Lego uk (Wrexham)

[jonty14]

Hello.

Doe anyone know when lego stopped production in the UK? Interested to know what were the last lego sets produced.

Best regards

Jonathan.

[Venunder]

Ask G.Istok on Brickset.

[LEGO Historian]

You rang?

The beginnings of LEGO in the United Kingdom began in 1959 when the Courtauld's Corporation, a British Textiles/Chemical maker got the license to produce LEGO for Britain, Ireland and (eventually) Australia.

The first LEGO sets sold in Britain were sold in January 1960, and were imported from Denmark. A lot of the very old UK sets have that printing on the sides of the boxes.

By 1962 Courtauld's started production of LEGO parts at their Wrexham Wales plant, and they produced most LEGO parts (a few specialty parts were still imported from Denmark) for Britain and Ireland. Australia came online to LEGO in March of 1962, and Wrexham also produced LEGO that was exported to Australia. The official name of the subsidiary of Courtauld's Corp. that produced LEGO for those 3 countries was called British LEGO Ltd.

The reason that TLG licensed LEGO to Courtauld's in 1960, was the same reason that it licensed LEGO production to the Samsonite Corp. (called Shwayder Bros. in the USA until 1965) starting in 1961-62. TLG was still too small of a company to start producing LEGO in so many large countries... so they licensed the production to other companies.

LEGO didn't like the underperforming USA Samsonite sales, so thei initiated litigation in 1970 to get the license back, which it did in 1973, and production moved to Enfield Connecticut. Canada toed the TLG line better, but after a hostile takover of the Samsonite parent company the license reverted back to TLG in 1985.... however production continued in Canada until 1988, when it reverted to the USA Connecticut site.

Meanwhile British LEGO Ltd.'s parent company Courtauld's group, were having troubles of their own... and in the 1990s they split the company (a long story that can be best read by Googling "Courtaulds Corp. Wiki"). So in 1992 TLG bought the LEGO license back from Courtauld's and LEGO production ceased in Wrexham in 1993... with LEGO production moving back to Denmark (later to Czech Republic, Hungary and China).

There... that's the quick version!

Here are the very first LEGO Basic sets (1960-65) sold in Britian/Ireland and Australia... (largest to smallest) 700/0, 700/1, 700/3, 700/3A, 700/5.

And here are the first basic sets starting in 1960 (some sets were sold until 1966)... sold in Britain/Ireland and Australia... the 306 VW Service Set, the 307 VW Showroom Set, the 308 Fire Station Set, the 309 Church Set (not sold in Australia), 310 Esso Service Set, and 236 Garage Set.

TLG made a huqe quantity of spare parts packs, so that customers could buy just about any spare parts they wanted. Here are the first parts packs of 1960-65.

I have an entire history of LEGO by British LEGO Ltd. (as well as all other regions in the world detailed in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, a 2800 page (7000 images) 73 chapter computer desktop document, that is downloadable. It talks about everything LEGO imaginable... LEGO sets, parts, retailer models, catalogs, advertising, TV commercials, idea books, different Systems, the plastics used... everything imaginable.

Info on that is on my personal banner below, including links.... there's a whole world of British LEGO sets and parts that were not sold elsewhere, as well as parts sold elsewhere that were not sold by British LEGO Ltd.

Getting back to the original question... I do believe that the 1992 sets were the last produced in Wrexham Wales.

Edited June 18, 2015 by LEGO Historian

[jonty14]

Thank you Lego Historian. Very interesting information. Most helpful.

[grumpy]

Hi,

Just noticed this as i was watching a Lego program on the TV and looking up some info. I would like to clarify that Lego production finish in Wrexham in late 1970's, i started at Courtaulds in 1979 and production had finished then, they used to manufacture Triang train moulds also. Courtaulds had a room about 12ft x 8ft full to the roof with boxes of Lego parts and were told to destroy them, they tried it with fire but the smoke was too bad so it all ended up being buried on the Wrexham Industrial estate.

They had a repacking warehouse after just outside of town on the Coedpoeth road which was where all items came in and were boxed into various kits, it had 3 giant Lego bricks outside, this was the last place in Wrexham for Lego and closed in the mid 90's, and taken over by Wrexham council a few years later.

Courtaulds was a large employer when i started and closed most of its production in 1985, i have made a list of the companies that were there below if you are interested, i don't know what happened to the Lego moulds but the Triang ones were there when i left. As an electrical apprentice i was able to go to all the sites even the Lego warehouse on the Coedpoeth road. Its a shame they closed everything but as Lego Historian said Courtaulds had issues of their own and i think that the manufacture in Wrexham was only under license.

