The specialist: Toad Hall Workshops

By Charlie Calderwood

| 15 May 2026

Classic & Sports Car – The specialist: Toad Hall Workshops

Toad Hall Workshops is an unashamedly old-school classic car garage.

The engine shop, in a shed out the back, is home to a giant milling machine at least twice as old as the workshop’s apprentice, while a steel parts rack in the storeroom is labelled with handwritten notes on ancient tape.

But while many such garages are fading away as owners step back, Toad Hall has set upon a course of future-proofing after the retirement of its founder.

A Jaguar 420G takes the MoT-inspired ‘Historic Vehicle Test’ at Toad Hall Workshops in Norfolk

David Wall set up shop in Wroxham, Norfolk, in 1977. By 1990, he had expanded into the current premises in nearby Hoveton.

Now no longer near the bridge that gave his previous garage its name, he rechristened the business in honour of his children’s favourite novel, to create Toad Hall Workshops.

With a particular focus on pre-war British marques, David and his team’s reputation grew, with one of their proudest projects being the rebuild of a Lagonda Rapide that came second at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Toad Hall Workshops is a local specialist with an international reputation

Now the firm is in new hands, having been sold to a passionate customer in 2021 as David looked to retire – but he still works here three mornings a week.

Ensuring continuity – and the modernisation it requires – for years to come is now the agenda.

“We’re still basically a village garage,” says workshop manager Toby Thornberry. “We are trying to enhance these skills, which are becoming rarer these days.”

Under Toby’s eye, Toad Hall has gained a website, email address and social-media accounts.

Classic car badges adorn this time-served toolbox at Toad Hall Workshops

Formerly a mechanic at the garage, he returned to manage the business as it transitioned from David’s stewardship.

What is in the workshop hasn’t changed, however, and Toby is bullish that its traditional approach creates undeniable results, whether that is the truly immaculate Bentley S3 Continental that was being finished during our visit or even the chassis of a horse-drawn Royal Mail coach from the 1820s.

Unlike most village garages, Toad Hall works with wood and leather just as confidently as it does steel.

The workshop now also has its first apprentice in years, and the first it has sent to the Heritage Skills Academy: coachbuilder Harvey Everson. “He was somewhere else before us,” says Toby, “but they didn’t do as much coachwork as we do.”

The Toad Hall Workshops team, from left: Toby Thornberry, David Wall, Michael Blake, Dale Scarf, Harvey Everson, Wayne Bolton, Ian Marsh and Peter Pratt

As a tidy Jaguar 420G on the ramp confirms, Toad Hall isn’t just about big restorations.

Its latest initiative is a ‘Historic Vehicle Test’, an MoT-inspired, 40-point inspection designed for classic cars that are exempt from mandatory checks.

Toby says: “A lot of people do their own servicing, but this is an opportunity to get someone such as Wayne, who’s been working on classics for 40 years, to look at it.”

Priced like an MoT, at £59, the Historic Vehicle Test produces a condition report at its end.

The ageing turret-milling machine towers over Toad Hall’s engine-building room

“Most MoT stations don’t know what an Austin Seven’s kingpins should feel like,” Toby adds.

Cars pulled out of winter hibernation are among those the initiative is targeting, with customers often booking a service immediately after to follow up on the findings.

With modern marketing, 21st-century business tech and fresh blood in the workforce, Toad Hall Workshops is pushing against the ageing of the heritage industry in more ways than one.

From left: a Bentley, Land-Rover and Austin await attention outside Toad Hall Workshops

The refreshing – even surprising – bit is that it hasn’t come in the form of venture capitalists who barge in with belligerent performance indicators, redecorate the place as if it’s a luxury spa and ramp up the hourly rate.

Like a classic car subtly upgraded with electronic ignition and radial tyres – rather than a very flashy, overworked restomod – Toad Hall Workshops is making sure it heads into the future with its character and expertise intact.

Images: Jack Harrison