February 27th – I hopped on a train whose first stop was Spring Road. This isn’t too far from where I go in Tyseley, and it means I cycle the backstreets of Hall Green suburbia. Here is the impressive, monolithic Aero Engine Controls factory. I believe this used to be part of the Lucas empire, but could be wrong. It’s a huge site and the 1930s offices and grand front entrance belie the optimism of the early days of flight in the interwar period.

It’s easy to think we don’t manufacture much in the UK anymore. We do; there’s loads going on. We just don’t talk about it, and sites like this stay hidden and relatively unknown.