The final car has been crushed at Albert Looms scrapyard in Derby, marking the end of a 104-year-old legacy, as reported by the BBC.
Albert Looms, a longstanding fixture in the community, announced its closure in May, prompting an outpouring of support from loyal customers. The seven-acre site in Spondon began its winding-down process, with the last public visits allowed at the beginning of July.
Since then, the cleanup of the Megaloughton Lane site has been ongoing, with the remaining stock sold off as a bulk lot. On the 23rd of July, the last car—a cream-coloured Austin—was lifted from the yard and flattened, bringing an era to a close.
Founded in 1920, Albert Looms initially focused on demolition work and dismantling railway rolling stock, benefiting from a direct rail link to the yard from Chaddesden Sidings. The business transitioned into car dismantling and parts in the early 1970s.
Steve Kirk, operations manager at Albert Looms, said:
“It’s strange, hard to put into words how it feels. The word surreal might fit, seeing the yard just as seven acres of land now.
Pretty much everything is cleared, but there’s still lots to do. Being busy stops me thinking about it too much.
We’re still here though, everyone gets made redundant in August, and all the staff that wanted to find jobs have walked into a job, but we’re still doing the last bits.
We know it had got to happen, and it’s happened in the right way, to the right timings, which has been good.”
Source bbc.co.uk
