History of Ever Ready Garage Ltd

My name is Richard Barton and I am one of six sons of James and Peggy Barton and I am the proprietor of Ever Ready Motors.

Cars have always being apart of my life since I was a little boy and it isn't hard to see why, for in 1920 My grandfather Oswald Barton left Chorley Lancashire in England to come to Ireland, within a couple of years he had joined a small motor garage based in Donnybrook Dublin 4 called Ever Ready Garage.

Ever Ready Garage Limited was founded on Friday the 7th of January 1927 by a Mr Johnny Reddy, and two of his friends Mr Billy Dikon and Mr Freddy Smith, My grandfather Oswald was asked by these gentlemen to join the business in 1928, he worked in all aspects of the business and in 1930 they sold the garage to My Grandfather.

The Barton family were now the new owners of Ever Ready Garage , My Grandfather Oswald and My Grandmother Eileen had 5 children the eldest being My father James T Barton, when my Dad James left school in 1941 his father Oswald sent him to the Austin Motor Company in Birmingham England to do his apprentiship, naturally James being only 17 years old was surprised, as world war 2 was at its height, and he was being sent to a country at war with Hitler's Germany, but without putting up to much of a battle My dad James left Ireland on the 22 of Sept 1941 and he started his apprentaship with Austin's, he spent 4 years in Birmingham during the war and remembers well the bombs dropping around them, he has over the years told us many a story of his time spent there.

On the 22 of September 1945 he returned to Ireland and took his place in Ever Ready as a sales executive and eventually as the years passed together with his father Oswald built up one of Dublin's leading garages selling the following makes:

Austin, Triumph, Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes, Citroen, Jensen, Lotus, Daimler, and any make of new car supplied.

My grandfather learnt a great discipline and a lot about people during his time spent in the army, he went on to become an officer and served in world war1, He brought a lot of what he learnt during his service to his business, and naturally passed this to his son James and to all his children.

In 1946 he started to let go of the rains and my Dad James took over as Managing Director, in 1952 My Dads Brother Oswald joined the firm and together continued the family tradition of providing a professional and friendly service to their customers. Of course no business can be successful without a wonderful staff which they had; some of the original staff that started with my grandfather in 1929 remained with the firm some of them serving 50 years until they retired.

The Ever Ready Garage Donnybrook closed its doors in 1980 after 53 years it was a sad day for the family, but at the time there was no one out of the third generation to follow on the tradition, until now.