Redditch & the Royal Enfield Factory

Hi folks, I welcome you all to my blog on my visit to the Royal Enfield factory in Redditch. I will make it short and simple and I hope I will not kill this blog with  unwanted content .Before we dive into the remaining bits and pieces of Royal Enfield factory in Redditch , it is worth taking a look into the facts and figures of the factory that once used to make long lasting quality motorbikes. (I will share some photos too, don't scroll down now :) and some videos too to keep up to your excitement).

For many , plastic bikes have been their part and parcel of life, for rest , the mighty engines of the bygone times are still an integral part of their lives.

              This blog is for those who adore, yes those who adore and  respect the old mean handcrafted machines of the bygone times . Hence , if you are not the targeted audience , please hop on your bike and go for a ride.

Without wasting more time, lets dive into the history of this small town Redditch and the great Royal Enfield factory.

It all began with a company called George Townsend  & Co , a company or firm you may call , specialized in sewing needles and machine parts. They later made a bicycle which gained reputation for sturdiness and quality. You may consider this starting point or the evolution of the present day motorcycle.This firm was later bought by Robert Smith and Albert Eadie of Birmingham due to financial problems.They later on won a contract to supply rifle parts to the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield , Middlesex. In 1893, a blueprint of bicycle they designed was called Enfield. The brand name Royal was later on added along with the motto 'Made like a Gun'.

The first mechanical vehicle was produced in 1899 , a four-wheeler with an engine between the rear wheels. With the start of First World war , the company was called on to supply motorbikes for the British army and the company came up with a first ever 675cc 3 cylinder 2 stroke  mighty engine. In 1931, an angel was born and was called Bullet , yes, a single cylinder motorcycle was introduced in 1931 and was named Bullet. Later on , models like meteor , Clipper , Crusader , Constellation and Interceptor were released.

           
I was planning to visit the factory in Redditch since a year and one fine sunny Sunday morning , I started my trip from London to Redditch. It was all ad-hoc as I had only desired but had not planned my trip, ended up buying a ticket on-spot paying £25 than £8 through online booking. it took approximately 2.5 hours by bus  to reach Redditch which is 95 miles from London.

The bus drive on countryside roads was amazing as the town looked quiet and relaxed , I was glad the weather was pleasant and such weather doesn't really last long in Britain, blue skies and scattered clouds added to the mood.

Unfortunately , this website does not let me upload a HD video of size 200 Mb , I will probably upload the video on Youtube and share the link , the video is a drive through the Redditch town.

But , as promised, there are many more pictures to come as we look into the history of this town.
Redditch once used to manufacture 90% of worlds's needles. The Enfield industrial area had such factories including the Royal Enfield factory. Needles apart, lets get back our Royal Enfield factory.
After reaching Redditch , I headed straight to a pub/restaurant called The Royal Enfield , which is 3 minutes walk from the Redditch bus stand. Again , I will not discuss what I had there , but will certainly post some good old pictures of the pub , its interiors and finally Redditch industrial area.

As you can see, the above building is named after Royal Enfield which was based here in Redditch for around 60 years producing a stream of successful models. This building also used to be Danilo Cinema which officially opened in 1937. The premises were refurbished in 2010 by J.D Weatherspoon.
The pub is nicely decorated with arts and history of Royal Enfield is all over the walls of the pub. Precious arts and black & white photos which are some 50 years old (if I'm correct) can also be seen on the wall,

Racing engines

Twin cylinder Enfield engine

Round house - wind turbine was housed here

Various Enfield cycles and motorcycles

and to my surprise there was also an old 1950s model Royal Enfield Bullet.

A 1950s model Enfield Bullet on display

I then headed straight to the factory as I could not withstand my desire to see it.
One has to follow Hewell road which is 1 minute walk down the pub.

The factory was spread across the estate as you can see in the coming pictures . As I walked down the Hewell road , to my right was a building which used to be a part of the factory . This is how it looks now :

 Though it is acquired by an  electroplating company now , there is small note on the building which tells people that bicycles and motorcycles were manufactured here. Note the small plate on the wall on the left side of this picture. Below is the zoom-in of the same and luckily sun was shining and I took full advantage of this using my Nikon 18-105mm  lens :

All these buildings are near to each other and are part of the Enfield Industrial estate.
Below are some more pictures of the remains of the factory:

In the picture below , you will notice the white letters . It looks the tiles were painted white. The letters may not be as white as they were before but we can still appreciate the paint that has lasted 60 years. We can still see if not clearly , the word Enfield. Due to lack of clarity, I have included a zoom-in of the picture.

The building is not in a good state and there are broken tiles and broken windows similar to a war-site.

These are the bits and pieces of the factory. Since I had a bus back to London at 6pm , and as there were not many buses that ply within the town , I decided to cover the few more remaining places in the town and  walked down to the town market place where there used to be a showroom . Apparently bikes were sold here as shown below :

Showroom in the town center market area

It was hard to identify this showroom as  there were more than one old building , I couldn't decide which one was it. Probably this is the one below that used to be the showroom. Apparently, the bikes were sold for £5 to £16 , motorbikes were sold for 40-80 guineas.

The town also has a beautiful Parish church which unfortunately was closed in the afternoon.

Time took the Redditch factory away from us but it could not take the motorcycle out of production and the Royal Enfield of India now sells motorcycles in over twenty countries making it the oldest motorcycle company in continuous existence with its manufacturing base in Chennai.
I hope the information provided in the blog was useful , any feedback is appreciated. Thanks and happy thumping of Bullets.

Website :  http://royalenfield.com/