnostic bay. We have equipment like Pico and Autologic, with a big monitor for easy viewing. It is a nice clean environment." Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre is a well-known 58 AFTERMARKET NOVEMBER 2019 GARAGE VISIT www.aftermarketonline.net CHELTENHAM & GLOUCESTER AUTOCENTRE Above: Martyn (right) and the team Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre was one of the winners in Top Garage 2019. Aftermarket stopped by to find out more... and highly respected business in the sector, but that's not the only reason we visited. Yes, we had an ulterior motive, namely the business's victory in the 6-10 staff class of Top Garage 2019. Popping in less than a month after their victory was announced, we asked Martyn how he felt about the win: "I am very happy, and immensely proud of the team. They are the ones who got us there. There was some stiff competition. I knew most of the other guys who were there, or I had at least heard of them. I was hoping we would win, but was not sure we could come out on top with the level of garages also taking part." Aftermarket spoke to everyone who took part in Top Garage, and quite a few cited Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre as an exemplary business. They know of it and aspire to be as good. How did it get to where it is today though? On the origins of the business, Martyn said: “ I was working for someone, as a lot of people do. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly feel