The Royal Enfield Hometown

Where was the Royal Enfield Factory in the past ?

How it is now ?, Do they have a museum there ?

Google+ friend John Nelson takes his 500 Electra Bullet to Redditch, England.

Now while the iconic Bullet rides on its glory into the next generation, some of the enthusiasts today explore the old town of Redditch at England to find their answers about the fascinating history of classic British motorcycles. And yes ! that's the Royal Enfield's hometown - where it was first made.



Claimed as the oldest motorcycle brand, how Royal Enfield has survived till date is now a great story to share. 

Royal Enfield Factory at Chennai, India

Well ! after the defunctioned  Redditch factory in 1970 Royal Enfield is eventually succeeded by Enfield of India which was already producing the ‘Bullet’ models since 1955 for Indian Police and Army at the Chennai factory. Enfield of India taken over by Eicher Motors in 1995 became Royal Enfield again, and recently with the development of new Unit Construction Engine Royal Enfield expands its production in  second plant at Oragadam near the old Channai factory. 

Royal Enfield Blogs, like many of us, is passionately looking forward to explore a real time story for the reminiscent of Redditch factory, however we couldn't be there till yet so we curiously asked some friends out there to help us complete the story and here is a short note of a generous LinkedIn  friends Mr Phill Parker who wrote so well that catches the imagination:    

“Whilst the Enfield factory has long ceased to be operational, the original roadway (Enfield Road) in the Redditch district of Hunt End is still a well used roadway with houses and a public house (pub) - the original ground that the factory stood on is still visible. Many of Royal Enfield's additional factory units in other parts of Redditch (namely the district of Enfield) are still standing and are now utilised by other manufacturing businesses. We also have a public house in the town called The Royal Enfield which has pictures and memorobilia associated with RE. Just 10 miles away at a place called Chadwick End, we have a specialist trader called Hitchcocks who stock all spares for original UK built and Indian built Royal Enfields. Within a 10 mile radius of the city of Birmingham we originally had the motorcycle manufacturers BSA, Ariel, Norton, Velocette, New Imperial, James and both Royal Enfield and Sunbeam (Sunbeam eventually belonged to BSA) based at Redditch. There were many more manufacturers in the area, including Triumph (originally in the city of Coventry) and then in the village of Meriden (between Coventry and Birmingham). Both Ariel and Triumph also eventually belonged to BSA. Triumph are now manufacturing motorcycles again at a factory in nearby Hinckley (Leicestershire).

There is a great history of motorcycle manufacturing here in the English Midlands and original machines/used spare parts are still easy to obtain.”