A life on the line of Ford's Dagenham plant for Irish workers

Ford was once a pillar of employment in Cork but their plant in Dagenham was also huge employer for generations of Irish in England. With our economic relationship facing the threat of Brexit, Robert Mulhern spoke to retired workers about an industrial link that uprooted Irish villages and planted them in what was then Europe’s biggest factory

O’GRADY’S Irish bar rests on the High Road in Seven Kings near Dagenham in east London.

Situated between a sweep of takeaways and convenience stores, the pub is part of a low-rise hinterland that housed many of the 50,000 people who worked in the nearby Ford Motor Company in the 1950s.