LONGBRIDGE DEMOLITION CONFIRMED
Fans react – and want to know more about what is being preserved
STEPH HOLLOWAY, IDRIVEACLASSIC
MG Rover’s historic Longbridge manufacturing site is to finally lose its two Car Assembly Buildings – otherwise known as CAB 1 and CAB 2 – nearly 15 years after it closed.
A 40-week demolition order on the structures began on 13 January. Site owner, St Modwen, which received the CABs back from leaseholders (and MG Motor UK’s parent company), told Classic Car Weekly that key buildings and fixtures, including Harris Mann’s former ‘Round House’ design studio, will be retained.
Its spokesperson didn’t comment on what the retention plans entailed, promising only to reveal more in due course. St Modwen is also keeping the old Austin administrative block at the back of Longbridge; long-known as ‘ The Kremlin’, it has stood empty since it was vacated in 2016.
SAIC has retained the Longbridge Conference Centre, home to Sir Herbert Austin’s preserved office, several highprofile stillborn prototypes and a private museum of significant MG Rover cars. It will continue to use some buildings for R&D work during what is left of its 19-year lease.
A section of CAB 1, last used for car storage and final completion in 2017, is also to be kept; St Modwen is to donate some of its contents to Longbridge town ‘to mark the history of the site’.
The promises made by St Modwen came as scant consolation to Michael Turner of ADO16.info, who, along with many other enthusiasts, tried to preserve the contents of key Longbridge buildings, like the Kremlin, as they were emptied.
He said: ‘We fear that the loss of good archived materials, and now the site all but disappearing, has almost wiped any motoring heritage we had. In the future, people will think our motoring past is a myth.’
Arch Austin Rover/BL fan and YouTuber, Steph Holloway, of Idriveaclassic, hoped that St Modwen’s plans amounted to a serious preservation effort for future generations.
She said: ‘I truly believe that we will look back on incidents such as this and wonder why we didn’t campaign harder to keep some of our history. It might only be a car factory to some, but those cars gave families all over the world a plethora of memories and it deserves more respect as a place of interest.’
Former CCW editor and AROnline founder, Keith Adams, was, however, cautiously optimistic about the future, provided the curation of Longbridge was done with some sensitivity.
He said: ‘ This demolition marks the beginning of the end of what has been a long and painful chapter in British motoring history. It’s tragic that it has come to this – but one takeaway is that at least the Round House and some other important areas are being preserved for what looks like an admirable cause.’
‘It might only be a car factory to some, but it gave familes a plethora of memories’