Clist and Rattle celebrates 90 years

A FAMILY-RUN Flax Bourton car business has celebrated its 90th anniversary.

Since being set up in 1922, Clist & Rattle has remained in the ownership and control of the family and is now run by Paul Clist, grandson of one of the founders.

At the end of World War One, two ex-servicemen and brothers-in-law, Captain Leslie Clist and Sergeant Sidney Rattle, invested �100 each and bought an acre of land at Cambridge Batch, between Flax Bourton and Long Ashton, to set up Clist and Rattle.

The business saw items repaired and petrol sold from cans at the premises.

In 1923, they started a car hire business, acting as chauffeurs to the local land gentry, and by 1925 amassed enough money to build a proper garage and workshop.

During World War Two, part of the garage site became a base for the auxiliary fire service and half of the workshop was given over to the war effort.

Since then the company has grown substantially.

In the 1970s, the company took over the service station in Portishead High Street and in the 1990s Clist & Rattle took on franchises with Land Rover and Skoda as well as selling Renault cars from its Portishead branch. In 2005 Proton also joined the vehicles on offer.

In October last year, the company moved its Renault franchise and most of its staff to its expanded head office site, which remains at Cambridge Batch.