Royal Enfield

The story of the company and the people who made it great: 1851-1969

Over 80 ex-employees and their descendants give perceptive and often humorous accounts of life in the Enfield works, charting its expansion from a humble needle factory into one of Britain’s best known motorcycle manufacturers. Contributions include Enfield-trained Bill Lomas, double World and British motorcycling champion, and Johnny Brittain who describes how he became the youngest member of the British winning team in the 1953 International Six Days Trial.

They create a company renowned for its family atmosphere, where generation succeeded generation – a company whose expertise not only produced first class motor cycles like the Bullet, the Crusader and the Interceptor but also pioneered air-cooled diesel engines and were even involved in the development of atomic energy. The concluding stories are by those who worked there during the final ten years, when the company was reduced from a workforce of over 1,500 to one employee in the front room of a terraced house.