Bicester Heritage is a real one of a kind place, if you will a revolution for classic motoring and a heaven for car lovers. A hub of businesses to take care of every possible need or requirement for your classic car.
The site of Bicester Heritage, formerly RAF Bicester has a rich history of aviation dating back to 1911 when Lt H.R.P. Reynolds landed a Bristol Boxkite Biplane on what is now the airfield. Fast forward to 1916, organised flying began when the site became a training depot followed in 1917 by the arrival of the Royal Flying Corps and 118 Night Bomber Squadron. This would then see he building of aircraft sheds. 1919 saw the return of Bristol fighters returning from France having flown in World War 1. In 1920, all of the squadrons were disbanded and the airfield was closed.
In 1925, the site was redeveloped as a bomber station and flying resumed in 1928. Throughout World War II, RAF Bicester was used as a training centre firstly under the control of RAF Bomber Command until 1943 and then by Fighter Command for the rest of the war.
Post war, the site ceased to be a flying unit but was used for maintenance and repairs of aircraft and a motor transport depot. Gliding then arrived at the airfield in 1956 in carries on to present day.
in 1976, the RAF left the site but kept a small presence to maintain gliding training. During the 1980's and 1990's the United States Air Force moved in to the Technical and Domestic area and created a wartime contingency hospital with 500 beds. This would then be used during the the first Gulf War.
During the late 1990's plans were abandoned to develop the airfield for housing and industry due to strong local opposition and the history of the airfield.
In 2004, the RAF moved out completely.
When Bicester Heritage opened its gates in 2013, the buildings had been neglected for a long time and was the most at risk of all Defence Estates in the UK. Since then, over 90% of the buildings have been restored back to their former glory. Six businesses opened in 2013 and they are still going strong and Bicester Heritage now has over 30 businesses operating at the site. These range from engineering, sales, detailing, restoration, storage and many others. Bicester and Banbury college now offer a classic vehicle restoration apprenticeship scheme on site. Mission Motorsport also has an office here.
It's worth noting that I made an appointment before visiting,
Below are the photo's I took on the day.
Outside Blue Diamond Riley Services
Classic Performance Engineering
Kingsbury Racing Shop Limited
Robert Glover Limited.
The Motor Shed Ltd
Auto Wax Works.
As well as detailing, one part of this business is a coffee shop. If you should come to Bicester Heritage, they serve all kinds of lovely hot and cold drinks and snacks.
Car parks.
These photo's represent a small proportion of what is available at Bicester Heritage.
Bicester Heritage really is a unique place, it's setting and the businesses give it an amazing atmosphere. It's fantastic to see that the engineering skills that would have built the camp originally and to fix and maintain the aircraft are being put to use to in the present to restore the buildings and maintain and bring old cars and aircraft back to life. It's fitting that a location with so much history has been given a much needed boost and it's future looks bright.
Bicester Heritage's vision is to secure a robust dynamic future for motoring past, present and future, the businesses that serve this market, the people who work in those businesses and the owners and enthusiasts who enjoy their specialist vehicles.
They are doing a fantastic job of this.
If you need anything doing to your classic car, Bicester Heritage is well worth looking into, they have everything you need in one location.
I would like to thank the staff of Bicester Heritage and the businesses for allowing me to visit and for being very welcoming and friendly.
For a further information on Bicester Heritage please visit
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