New business to open at former car dealership

A charity shop is set to open next month on the site of a former car dealership in Stroud.

Thompson First on London Road, Bowbridge will become the home of Cotswold Dogs & Cats Home, which will run a new charity shop in the vacant premises.

The car dealership was established in 1972 by Dick Thompson and Paul Lacey as Lacey and Thompson and dealt in TVR and Saab cars before switching to Citroen in the 1980s.

In 2000 Lacey and Thompson became Thompson First, run by Dick’s son Cameron. Latterly it was run by Cameron’s son, Scott, who came into the business in 2012. In 2019 the business brought the MG brand back to Stroud, having been purchased from MG Rover in 2005 by the Nanjing Automobile Group in China.