Spark reignites memories of the old aircraft factory in Piccadilly

It is probably safe to say it has divided opinion. But it does at least bring some much-needed - if temporary -life and zest to this long-neglected quarter of York.

It is worth remembering what was on this site before, however.

Long before Spark:York had been even dreamed of, the site was occupied by Reynard's Garage. This was an ugly building which just happened to have a fascinating history.

Put up in 1921 to house York's expanding trolleybus fleet, by the early 1930s the building had been transformed into an aircraft factory by York company Airspeed.

The company was founded by the author Nevil Shute, then a young aeronautical engineer who had worked in airships with Barnes Wallis – and an early subscriber was none other than Amy Johnson.

Airspeed didn’t remain in York long - lack of space meant it moved to Portsmouth instead.

A cutting from the Yorkshire Herald in 1932 revealed that there had been hopes the factory would be able to move to larger premises at Skelton Grange just outside York - but that discussions ultimately came to nothing. "To put it shortly, that offer from York Corporation came too late," the newspaper quoted 'industry specialist' Mr Norway as saying. "In other words, they missed the boat."

Much more recently, the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington put forward a proposal to turn the derelict 1920s Art Deco building into a museum celebrating its aviation past.

But that came to nothing and the building was demolished after the city council suddenly discovered that it was a health and safety risk.

Now the site has found a new lease of life, at least for a couple of years.

But there are still some extraordinary photographs around from the days of the old Airpseed factory, which actually show aircraft being built in the shed on Piccadilly.

We've used them before in The Press. But in the circumstances, we thought now was a good time to use them again...

Stephen Lewis