December
2004
National Motorcycle Museum reopens |
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| Some
of the destroyed motorcycles |
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After
a 拢20m rebuild, the National Motorcycle Museum reopens its doors.
See our photo galleries below. |
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The
National Motorcycle Museum 聳 hit by a devastating fire which
tore through the complex a little more than a year ago 聳 will
re-open on 1st December.
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| One
of the many displays on show |
For just
over 15 months staff and contractors at the museum have worked flat
out on the 拢20m restoration.
This
has included restoring many of the museum's facilities and world famous
bikes, and the installation of a 拢1.2m state-of-the art sprinkler
system.
The
museum has long been recognised as the largest and finest of its kind
in the world, and before the fire attracted around 250,000 visitors
per year. The owners believe the new offering will be even more attractive
to enthusiasts.
Development manager at the museum, Nick Hartland, said: "We were
devastated when the fire hit us, but the owner Roy Richards vowed
we'd be back, and he was right."
See some of the motorcycles at the National Motorcycle Museum below:
The
museum first opened its doors in 1984, and many machines at the venue
are fully restored to the original specifications.
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| A
New York Police bike |
The fire
was started by a carelessly discarded cigarette end 聳 the blaze
then took hold rapidly. The fire brigade put up fire breaks but the
120 firefighters who attended could only limit the damage. Fortunately,
however, no one was injured but the damage was widespread.
Mr
Hartland added: "When we open on December 1st, we will have around
650 machines, and we are currently restoring at the rate of about
one per month. Our aim is to increase the number of bikes to around
800 by 2007."
See our photo
galleries following the fire at the National
Motorcycle Museum last year. |
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