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Shrewsbury · Est. 1961

Three generations of teaching this town to drive.

Bramwell School of Motoring has been on Abbey Foregate since Arthur Bramwell put a sign in the window in 1961. Three instructors, one diary, and the same promise he made then: the same named instructor every week, in the same car, and an honest answer about when you are ready for the test rather than when the diary is.
Book a first lessonSee what lessons cost
1961Teaching since
71%Pass first time
4,800Drivers on the road
Grade ADVSA approved
How it goes

Forty hours, in the order we teach them

The DVSA average is about forty-five hours with an instructor. Ours is a little under forty, and the reason is the order below rather than anything clever — nobody moves on until the stage before it is dull.
Hour 1 · No experience neededStage 1 of 6

The first hour

We collect you, drive somewhere quiet, and then you drive. Most people are moving under their own control inside twenty minutes, which surprises them more than it surprises us. Nothing is timed and nothing is assessed.
Every stage is signed off in your record book before the next one starts.

The office has not moved since 1961

Arthur Bramwell taught from a Ford Popular with a hand-painted roof sign and kept every pass certificate on the wall behind the desk. There are four hundred and some of them up there now, and his granddaughter Enid still adds one every week. The car is a Corsa and the diary is on a screen, but the wall is the wall, and the reason people still ring rather than clicking is that somebody in this town taught somebody they know.

Three ways people learn with us

Weekly lessons — £42 an hour

The ordinary way and the one most people should choose. One or two hours a week with the same instructor, at a pace set by how you are doing rather than by a package you bought in advance.

Intensive course — £1,180

Thirty hours over a fortnight with the practical test booked at the end. Right for people with a job offer that needs a licence; wrong for anyone who has never sat in a driver’s seat, and we will say so.

Refresher and Pass Plus — from £46

For licence-holders who have not driven in years, are nervous on motorways, or moved here from somewhere that drives on the other side. No L-plates, no judgement, and often just two or three hours.
Theory practice

Try one. They are all like this.

People fail the theory test because nobody told them what it looks like, not because it is hard. Here are three real-format questions — answer one and you will see the shape of the whole thing.
Question 1 of 3Highway Code · Rules 19–25

You are approaching a zebra crossing. A pedestrian is waiting at the kerb but has not stepped on. What should you do?

The real test is 50 questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43. We run through the lot in two evening sessions.

Why we still teach in a manual

Automatic tests are the fastest-growing part of the trade and we do teach them — Yusuf runs the automatic car and it is booked solid. But we still put most people in the manual, because a manual licence lets you drive both and an automatic one does not, and a seventeen-year-old who saves four hours now can spend them again at twenty-four when a job needs a van. It is your decision and we will make the case either way, but you should hear the case.

The sign, the route card, and the wall

“Callum told me at hour nineteen that I was not ready and it would be a waste of sixty-two pounds. I was cross for a week. I passed first time at hour thirty-one with two minors.”
Jodie M., Bayston Hill — passed March

What people say afterwards

No reviews to show yet

The questions we get asked on the phone

  • The DVSA average is about forty-five hours with an instructor plus twenty of private practice. Ours runs a little under forty. Anyone quoting you a fixed number before they have seen you drive is guessing, and usually guessing low to win the booking.

Book a slot in the diary

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Est.1961

The first hour is where everybody starts.

Ring the office and speak to Enid, who has been running this diary since 2011 and will tell you honestly how long you are likely to wait for a regular slot. No deposit, no contract, and no obligation to book a second one.
Book a first lesson01743 240 118
Office open 8am – 6pm weekdays · Lessons seven days a week
Find us

Bramwell School of Motoring

  • 14 Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY2 6AH
  • 01743 240 118
  • Mo-Fr 08:00-18:00, Sa 09:00-13:00