Press — Norton Factory Visit

I didn’t know whether I was impressed or disappointed when I went to visit the Norton factory in Donnington; I still don’t. It wasn’t what I expected from such a prestigious brand with an excellent pedigree.

The pure passion that come from the fabrication shop was astounding. We were marched from the small showroom, to what appeared to be, a farm building behind the main office block. The guy that gave us instruction was one of a handful of people in the workshop, yet his knowledge was second to none. We were told that all parts of the frames and fuel tanks are handmade from scratch, then lovingly polished to within an inch of their lives. He proudly quelled any doubts of mass production parts saying only a handful of items came from specialist partners. From our viewpoint in the doorway of the building, we weren’t privy to see any processes so we couldn’t confirm or challenge what we had been told, yet we were allowed a photo opportunity of ‘not a lot.’