(Any)body work: behind the scenes at London’s first all-female garage

At the end of a quiet, leafy lane in Finchley, north London, is a hive of activity. It’s the middle of the working day at Spanners With Manners, which as it sign proudly declares is London’s first all-female garage. The smells of coffee, rubber and oil mingle as mechanics scurry about, shouting questions, jokes and instructions to each other. The office – a garden shed set back from the garage – is fiercely manned by guard dogs: a dachshund and two Jack Russell-chihuahua mixes. On the wall is, incongruently, a signed photo of Rod Stewart. 

“Oh, he’s a really good mate of my mum’s neighbour,” says Laura Kennedy nonchalantly. Laura, the founder of Spanners With Manners, runs it with her wife Siobhan. “[The neighbour and Rod Stewart] grew up together. Last time he saw him, he got him to sign that photo for us.” Stewart isn’t the only celebrity to have a connection to the business – the actor and producer Sadie Frost teamed up with them in 2020 to make a charity calendar.  

So how did Spanners With Manners become the celeb-endorsed female powerhouse it is today? “I had another garage before this, and when it started to get busy, I phoned the local college for an apprentice,” says Kennedy. “They happened to send us four girls. I didn’t ask for girls. But one of them was fantastic, I was like: ‘Right, she’s staying’.” The man Kennedy rented the garage space from then sold it, so she and Siobhan – who had recently started dating – looked for a new premises. The Finchley garage was available, and the rest is history.  

“We went from strength to strength,” Kennedy says. “We’ve never had to advertise for staff. The colleges find out about us online and they’ll phone us and say: ‘We’ve got a girl here. Can you give her a shot?’ We’ve never had a man call up for a job. We wouldn’t be against it, but it just hasn’t happened.” 

The pair talk of creating a warm, welcoming and non-judgmental environment for all customers, but particularly for women for whom the male-dominated traditional garage environment can feel intimidating. 

The fact that there are enough female trainee mechanics for the firm to have its pick of staff is an indicator of how much things have changed since Kennedy trained as a mechanic with Porsche 15 years ago. She left school at 16 and started working in admin within the motor trade, but struggled due to her dyslexia. Realising a hands-on job would suit her better, she enrolled at college at the age of 23. “Everyone else on the course was a 17-year-old boy, fighting over mopeds and girlfriends,” she remembers. “It was like being in a boys’ school.” 

Nowadays, 16-year-olds must either stay in full time education, start an apprenticeship or combine part-time work with education. Kennedy thinks schools should talk to pupils, particularly girls, about their future options in the years leading up to this point, clarifying that taking up a trade isn’t an option for boys alone. There is still progress to be made before we reach that point, though.

“Not all guys I’ve worked with have been horrible, but some of them have,” says Kennedy. “In a previous place I worked, some men would just stop and stare at me. But I think men’s attitudes to women who do trades is different now. Most of the people who run these businesses are men, but they’re giving women more opportunities.” 

 When it comes to her business, expansion plans are afoot. “We’re going to be opening an MOT centre, and hopefully in about a year, we’ll start working with electric cars,” Kennedy says. “One of our mechanics in particular really has the drive to learn about them.”

There could be competition, though, if things progress the way Kennedy hopes: “In 20 years, I think there’ll be all-female garages all over London and the UK.”

Main image: Spanners with Manners founder Laura Kennedy, left, with her wife and colleague Siobhan. All images: Laurie Fletcher