AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Map from 1960... The workshop and spares at No.7

Interesting . . . also the spelling of the Sennocke Hotel, I assume old form of town name. Gracious that is should say the 'Motorised' are catered for. I assume an ostler and stables round the back for the rest of us! Taxi services available too from the garage too. All very evocative. 'Fraid I'm not good on veteran and Edwardian motor vehicles - but has to be pre-WW1 J-B?
U (or is it B) 345 would be a clue if Kent has old vehicle registration data in some dusty archive . . .

It seems odd but 'B' could be Lancashire and 'U' Leeds, both indicate post 1904.
My guess from the style of the cars it's not later than 1915.
Strange that there may be only one horse and no dung to be seen on the road but maybe is 1914 'ish and they've all gone off to the Somme, (nor any street lighting?).......

https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/registrations/b.htm

I wonder how long Angus motorcycles continued in Sevenoaks. I was at school there from 64 to 69 but never saw the shop but i was riding a Lambretta scooter at the time.

I saw the name of the hotel, but never made the connection...
"The roots of the Anglo-Saxon name Sennocke comes from when the family resided in an area that was defined by seven oak trees... Sennocke is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature...
The surname Sennocke was first found in Kent where they held a family seat at Seven-oaks, a market-town and parish"

The chap on the left is the late Bruce Main-Smith, one time machinist in the Guided aweons dept at Vickers Armstrong (Aircraft), Weybridge. He left there to become a motor cycling journalist around 1958/9.

I recognised the name, I have come across it in various articles. I have a couple of copy BSA manuals which are titled Bruce Main-Smith & Co. Ltd.
I assume the same fella.

Another period pic. A delivery of rigids to Hallens in Cambridge, '54 I assume?
Any of these still going?

Or is it a delivery from .. all appear to be registered ....

Looking at the year by year model changes in 'Restoration'...
1954 introduced the alloy front hub and twin pilot lamps, which these have.
1955 introduced an alloy rear hub and barrel shaped saddle springs for rigid framed models, which these don't appear to have.
So 1954 looks to be a good call.

Good photo... I don't recall seeing it before.