A New Garage for Gary

Gary at work

Greenacre Garage

As many Tarvin residents will know, Greenacre Garage owners David and Gillian Evans, sold the business and premises to new owners who have a plan to develop the site's retail potential. For what feels like forever, Gary Gwalchmai, to many, the face of Greenacre Garage, has been entrusted with the running of the car maintenance workshop as manager and chief engineer. I spoke to Gary this week to find out how he started and a bit more about what the future holds.

Gary started as an apprentice mechanic at just 16 years old at the Greenacre Garage site. (A few residents may have thought he was the owner or part owner but this has never been the case). Gary has run the car maintenance workshop from the premises for over 20 years keeping vehicles and their owners on the road. He agreed to continue after the garage was sold to the new owners until planning permission is approved.

New owners; Sajeev Gowrinathan and Swarnan Sivapatham have plans to develop the retail potential of the Greenacre Garage site but their plans do not include a vehicle maintenance workshop. After planning is approved, on or around 18th November, the owners will be closing the workshop. All the workshop staff will be made redundant at that time but the good news is that Gary has offered all those staff a job in his new business "Gary's Garage" based at Iddenshall Grange, located behind Iddenshall Hall Nursing home where his customer's cars can continue to be looked after by Gary and his team of experienced mechanics.

Another piece of good news for customers of Gary's Garage is that he will be offering a pick-up and collection service where needed for his customers, making it even more convenient to get their cars looked after then when the workshop was based in the village!

Gary says: "I really want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of my customers for their support and custom over the years. I'm ready and set up at Iddenshall Grange and although it will be strange not being in the village, I am looking forward to having a bit more space and a refurbished workshop."

Most importantly, Gary asked Tarvin Online to send an important message to customers :
Under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) he is not permitted simply to take customers contact and vehicle details with him to "Gary's Garage" without the customer's written consent.
If you are, or have been a customer of the workshop at Greenacre Garage and you are happy for him to transfer your contact details and car maintenance history to Gary's Garage, please email him within the next four weeks at: greenacregarage@btconnect.com.
Please cc garysgarage0@gmail.com.

If you title your email "Consent to transfer contact and vehicle details to Gary's Garage" it will help him to group these messages and ensure that your details are recorded for use in the new business.

If you know someone who does not have access to email or if you would prefer to write a letter of consent for transfer of customer data, a letter can be sent to:
Gary Gwalchmai, Greenacre Garage, Church Street, Tarvin CH3 8NA

The services at Gary's Garage will be the same as were offered at Greenacre Garage:

• MOT's
• Vehicle Servicing
• Tyres
• Exhausts
• Air Conditioning
• Body Work
• Timing Belts and
• All forms of vehicle maintenance

Ed: It will be strange not to hear the familiar sounds of air tools at Greenacre Garage, and see Gary's friendly face there. We wish him and the staff the very best of luck at Iddenshall Grange.
For anyone who wants to get in touch with Gary by phone its: 07795 194 829.