Aston Martin's heart to beat again

I spent Thursday at Newport Pagnell, Aston Martin’s spiritual home. When I last visited it was the fully functioning hub of car assembly operations. That was the summer of 1998 and all I can remember of my factory tour was the traffic on the busy Tickford Street – which bisected the site – stopping to let two green-overalled employees cross. They were pushing a chassis on a wheeled trolley from one department to another. That’s how Aston Martin used to make its cars but things have changed radically. Manufacture is now at Gaydon and Tickford Street is in the middle of redevelopment. There’s a new showroom and the Works division – where the service work and restorations take place – is getting a facelift. That’s one side of the road but on the other it’s derelict. The land was initially sold to a property developer but eventually ended up in the hands of Tesco. Sensing what was likely to follow, the local authority quickly arranged preservation orders on three of the original Aston Martin buildings. They including Sunnyside, the small house just a few metres back from the road which was Aston Martin’s world headquarters for many years. The result is a stalemate and the area is badly overgrown. The likely scenario is that Tesco will get bored and sell it back to someone for housing. It’s to be hoped that happens soon.