Courtaulds Acetate (yarn manufacture)

Courtauds Plastics (sheet plastic)

Betts Plastics (they had the Triang moulds and were in the place were Lego was made)

Formdale (M&S warehousing)

Granby Garments (ladies underware)

regards

John

[Peppermint_M]

Thanks for the information.

So... Who else has the urge to go dig around a bit up in Wrexham hmm?

[AmperZand]

So... Who else has the urge to go dig around a bit up in Wrexham hmm?

LOL! We need to leave them where they are so that archaeology PhD students in the future have something to write about

[LEGO Historian]

Hi,

Just noticed this as i was watching a Lego program on the TV and looking up some info. I would like to clarify that Lego production finish in Wrexham in late 1970's, i started at Courtaulds in 1979 and production had finished then, they used to manufacture Triang train moulds also. Courtaulds had a room about 12ft x 8ft full to the roof with boxes of Lego parts and were told to destroy them, they tried it with fire but the smoke was too bad so it all ended up being buried on the Wrexham Industrial estate.

They had a repacking warehouse after just outside of town on the Coedpoeth road which was where all items came in and were boxed into various kits, it had 3 giant Lego bricks outside, this was the last place in Wrexham for Lego and closed in the mid 90's, and taken over by Wrexham council a few years later.

Courtaulds was a large employer when i started and closed most of its production in 1985, i have made a list of the companies that were there below if you are interested, i don't know what happened to the Lego moulds but the Triang ones were there when i left. As an electrical apprentice i was able to go to all the sites even the Lego warehouse on the Coedpoeth road. Its a shame they closed everything but as Lego Historian said Courtaulds had issues of their own and i think that the manufacture in Wrexham was only under license.

Courtaulds Acetate (yarn manufacture)

Courtauds Plastics (sheet plastic)

Betts Plastics (they had the Triang moulds and were in the place were Lego was made)

Formdale (M&S warehousing)

Granby Garments (ladies underware)

regards

John

Thanks for all the anecdotal info John!! I appreciate your info!

Now I can put some more pieces of the LEGO puzzle together. You started at Courtauld's in 1979 and production of parts there had already ended.

From what I know... the Borg Warner chemical company of Grangemouth Scotland was the "tester" that tested the batches of ABS plastic that Borg Warner created for Courtauld's (British LEGO Ltd.) use in Wrexham. This was done by supplying them a real 2x4 brick LEGO mold that Borg Warner received from LEGO in Denmark. This testing was to verify that the ABS plastic met all the requirements for production.

About a year ago... some marbled 2x4 bricks began appearing in the Grangemouth Scotland area... and these were sold at premium prices on the secondary market. These marbled bricks are today highly sought after by a growing segment of LEGO collectors who also collect European Bayer and BASF, as well as USA/Canada Samsonite test bricks. Apparently (as the story has evolved so far)... a pair of Borg Warner employees were mixing ABS pellet colors to produce some very nice marbled bricks... and distributed these to children (and adults) in the Grangemouth Scotland area. As the story continues... a LEGO company representative found out about these bricks, and had the LEGO mold confiscated, and testing by Borg Warner terminated.

Well I have a feeling that that was only half the story. I now think that the testing of LEGO ABS bricks by Borg Warner was completed, since production of parts was being moved from Wrexham to Denmark. What may have happened is that with the production testing completed... the two Borg Warner employees may have taken some of the remaining ABS plastic pellets, and just had some fun with it, by using the LEGO 2x4 brick mold to produce some bizarre brick colors... before having to return the mold back to the LEGO company in Denmark.

Here are some of these very nice, and very valuable Grangemouth marbled test bricks made in 1978....

This theory makes much more sense than just two wayward Grangemouth Borg Warner employees producing fantasy bricks on the side... thus causing the production of LEGO testing to be terminated by Borg Warner.

This story is still not complete.... investigating some other things relating to British LEGO Ltd. Stay tuned!!

I'm including another chapter in my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (computer desktop document)... relating to these wonderful test bricks. For those of you waiting for your free updates (another download)... thanks for being patient... but there's so much new info on LEGO coming out of Britain, Scotland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Japan!! This is just another piece in the complex puzzle that is LEGO.

LEGO Historian

P.S. I hate that story about the burning/burying of the "Wrexham Hoard"... for future LEGO archeologists to uncover.... This story about such unnecessary destruction of surplus LEGO is not unique to Britain.... there are equally sad stories like this from Australia and Denmark....

Edited January 3, 2016 by LEGO Historian