Twenty five years after first opening up his garage in Bermuda, Bob Shaw has come to the end of the road.

He is hanging up his spanner and retiring from the Pembroke business, Shaw Enterprises Ltd, to travel the world.

And he is handing over the keys to his half acre of garage and land on Market Lane to Richard Davidge, President of Eurocar Ltd, who will be moving his own garage from nearby Addendum Lane to the site.

Mr. Shaw said: "I am sad to be leaving. But I am tired. I have come to the stage that I can't do everything for myself, and I only think of the customer.

I need time for Bob.

End of the road for garage owner "But I would like to thank all my customers over the years and let them know that Mr. Davidge will be able to offer them the same kind of service.'' Mr. Shaw, 56, originally started his business in 1974 in Mills Creek. Five years later he moved to the Market Lane site, from where he has been repairing cars and doing paint and body work for the last 20 years.

"We were known as the `Performance People' because we would adapt things and make up exhausts to make cars better. It was not just about speed, but about being more efficient.'' And while Mr. Shaw is travelling around the world in semi-retirement, Mr.

Davidge will take over the garage from Mr. Shaw, and move in his staff of seven. And they will be able to process 70 or 80 cars a week through the workshop.

"Of course it depends on the job -- how many cars we can process. We have five times the space we had before, have tripled our capacity and now have a paint and body shop as well. We can now do anything from regular service to full engine rebuilds.'' Eurocar has the Renault concession on the Island on Woodlands Road, and will stock spares in their new space in Market Lane.

They will also retain BMW and Volvo parts which were previously supplied by Shaw's.

Mr. Davidge says the move is part of an overall expansion plan for Eurocar, and the company could eventually take on more staff if demand increases.

Currently they are training two Bermudian mechanics, Spencer Ashford and Steven DeSilva. Mr. DeSilva is in his final stage of a four-year training programme that will take him to Singapore for three months to become a fully qualified Renault mechanic.

The new Eurocar garage is situated next to Pembroke Paint, off Market Lane.

PHOPTO Photos by Arthur Bean The end of an era: Garage Shaw Enterprises is putting on the brakes and shutting up shop. Bob Shaw will hand over the keys to Eurocar President Richard Davidge. Below: Eurocar, who have the licence to sell Renault cars in Bermuda, will keep their shop in Woodlands Road while moving the garage to Market Lane.