MORE than 200 motorbikes lined Victoria Road on Saturday as Millard & Co. celebrated its centenary. They ranged from a 1910 Coventry Eagle to a modern day racer and stretched from the bottom of the hill to Victoria Road Stores.

The day started when superbike racers John McGuinness and Michael Rutter led a cavalcade of an estimated 400 motorbikes from Bulwer Avenue to the bottom of Victoria Road.

Managing director Tim Millard, who joined the family business in 1973, said it was a special occasion.  ‘I don’t think you appreciate it as you grow up, but the longer we are here, the more you appreciate the heritage of it,’ he said.

Service manager Fred Giles joined the company in 1961, aged 14. Apart from a seven-year spell with another firm, he has worked there ever since. He was heavily involved in the planning of the event. ‘There are other motorcycle dealers that have been going for 100 years, but as far as we can establish, we are one of only three that have been owned by the same family that long,’ he said.