Original site of Lotus Engineering

[andy_harries]

Was helping my Brother take some stuff out of his storage lock up and came across this place in north London, just next door.  Pretty unassuming site where Colin Chapman first set up Lotus Engineering, and I would expect spent some time designing the Lotus 7.

 

[paul_w]

That square building is actually the old showroom and drawing office as pictured below. Jewsons have applied to demolish it at least once, but permission was refused. They have recently added the picture of a 7 you can see on the right hand side of the front window in your picture, so seem to be coming to terms a bit more with it staying standing. 

[Blackmamba]

What a great bit of history

[andy_harries]

That's great,  thanks for the pic Paul

[OldAndrewE]

And this is the Lotus Cheshunt factory (taken from Google street view).  Building look pretty much identical to old photos, totally different use though

[TomB]

I thought I saw somewhere that the cheshunt site was being demolished as part of a wider redevelopment.  

[OldAndrewE]

Still there at the moment.  Street view was 2020 but the Gym website says they are still operating

[Phil Six 7]

As of late last year the two ex Lotus buildings were still there, though those on either side and indeed in front had been demolished as the whole road undergoes redevelopment.  I assume they are building flats as it is near to Cheshunt station so good for commuter homes.  I often pass close by on the A10 so when I have time I'll pop by again.

I took the photo below about a year ago and you can still see the ramp that completed cars drove down from the first floor workshop. You can see it, and the whole factory, in an aerial photo from 1964 on this fascinating page on the Lotus Cortina site - http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/?page_id=1176   

But I must make the effort to get to Tottenham Lane and see the Jewson site. 

 

[Golf Juliet Tango]

Thank you for the link, it made for interesting reading.