British Prime minister, David Cameron today arrived in the small Lancashire town of Barnoldswick for a visit to leading UK bicycle component manufacturer Hope Technology. The visit comes at an exciting time for cycling in the UK with yesterday's launch of the "Get Britain Cycling" report and gave Ian Weatherill, co-owner of Hope chance to directly lobby for the Prime Ministers support for this important initiative. It also allowed him to show additional benefits, not covered in the report, namely the potential resurgence in the British cycle industry.

Whilst at Hope's high tech facility employing almost 100 people, Ian was able to show Mr Cameron what was possible to achieve in UK manufacturing today. The former cotton mill which houses Hope's fifty five CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines, producing thousands of parts daily is closer to a Formula 1 facility than the usual vision of a manufacturing plant in the north of England. The Prime Minister was able to see the level of control Hope have over their manufacturing by keeping virtually all processes on site.

The finished bicycle parts are shipped directly from the factory to specialist shops in the UK and to over 40 other countries around the world with 50% of production destined for export.

Bild © by Hopetech.com: der Britische Premieminister David Cameron (rechts) und HOPE Besitzer Ian Weatherill (Mitte) auf dem Rundgang durch die Produktionsanlage in Barnoldswick UK.

HOPE Technology