(29 Feb 2016, 3:35 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote The Optare Factory is in Sherburn-in-Elmet in North Yorkshire.
Optare was formed in early 1985 when Leyland closed the Charles H Roe premises in Leeds (next door to the Vickers tank factory), and, when Ashok Leyland acquired Optare they financed a new-build factory at S-i-E.
Optare plc can be considered the successor company to the historical British bus manufacturers Charles H Roe (through Optare), founded in Leeds in 1923, and East Lancashire Coachbuilders, (through Darwen), founded in 1934 in Blackburn.