‘30 years of the 306, 26 since I visited Ryton’

Danny heads back to find out if there is anything left of the plant

Danny Hopkins

Nostalgia is so often tinged with sadness, our memories alive with vivid activity where now there is silence, or at least an unfamiliar difference.

That is exactly what I was expecting when I pointed the nose of my Peugeot 306 SW Meridian in the direction of Ryton-on-dunsmore near Coventry recently, Ryton being the location of the factory that built the 306 in the UK. It was my quiet attempt to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Peugeot’s excellent mid-size 309 replacement, built for nine years from March 1993. I was expecting the visit to be depressing.

First up, yes, my SW isn't actually a product of Ryton, it being built at Peugeot’s Poissy plant near Paris. The 206 SW, the car that came after the

306 estate was a Ryton product, so as I cruised the streets of Ryton I was happy to come across a couple of 206 SWS on driveways. I like to think they were owned by ex-employees, the workers who built them, the workers I met perhaps, when I went on my Ryton factory tour in 1996.

Back then I was a professional actor, making ends meet by doing corporate training work including being part of a course called ‘The Peugeot Experience’ where I role played numerous examples of ‘difficult behaviour’ for Peugeot’s customer facing staff and managers to deal with and be guided on. At the end of the scheme we were all invited on a factory tour and I, naturally, jumped at the chance.

At the time I was driving a Rover P6 2200SC and, as I parked it in the visitor’s car park, I was challenged by an older security guard as to why it wasn’t a Rootes product I had chosen. He had been there a few years and had obviously clocked I had an interest in the older vehicle.

Ryton was developed by Rootes in 1939 as an aero engine plant and shadow factory. It became the group’s HQ after the war and served that purpose until 1967, when Chrysler took over.

After 1979 Peugeot were in charge and, as

I walked the 306 line in 1996, it felt like that would be the way of things forever, so busy was the shop floor. Some 3500 workers, seven-day shifts, brand new robots (on the day our Peugeot guides loved showing us them) and a truly great product… the 306 D-turbo I took out for a run that afternoon was astonishingly good.

Today, 17 years after closure, there’s almost nothing left of the Ryton Plant, although, there