Thanks, Brucey, that is a lovely history to read, a pity about the numerous buyouts in tough times.
Indeed it is. However, I think it's misleading regarding the buyouts though. The first, given as taking place in the 1970s, was due to Danny Prenn's diversification into clothing and I think it's simply Rola Celestion Ltd being absorbed into Celestion Industries plc rather than a buyout. The clothing businesses went up and down but the audio division was always strong. Later, in the early 90s, Mr Prenn's son led the sale of the entire company to a venture capital group that wanted to invest in the clothing side so the audio division was put up for sale as a profitable going concern. We knew something was up when the Gold Peak people came back for a second visit. Cue KEF going bust and GP had enough critical mass to form a UK-based high-end audio company - KH Industries - backed with manufacturing operations in China.
Unfortunately the people that GP brought in to look after domestic audio made a right arse of it so it's no longer a credible brand in that market sector (whereas KEF, for example, is).
Also, Celestion is no longer based at the Foxhall Road site. Houses occupy the site now (Celestion Drive) and everything moved to a new site just outside the town.