25 Legendary English Manufacturers Our Grandfathers Swore Would Never Die

Pick up almost any object stamped Made in England before 1980, and the weight in your hand tells you something a modern equivalent rarely can. This video counts down twenty-five English manufacturers so large, so central to their towns, that closing seemed simply impossible — from Raleigh bicycles in Nottingham to Terry's chocolate in York, from Norton motorcycles in Birmingham to the two rival tobacco dynasties, Player's and Wills, who surrendered their independence in the very same month of 1901. This is the story of the gap between how permanent a factory feels and how quickly, in the end, it can go — boardroom decisions, cheap imports, mergers and changing fashion, told through twenty-five names that once seemed as fixed a part of English life as the towns that housed them. If you enjoyed this one, subscribe for more stories of English brands and factories, most of them now gone. Tell us in the comments which name on this list surprised you most. #MadeInEngland #BritishHistory #BritishManufacturing