Prince Philip celebrates British engineering as he opens new bicycle factory

One of the great manufacturing success stories of recent years, sales of the handmade bicycles favoured by commuters and Hollywood A-listers alike have surged. 

Demand is now so high that the firm has found itself needing to expand - despite a shiny new Brompton rolling off the assembly line every 210 seconds. 

Having risen from humble beginnings in a west London flat, Brompton now sells 44,000 of its desirable lightweight, collapsible bicycles to customers around the world every year. 

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Admittedly the award-winning bicycles - with their coveted “made in Britain” labels - come with a hefty price tag. Prices range from around £800 for an entry-level model up to around £2,400

for a steel/titanium version with tyres made of bullet-proof Kevlar. 

There are an estimated 90,000 of the bicycles being pedalled around London alone, by owners from the time-poor financier to the image-conscious fashion designer. 

Hugh Jackman, Orlando Bloom, Owen Wilson and even petrolhead James May have been photographed astride a Brompton.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, too, has been seen in the saddle. 

Since inventor Andrew Ritchie first sketched out designs for a bicycle that folds to just a third of its size while looking out at the Brompton Oratory, South Kensington, in 1975, more than

450,000 Brompton Bikes have been produced in the UK.  

Philip met Mr Ritchie and tour the company's new factory in Greenford, west London, today where he will be shown the bicycles' journey from drawing board to delivery. 

He also met the range of skilled craftsmen and women who engineer and manufacture the bicycles - one of which was seen being ridden by Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in 2014.

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