Brains behind Tottenham's lost engineering industry honoured (From Haringey Independent)

Brains behind Tottenham's lost engineering industry honoured

9:41am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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AN entrepreneur who created jobs for thousands of residents after opening his first engine factory in Northumberland Park will be celebrated at a special ceremony this morning.

John Alfred Prestwich, the force behind J A Prestwich (JAP) Industries, will be remembered with a commemorative plaque erected at 1a, Lansdowne Road, his former family home that became his first factory in 1895.

It is estimated the company created around 3,500 jobs for local people, and produced internal combustion engines used in racing cars, motorcycles and early models of aeroplanes.

The firm also produced early cinematographic equipment.

At the end of the Second World War, production was taken over by Villiers Ltd and closed completely in 1963.

Northumberland Park today, is now one of the most deprived areas of the country with high levels of unemployment. Hopes of reinvigorating the area are being pinned on regeneration plans incorporated into Tottenham Hotspur's new football stadium development, submitted to Haringey Council's planning committee.

Historian Doctor Jim Lewis, who has a special interest in the development of Lea Valley, will have the honour of unveiling the plaque.