THE LYONS DEN
Why the “Lyons” den”? Well, as I imagine many of you know, Sir William Lyons (4th September 1901 to 8th February 1985), known as “Mr Jaguar” was, with fellow motorcycle enthusiast William Walmsley, the co-founder in 1922 of the Swallow Sidecar Company, which became Jaguar Cars Limited after the Second World War.
Lyons was born in Blackpool, son of Irish immigrant William Lyons, who owned a musical instrument shop and his wife Minnie Barcroft, the daughter of a mill owner. After attending Arnold School, Lyons obtained an engineering apprenticeship at Crossley Motors in Manchester, where he also studied at the technical school. He left Crossley in 1919 to work as a salesman at the Sunbeam dealers Brown and Mallalieu in Blackpool.
Long story, but the first “Jaguar” model was offered in 1935 and, after World War II, Lyons changed the company name to Jaguar to avoid any unfortunate connotations with the Nazi SS “Schutzstaffel”. Armstrong Siddeley allowed Lyons to use the Jaguar name from their successful aircraft engine range, such was the camaraderie of the car industry at the time. In 1956, Lyons was knighted for his services to British industry and for the fine export performance of the company. In 1966, faced with a strengthening global industry, he merged Jaguar with the British Motor Corporation (BMC) to form British Motor Holdings, which was later absorbed into British Leyland. Unfortunately the final years of Lyons tenure before he retired as managing director near the end of 1967, whilst remaining on as chairman, were a constant struggle against impossible odds to retain the identity and independence of his company, not least its engineering department.
He retired completely to Wappenbury Hall in 1972, to play golf, travel, garden, and keep prize-winning Suffolk sheep and Jersey cattle on his farm estates at Wappenbury. His health declined fairly rapidly in retirement and the re-emergence of his company under John Egan took place after his death in 1985. Despite this, Lyons remained in a consultative role to Jaguar until shortly before his passing and had participated in the styling of both the Jaguar XJS and Jaguar XJ40 during his retirement. So, in short, Sir William Lyons was “Mr Jaguar” and the founder of Jaguar cars and an absolute legend as regards the marque and hence, as a gesture of respect and remembrance, we decided to give our little pub/waiting room the name “The Lyons Den”.
NATTER & NOGGIN
On the last Saturday of every month commencing at 11am any and all Jaguar or Daimler enthusiasts are invited to attend our “Natter & Noggin” in the afore-mentioned “Lyons Den”.
Beverages and nibbles are available in our cosy on-site pub, which is decorated with a large amount of Jaguar-related memorabilia, pictures and miniature models and so on. The Jaguar Club Northern Regions has a corner there and it’s an opportunity to meet like-minded Jaguar and Daimler enthusiasts, chat about the marque, maybe glean useful information from our team of experts on any problems with your car, check out our collection of Jaguars and Daimlers for sale in our “Jaguar Exchange”, view our workshops and discuss any work needed on your prized motor car.