BushmillsCounty Antrim, N. IrelandThe Old Bushmills Distillery is open to visitors 7 days a week, who get a guided tour of the 400-yr-old distillery, a sample of their whiskey, and a chance to buy some.
Amazon UKVarious, UKYou can book to tour any one of eight Amazon Fulfillment Centres in England & Scotland.

This is a list of industrial and commercial companies with brand museums, visitor centres or factory tours open to the public (that I’m aware of).

These places tend to come and go fairly quickly, depending on their role within the brand’s core business. Eg, motor vehicle factory tours are likely to be suspended when new products or models are introduced; brand museums can be moved or closed when brands get bought or HQs & factories move. I try to keep up, but there’s regular ‘churn’ on this list!

 
     
Amazon UK Various, UK You can book to tour any one of eight Amazon Fulfillment Centres in England & Scotland.
Aston Martin Oxfordshire, UK The Aston Martin brand museum is located in a restored 15th century barn about 30mins outside Oxford. See my review.
 
British Airways Harmondsworth, UK The British Airways Heritage Collection preserves the records and artefacts of British Airways, its predecessor companies BOAC, BEA, BSAA and the pre-war Imperial Airways. It is housed at BA’s headquarters close to Heathrow Airport. It comprises a comprehensive document & photo archive of BA’s history plus aircraft models, memorabilia, uniforms and other artefacts. It is open to the public but you have to book an appointment to visit.
Bushmills County Antrim, N. Ireland The Old Bushmills Distillery is open to visitors 7 days a week, who get a guided tour of the 400-yr-old distillery, a sample of their whiskey, and a chance to buy some.
Cadbury World Birmingham Visitor centre for chocolate-lovers.
   
Dartington Crystal Great Torrington, North Devon Watch the glassblowers in action at the visitors centre.
   
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi A Ferrari theme park that opened in 2010 with a range of displays and driving experiences, plus the world’s fastest roller coaster reaching speeds of 125mph (200kph). More info
Guinness Brewery Dublin A tour of the old Guinness brewery which has been converted into an exhibition of Guinness history with films and exhibits of old posters, bottles, beer cans and brewery equipment. There’s a rather impressive bar on the roof (The Gravity Bar) with views over Dublin and a souvenir shop.
   
Jaguar Cars Solihull/Castle Bromwich, UK A choice. You can see the new Jaguar XE being built in their state-of-the-art production plant in Solihull, and/or the main plant at Castle Bromwich.
   
Lotus Cars Hethel, Norfolk, UK The Lotus production facility in Norfolk is reopening for public tours on 4th April 2022. Lotus suspended their factory tours in November 2017, so fans will be eager to see their new state-of-art factory which, after a £100 million investment, will be building the new Lotus Emira sports car. Tours will be operated Monday – Thursday, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays you can also visit their Classic Lotus racing museum and see their collection of historic Formula 1 race cars.
   
Mercedes Benz World Brooklands, UK MBW opened in Oct 06 at the historic Brooklands racing circuit in Surrey with a selection of driving courses from serious racetrack and off-road instruction to driving experiences for young children (over 1.5m). There are 100+ Mercedes cars on exhibition in the centre (in addition to the historic vehicles in the adjacent Brooklands museum), family activities & learning zones, simulators & a cinema, restaurants & shops….and future plans include a 5-star hotel & spa.
   
   
Morgan Motor Company Malvern, Worcestershire, UK Morgan operate pre-booked, guided tours of the classic hand-built sports car factory, that last around two hours and run during weekdays, or on selected Saturdays. They get around 30,000 visitors per year. If you want a preview, they have just released (Feb 2022) a drone fly-through of the factory.
Outhwaite & Son Ropemakers Hawes, Yorkshire From the stuff mountaineers dangle from and boats tie-up with, to dog leads and bell rope – you can watch them making metres of rope in the traditional way.
Plymouth Gin Plymouth, England Plymouth Gin is the only gin distillery in Britain that runs visitor tours. They opened a visitor centre in Aug 04 in their historic distillery building (a former monastery dating back to 1431, and the building where in 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers spent their last night in England) in the centre of Plymouth.
   
RNLI Poole, Dorset, UK The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has had a state-of-the-art training and lifeboat construction complex at its headquarters in Poole, Dorset, since 2015. They offer 90-min tours of the training facilities 6 days a week, and 60-min tours of their engineering, production and maintenance facilities on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They even have a hotel (for their crews during training) where you can stay! And… they also have a facility on the Isle of Wight where they build and maintain their inflatable Inshore Rescue Boats (IRBs), which you can visit by appointment.
Royal Mint, The Cardiff, Wales The Royal Mint offers “VIP tours” to its factory & workshops… they are a little expensive though.
SAFRAN Réau, France French aerospace engine manufacturer, SAFRAN, has a brand museum with a large collection of engines produced by predecessor companies such as Gnome et Rhône and Snecma which are now part of the present day Safran company.
   
Triumph Motorcycles Hinckley, Leicestershire

Triumph opened its £4 million Triumph visitor experience and factory tour in Nov 2017. The museum collection (free) is open Weds – Sun each week and features some famous Triumph bikes ridden by the likes of David Beckham and Tom Cruise, plus land speed record holders from the 1960s and… THE actual bike – a fully restored 650cc Triumph TR6R – ridden by Steve McQueen in The Great Escape!

The 90 minute factory tours cost £15 and are led by experts including members of the manufacturing teams.
 
Volvo Gothenburg, Sweden World of Volvo is a new (Apr 2024) brand museum and cultural centre in Gothenburg. See Mechtraveller news.
Waterford Crystal Waterford, Ireland The old Waterford factory was closed in Feb 09 and a new factory and state-of-the-art visitor centre opened in June 2010. The House of Waterford Crystal is on the Mall in Waterford City, Ireland and employs up to 130 staff at peak periods, including highly skilled craftsmen at the new Waterford Crystal Prestige Manufacturing Facility. Here, approximately 40,000 hand-crafted high end pieces are produced using traditional methods for customers and tourists.

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