Triumph, as a manufacturer of motorcycles has enjoyed an eventful history since they built the ‘No. 1’ in 1902.
From Jack Sangster’s purchase in 1936 that split the car and motorcycle company in two, to the sale to the BSA Group in 1951, until they collapsed and Triumph found a new home under the Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT) name in 1973, owned by Manganese Bronze Holdings and run by Dennis Poore.
When Poore made his shock announcement in September 1973 that the Meriden factory would close the following March, the workers staged a sit-in that lasted until an arrangement was made to set the Meriden factory up as a cooperative, making motorcycles and selling them to NVT as its sole customer.
A company named Synova Motors Ltd was incorporated in March 1974 and became the legal owner of the Meriden assets. The name was changed to Meriden Motorcycles Limited at the end of 1976 and from the start of 1979 it became Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Limited.
The cooperative, while able to manufactures motorcycles again, had some difficult restrictions that hampered it as a business in the face of the rising Japanese development and competition. Consent from the Secretary of State was required for substantial acquisitions or disposals and for the taking up or making of loans. It was also required for payments of wages or salaries to any employee, director or official in excess of £50 per week or the payment of dividends on the company’s shares.
The Meriden cooperative and factory lasted until 1983 when it declared bankruptcy. The Triumph brand was saved by John Bloor when he bought the remnants of the once great British manufacturer and it became Triumph Motorcycles Limited to ascend upon the world stage once more.
Meanwhile, the Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Limited company dragged on through the liquidation process until it was dissolved in November 1995. And that should have been that, except the company was raised from the dead and restored to the Companies House Register in November 2012 under court order while a creditor’s claim was made against it.
By January 2014 the usual process of striking off a UK company began with an entry in the London Gazette on 28th January. One last dying gasp came with a suspension of the strike-off after an objection was made to the Registrar, but proceedings began again, and for the final time, in September 2014.
Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) Limited, with all it’s history upheaval behind it, was finally laid to rest and dissolved on this day in 2014.
Triumph was dead. Long live Triumph,
