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UCL Coachbuilders History

UCL Coachbuilders cannot boast the history of their sister garage in Dover, Jenkins & Pain, but then not many can.

However, we have been in business since March 1988, which is no mean achievement in today's industrial climate.

As with our sister garage, we have invested in all manner of new technology from estimating, parts ordering and the electronic progress of repairs.

Over the years we have been awarded with various repair contracts for the majority of the major insurers.

At the beginning of 1994 UCL Coachbuilders joined forces with Jenkins & Pain under the control of one Company.

Both garages kept their own trading names as they had both become so well known in their own locality for the high standards of customer service and repair quality that has always been a trademark.

The people and businesses in Deal have been very supportive to us over the years and we have always tried our best to reciprocate by providing the best possible service and repair quality.

Between both sites along with a large fully skilled and loyal workforce we also have

  • 4 Low bake spray booths
  • 4 Body alignment jigs
  • 2 Body measuring jigs
  • 2 Infra Red HPA – latest technology steering geometry system
  • Tyre fitting & balancing
  • Air conditioning repair & recharge
  • 50 Courtesy cars
  • Recovery service
  • Infra Red paint curing
  • Fully compliant and registered with the local authority for Environmental Protection
  • Industry recognised quality standards
  • Electronic time management systems
  • Internet estimating & communication
  • Audatex and Glassmatix computer estimating
  • Digital image recording systems

Ten Year Service

Recognising on behalf of the company the loyalty and hard work of individuals that have served for over 10 years.

Jenkins & Pain History – established 1770

Motorcars were the symbol of the new century, and in Dover, there were already a number of coach-building businesses. The Palmer family had been in the coach building business from 1770 and already had premises in Priory Street. In 1896, on the site of the old Kingsford Windmill Brewery, at the bottom of Union Road (now Coombe Valley Road), George Sacre Palmer opened a coach-building factory and employed some 140 staff.

The Palmer's also owned Connaught Coachworks in Cherry Tree Avenue (where Aldi Supermarket now stands). In 1908, the firm received an order to build the car bodies for fifty cars with Peugeot chassis and engines, which was the start of many other such orders. The bodies for Rolls-Royce cars were later built at the Cherry Tree Avenue works and also coach bodies for East Kent Road Car. Due to the introduction of the assembly line in motorcar building, the Union Road works were sold in 1930, for £500.

Two former apprentices at Palmers, Horace Jenkins and Hubert Pain, set up their own business as motor body repairers, in 1934 and took over the Palmer's premises on Union Road with its distinctive arched entrance. In 1978, the firm moved further up Coombe Valley Road staying until 2001, when they moved to purpose built premises at White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield.

The firm, at the time of writing, employs 45 staff and specialises in repairing local authority, business, police vehicles and for all major insurers. In 1983, the remains of the old Kingsford brewery were demolished and eventually the site was sold and cleared for Kingsford Court.

- A history of Dover Town, by Lorraine Sencicle published by Riverdale Books for the Friends of Dover Museum, 2007