Museum pledge on office

Nov 18 2006

GREAT news for everyone who cares about Birmingham's motoring heritage.

The new owners of the mothballed Rover factory at Longbridge have promised that the original office used by pioneering car boss Herbert Austin will be preserved and opened as a public museum next year.

It's a unique relic of an age gone by and stands as a monument to the man whose energy and imagination created work for thousands in the city.

Austin moved into the office in 1906 and although it still looks as it did when he died in 1941, there were fears that now Nanjing Automobile has taken over the site it might be broken up - or lifted and shifted to China.

Former Longbridge secretary Hazel Gore from Kings Norton even started a petition among Austin enthusiasts which has almost 2,000 signatures.

Hazel was frustrated by the lack of information, but once The Stirrer got on to the case, there was a swift and positive response from Nanjing's operations director James Ling.

He told me: "We must keep it here for all of the UK nation. That is 100 per cent certain."

Ling also gave an assurance that it would be open to the public, probably in the first half of next year.

He said: "It will be when we start production again at Longbridge and that could be as early as next April."