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CLEVELAND

Brief History

Cleveland Petrols were marketed by an independent company based in North East England. (The name comes from the Cleveland Hills, not from Cleveland, Ohio.) In the 1930s, this company was acquired by the Anglo-American Oil Co (Esso), but the Cleveland name was retained, largely as the subsidiary marketed a benzole blend and an alcohol mixture called Discol. This gave Cleveland five different petrols at a time when many firms had only two or three.
In 1973, Esso chose to end the Cleveland brand and gave up selling benzole or alcohol blends. Cleveland's 2,000 filling stations were soon switched to the Esso brand.

Maps

No Cleveland maps are known before this 1963 example which is in usually found in poor condition. The map was printed abroad, probably in France, by Foldex on rather poor quality paper. As with all Foldex maps, there is a fair amount of detail considering the small scale (10 miles to the inch). Britain was covered in two sections (North, with a red cover & South with the light blue cover shown); Ireland was missing from all Cleveland series as it only opened its first station in Northern Ireland in 1972.
From 1967, Cleveland's maps were drawn by George Philip Printers, and were similar in cartography to Esso maps.

1963 Cleveland map of Britain - Southern Section

1967 Cleveland map of Britain - Section 4

1969 Cleveland map of Britain - Section 7

1970 Cleveland map of Britain - Section 2

1972 Cleveland map of Britain - Section 4

The first George Philip series from 1967 had relatively dull covers. There are two rear covers; the first lacks a red top band and has an error "Drive with Driscol" (not Discol) overprinted.

The next series dates from 1969-70 and had seven line drawings of minor landmarks. Section 7 - Northern Scotland - showed Dounreay nuclear power station and Section 4 - South East England - shows the Civic Centre in Southampton. The 1970 maps showed both old and decimal prices.

The final series from 1972 used less fluid ink wash drawings of castles. The Midlands & East Anglia (Section 4) is represented by Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire and Northern Scotland (Section 7) by Crathes Castle, West of Aberdeen.

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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 1999-2003


The first George Philip series from 1967 had relatively dull covers. There are two rear covers; the first lacks a red top band and has an error "Drive with Driscol" (not Discol) overprinted.	The next series dates from 1969-70 and had seven line drawings of minor landmarks. Section 7 - Northern Scotland - showed Dounreay nuclear power station and Section 4 - South East England - shows the Civic Centre in Southampton. The 1970 maps showed both old and decimal prices.		The final series from 1972 used less fluid ink wash drawings of castles. The Midlands & East Anglia (Section 4) is represented by Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire and Northern Scotland (Section 7) by Crathes Castle, West of Aberdeen.