How many classic cars can you squeeze into the centre of a North Hertfordshire market town? If you're keen to find out, hop online and search for H-Town Classic & Dub Club. One of Britain's fastest-growing classic car enthusiast groups, members gather on the last Monday of every month at the market square in historic Hitchin, a town with fast links to London, the Midlands and the southeast of England. It also happens to be the place of my birth, as well as a location recently depicted as the home of Doctor Foster, the character played by Suranne Jones in the bafflingly popular BBC drama of the same name.
Felix CamfieldWalker, a familiar face in Hitchin and proprietor of local hair salon, Farley's, established the club in 2017 after struggling to find a local enthusiast group catering for all makes and models of vintage vehicle. After setting up a Facebook page and inviting everyone in Hitchin and the surrounding area to attend the first of what he hoped would develop into monthly meets, a total of thirty-four classics pulled into the car park of the pub hosting the event. Early Volkswagens, air-cooled Porsches, a Citroën 2CV, a beach buggy, various MGs, Fords and even a chap riding a Lambretta showed up.
Clearly, Felix wasn't the only petrolhead in Hertfordshire craving the existence of an informal car club, which is why he contacted Hitchin Initiative, a highly effective partnership founded to ensure the town thrives through the efforts of businesses, community organisations, residents and the local authority. His request was to occupy Hitchin market square on the last Monday of every month, thereby allowing a far greater number of cars and owners to be present at meets than the pub could accommodate. Pleasingly, the idea was welcomed, leading H-Town Classic & Dub Club gatherings to be hosted in the centre of town thereafter.
DESPITE BEING A REAR-ENGINED SPORTS COUPÉ LIKE THE 356 BEFORE IT, THE 911 WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE CONSIDERABLY MORE EXPENSIVE
Today, the club's reach has emended far beyond the borders of North Hertfordshire — from a strong start, the number of attending vehicles has increased massively. Indeed, more than 150 cars are regularly counted at each meeting. Occupying the market square, overflow car parks and the surrounding cobbled streets, visitors and their retro rides travel to Hitchin from afar, a consequence of members of less active clubs enjoying the fact H-Town Classic & Dub Club hosts its brilliant free-to-visit meets year-round.
Unsurprisingly, with sunshine comes a much higher number of participating cars. To avoid causing chaos in Hitchin town centre, club meets shift to the grounds of a watering hole in a neighbouring village during the summer season, but return to the market square — the club's spiritual home — at the start of autumn. In fact, just before this issue of 911 & Porsche World went to print, the market square played host to H-Town Classic & Dub Club's fifth birthday bash.
As the club's name suggests, a high
