Brompton submits plans for new £100m factory

Brompton, the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer, has submitted plans for a bike factory promising £100 million of investment and thousands of jobs in Ashford, Kent.

Bike manufacturer Brompton announced its aim to move its global headquarters to the town back  in February.

“The whole reason this works is everything about it is slightly mad,” said Will Butler-Adams, Brompton’s chief executive, speaking before the plans were approved by Ashford borough council’s cabinet on Thursday evening.

It is part of an expansion that will increase employee numbers from 850 to 1,000 in the next year. Butler-Adams said Brompton will also develop new products at the site, with an  goal of building 200,000 bikes a year, compared with 70,000 in the year to March 2021, when Brompton made revenues of £76m (including a bike subscription service in some cities).

The company will move from Greenford in west London to a custom-built facility that will also host a museum, visitor centre and café!

Brompton hopes the facility, designed by architect Guy Hollaway, will be distinctive enough to attract a small portion of the 4.5m annual visitors to the designer outlet next door. The Greenford factory will continue to operate until at least 2030 during a transition to the new site.

Once full operational, the proposed development will result in around 4,000 jobs being supported locally, including supply chain jobs, jobs supported by the spending of staff and the factory operation itself.