Reflections on the Founders’ Day Lunch 4th Apr 2025

On a beautiful summer’s day, we boarded the train at Peterborough for our journey to London. We always feel like country bumpkins when travelling by train: can we use this service, is it the cheapest, is our ticket valid are all questions racing through our minds. We could use services after 9:15; the train that arrived was due at 9:10 but was delayed and arrived after 9:15 so could we use it? We decided to risk it. It was so much simpler in the old days!

The train itself was clean and quiet with plenty of spare seats and, before we knew it, we had been deposited at St Pancras. Time for a cup of coffee before we braved the underground. So much simpler on the underground now you can just proffer your piece of plastic instead of a ticket, though you have no idea what you are being charged! We were soon at Ladbroke Grove and commenced a 15-minute walk in glorious sunshine to Barlby Road.

This was our first visit but we couldn’t miss the former Talbot factory building with its beautiful façade as it had several Talbots parked outside – Nigel Wills with his lovely AV105 VdP Alpine tourer, David Thomson with the delectable AW75 tourer bodied by Grose, Gordon Matthews with his highly desirable AD14/45 tourer and Julian Hunt with his original AW75 Noel Rees Saloon. Julian’s 30-mile journey had taken him two hours; he (not the car!) was hot and bothered when he arrived.

After tyre kicking and general chat, we entered the building where we were overwhelmed by the grandeur – it is difficult to believe it was designed as a factory as it is so impressive. If you have never been it is well worth making the effort; it has been beautifully restored with no expense spared. We wandered around with dropped jaws, trying to imagine it in its heyday, interrupted a photo shoot for some fashion magazine and then decided to explore the art displays. Modern art leaves me cold - I prefer art that has some sort of coherence of design, most of what was displayed seemed to me to be done just to be different. When it comes to furniture it is possible to design chairs, for example, that are both beautiful and functional (think Gaudi or Hans Wegner for example). The chairs on display looked as though they would collapse if you sat on them, plus you needed at least six inches of padding on your buttocks to make them bearable. Tables with tops that slope gently away are no good when you put down your glass of red wine; it will spill all over your expensive carpet. Two pieces did catch our eye – a beautiful shoe cupboard (well it caught Gill’s eye!) and an interesting table that looked as if it had been inspired by an ammonite fossil.

Then it was time for an apéritif before lunch. This took place in the former original engine room; this sounds a dreadful setting but in fact it would not disgrace any chic restaurant. Overall the meal was very enjoyable, helped by plenty of general chit-chat.

       The sharing starter was excellent, my risotto was very nice but lukewarm. Neither of us had opted for dessert, but Ros found that hers was far too big for one, and kindly passed me some to taste and very good it was too. Bottles of wine started at £100, so we opted for two glasses of house white instead – I could have bought two bottles of good white wine for the price we were charged for just two glasses!

Glyn Lloyd had found a supplement to ‘The Autocar’ dating from February 1905 detailing a tour of the newly-built Clement-Talbot factory. He then arranged for this to be printed as a booklet in a similar format to the TOC Magazine and a copy was presented to all the diners. It is a fascinating read, showing how forward-thinking the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot was; the factory was state of the art at the time, but just a few years later Henry Ford re-wrote motor car production methods and the Talbot factory was then out of date!

All in all it was an excellent day and a superb TOC initiative, ably organised by Howard Day and thanks are due to him for all his hard work in making the day such a success. If you have never been to Barlby Road, then I would urge you to go at least once!

Ian Potts