Meccano relaunched in attempt to become ‘Britain’s Lego’
Meccano relaunched in attempt to become ‘Britain’s Lego’
Jonathan PrynnSat, September 5, 2026 at 8:00 AM UTC
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A limited edition Meccano Aston Martin set will sell for £200
It was high on the Christmas wish list of millions of British children growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.
But in recent years, Meccano, the classic construction kit made up of metal strips and plates held together by nuts and bolts, has almost disappeared to toy heaven in the computer-game era.
The venerable 125-year-old brand is being dusted down and revived for a new generation with the aspiration to create a “British Lego”.
Meccano’s new British rights owner, The Entertainer, believes it is a “sleeping giant” that can recover from its commercial near-death experience to once again take its place on the world stage.
Andrew Murphy, the chief executive of Teal Group, The Entertainer’s parent company, said: “From a consumer perspective in the UK, Meccano has barely existed for 10 years.
“There may have been some dusty boxes on shelves somewhere but as a major consumer product in the UK it just wasn’t there.”
Global sales dwindled to just £7m under the ownership of the Canadian giant Spin Master, the world’s fourth-biggest toy company, which bought Meccano in 2018.
But the Toronto-based multinational signed a long-term licensing agreement with Teal in January 2025 in an effort to reverse its fortunes.
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Mr Murphy said he was convinced the brand has the potential to grow sales “easily into the hundreds of millions of pounds” by tapping into a renewed interest in engineering.
The chief executive added: “We get people all the time asking for something that’s ‘like Lego but not Lego’. That is the role Meccano has played in the past and can again.”
Meccano’s classic construction kit is made up of metal strips and plates held together by nuts and bolts - John Wheeler/Alamy
Meccano’s relaunch will be marked by the release of two new limited-edition collective sets: Meccano Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Race Car, with 1,203 pieces and priced at £200, and a Meccano Ducati Monster Motorbike priced at £40.
There will also be four new product ranges: Makers, Builders, Masters and Pro for different age groups starting from three-plus.
Packaging and the once notoriously complex building instructions have been overhauled for a modern audience.
Meccano was patented in Liverpool in 1901 by Frank Hornby, an English inventor and businessman, whose train sets also became world famous. It was originally known as Mechanics Made Easy, before adopting the Meccano name in 1907.
It has been sold in more than 100 countries, with the strongest markets outside the UK including France, Australia and the United States. Meccano is now made in Hungary, India and China.
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Source: “AOL Money”
