OK well check this video out. I’m pretty sure the building on the bank at 10:52 is the Blue Star. Can anyone confirm this?
I’m still struggling to work out why such a large building had such a short lifespan. Clearly didn’t exist before 1960 as the roundabout wasn’t there then, and gone by the mid 80s at latest?
I remember the old Hilltop at Blythe, they used to sell badges to put on your grill reading “The Hill Top Or Bust”, so did they go bust ■■, Regards Larry.
hi all,
don’t know if it’s the same garage?cause blue star were nationwide.on the southall twilight video/dvd,where it shows a mandator v8 on the old cm scottish test route,there is good colour footage of a blue star garage on the a1.
regards andrew.
The Condiments of The Season to you all. The Hilltop was on the Blyth roundabout on what had become the A1 just north of the A614.It was just south of the A1M Doncaster by-pass. It was where we always headed for on the way home from the North Eastwhich in the sixties was a good 3-day trip from South Wales in an 8-legger AEC doing 36 MPH flat out. With an early start you could tip in Bridgend at EW Works(later Engls) strip coil from Jarrow early afternoon and drop the wagon or trailer in Port Talbot for reloading for the next day. It was an exceptional digs in those days compared to some of the others we stayed in but quite expensive at 2/6d.All the rooms were singles,very clean with a shower room down the corridor.As was usual in those days youd meet the same drivers from all over the country who`d stay there regularly,some of them real characters,happy days! The last time I passed there quite a few years ago it was an hotel I think(memory gone).
The Hilltop Blyth was a Blue Star buisness.Like Bookworm i used it on return from the North East to Porthcawl in the sixties pre-motorway days in an AEC MM Mk3. We must have used the same clearing house Park Row Transport “Jack Sharky” for return loads to Bridgend.
Regards Tony.
Aye old Jack Sharkey a great old lad was Jack, He was a good old pal of mine, He used to run the Newcastle Transport Managers Club, every body liked Jack, he never lost his cockney accent but he fitted in wherever he went, Sadley to say he passed away some time ago, I went to his funeral to pay my respects, He was a true gent in my opinion, Regards Larry
Hello Lawrence Dunbar, yes youre right about Jack ,he was a real character He had loads of stories about when he worked for the infamous Davis Brothers in London in what was the "real old days". Ill always remember the times a crowd of us would be sitting in his office in Albion Row waiting for a load and he used to whisper to a driver on the phone giving him a load he should have given one of us,as if we didnt know.
The last time I passed through Newcastle I went looking for Albion Row,had a tough job finding it,it`s all new houses and I think the top of the street is blocked off.Best Wishes for the New Year.
I drove past this sight today, heading south to take my boys for a walk in Clumber Park. If you look carefully, you can see where the land has been back filled by the highways agency after renewing the layout for the bridge.
I recall that it had a huge concrete retaining wall as you entered up the slip.
Yes I remember the big concrete wall too, there was some fuel pumps there too.
Duplicate
Although far to young to remember it well I used to visit there with my old man he worked for texaco delivering there so must have been Texaco? That would have been in the 70s can remember the concrete ramp though to do a Blyth and a local Grimsby etc they thought was a big day how times have changed He ended up at tank freight what a shock after that at lmmingham
I used to stop at Blue Star Blyth sum sunday Nites when doing North East Deliveries back in the 70s
I was driving for Harris & Miners of Devon…
Norman Croad…Torquay…
I used to stop at the Blue Star Cafe at times.
Before in the Sixties coming from the North through Doncaster
Just before Bawtry we stopped at a Transport Cafe on the right
before entering Bawtry very good as I remember.
Not sure if it is still there.
Blue Star cafe - stood just south of old Blyth roundabout on the A1 opposite the current service station.
Can anyone give me any info on this place. I don’t remember it as anything else than a ruin and I’ve been passing that spot since 1970. However a study of old maps tells me it was only built when the dual carriageway went through in around 1960 although there may have been a smaller building on the site earlier, when the road was still the A614.
Surely it had a longer lifespan than that??
I can only recall it from 60s and you could only enter northbound off of the “A1” southbound you had to take the road to Blyth village and enter from there this was also the only exit which brought you to the round a bout at the start of the " A1 M" then it was a blue Star garage and popular overnight stop though I never stayed there I did park up and log book home from there and it was always full early on.
cheers Johnnie
I remember stopping at the Blue Star for diesel when I first went on distance work in 1977 so it was still going then. Here’s an advert from a 1966 copy of the Headlight magazine with the Blue Star advertised. As I remember you could access it from the roundabout or if you were heading north there was a sliproad just before the roundabout where you went up a ramp and it took you straight into the lorry park. Hope this helps.
I would go in the digs there now and again and it was a decent place to stay, small single rooms, warm and clean, and the food was pretty good there too, you had to book early though. If you cabbed it on their park it would be a bit noisy as some firms did nightly changeovers there, BRS being one of them. I’m not sure what year it closed down but I do know I was snowed up there in February 1979. Regards, Haddy.
Bri thats very interesting as the shape of the building at the top of that ad is the same as the later building on the site on OS maps from the period. Thats the first time I’ve ever seen what it looked like.
Has to be said that in the early 1970s I wasn’t 10 years old so memory could be playing me false!
The concrete ramp was there until quite recently and you could see remnants of the old parking area.
