The spectacular garages on Halfords prize shortlist

From Bond villain hideout to American retro, the shortlist for the Halfords Garage of the Year competition has everything. Launched in June, and having attracted hundreds of entries, a shortlist of 20 has now been selected. The winner will be announced in the coming weeks.

According to Halfords research, two in five people who have garages spent more time in them to relieve lockdown boredom during the pandemic. One in five of those said they spent the time making improvements to the garage itself, with DIY, working on vehicles and even using it as an art studio all featuring as popular uses. The results suggest the garage has become the retreat of choice for millions of Brits.

Among the shortlisted entries are:

• Edward Beech, Herefordshire, who quit his job at the beginning of the pandemic, bought an ’89 V8 Discovery 1, and has spent the past 6 months restoring it.
• Kurt Bramfitt, Heywood, who has finally achieved his dream garage build he has spent the last 7 years working towards.
• Nigel Brunt, Hatfield, who has spent his whole life collecting cars and bikes and now has the ‘ultimate garage and leisure cave’
• Michelle Reading, Higham Ferrers, whose garage renovations were a life-saver and helped keep her and her partner going when lockdown struck.
• Tony Knell, Ashingdon, who uses his spare time to keep his garage in top shape for charity events and fundraisers

The competition was introduced as part of Halfords’ partnership with British Touring Car Championship Team, Halfords Racing with Cataclean. Team drivers Daniel Rowbottom and Gordon Shedden will select the winner who will receive £5,000 in cash along with a Halfords Ultimate garage bundle plus a new set of tyres and a BlackVue dash cam fitted for free, courtesy of Halfords Mobile Expert. The Ultimate Garage Bundle will include £2,000 worth of Halfords Advanced tools, tool storage solutions and products, to give the winner the perfect prize.

Andy Randall, Group Chief Operating Officer at Halfords, said: “As the operator of more than 370 full-service garages across the UK, we know better than most the value of a well-equipped and well-designed garage. Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve spent more time than ever at home and in the garage, organising, tinkering and tidying up. We’ve been amazed at the quantity, quality and diversity of the entries and we look forward to announcing the winner shortly.”