Raleigh and Lenton: a local landscape
‘The Raleigh Cycle Company’ quickly outgrew its premises in and around Raleigh Street, and a large new factory equipped with the latest machinery opened in 1896 on Faraday Road, Lenton. The move contributed to the increase in production from about 10,000 cycles a year in 1900 to 60,000 in 1913.
A new factory extension was opened in 1922 followed in 1931 by Raleigh’s new office block on Lenton Boulevard, designed by T. Cecil Howitt. The plans included a theatre and ballroom, dining rooms, rest rooms and show rooms.
Production rose rapidly, surpassing the million mark in 1951 and, since the existing works were too small to handle this magnitude of output, it was decided to build a new factory. This was opened in November 1951 by the Duke of Edinburgh. It cost £1.25m and brought the size of the Nottingham plant to 40 acres. But this was still not enough!
Raleigh had taken over their rivals Rudge Whitworth in 1943 and in 1954 Triumph and Three Spires also merged with Raleigh. A vast extension, costing £5m, was opened by Field Marshall Lord Montgomery in 1957 and increased the acreage of the site to 60. However, the opening coincided with a slump, particularly in the export market, and the additional factory remained unequipped and unused for a time.
Changes in the cycle industry, in particular the move from manufacturing to assembling, ensured a different landscape in Lenton.
The 1957 factories were demolished in 1996, and Raleigh sold part of the site (now the Jubilee Campus) to the University of Nottingham in 1997. 
Finally in 2002, Raleigh left the city altogether for new premises in Eastwood, concentrating purely on assembly, as manufacturing is now undertaken in the Far East.
