Talks give campaign a boost MG enthusiasts and traders have been given fresh hope that a museum demonstrating Abingdon's links with the famous car could be opened - six years after campaigning started.

Talks are about to re-open between MG enthusiasts and the Vale of White Horse District Council - after complaints that disappointed tourists from all over the world have been turning up in the town expecting to find an MG museum.

Brian Moylan, who worked at the Marcham Road factory and has written a book on MG's links with the town, said: "If you talk to the ladies from Abingdon Museum, they will tell you people come in there almost daily asking where the MG museum is."

Mr Moylan held his own MG exhibition at the town museum four years ago which proved extremely successful.

He thinks it is high time a permanent museum dedicated to the MG was opened - and he would like to see an MG monument built in the town.

He said: "Everyone knows about Abingdon's links with the MG. It is a very important part of the town's history yet there is nothing really here for tourists to come and see.

"I've been saying there should be something here for years now." The idea of using the Old Gaol Leisure Centre, should the planned new Phoenix Leisure Centre off Audlett Drive come to fruition, is one suggestion the MG enthusiasts have made.

An attempt in the past to use Larkhill House in Cemetery Road as a base for celebrating the town's links with the car fell through at a late stage.

The Vale confirmed talks will be held in the coming weeks with members of the MG Car Club.

Council leisure services chief Karen White said the meeting would explore general ideas.

But she added: "It is very early days to make any commitments about the Old Gaol."

Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the MG factory opening.

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