This is no epic explore but i feel i should post a report as it is in my home town and i go past it virtually every day! The site shut down in late 2011, the exact date is a bit fuzzy as it stayed pretty live for a while after workers were laid off. Ive been in and out since the beginning of the year and its gone from being quite tight with many internal doors locked to pretty much wide open as you can get!
Ive been trying to find a comprehensive history of the company but there doesnt apprear to be much online. From talking to verious people and making a few observations of how the site is put together i think the oldest buildings date from around the 1920-30s. There is an old block of offices that appear to have been disused for quite a while. The fabric of this building was very nice with big wooden doors, brass furniture and peely paint, its a shame there was not more left from the same era! The majority of the rest of the site is 60s/70s but there was still some good bits hidden away that took me quite a few visits to sniff out. The boilerhouse was a good find as its two Davey Paxman boilers do have a bit of age to them. Another nice find was the former photography club darkroom just off the canteen, this had a wodge of old factory photos but annoyingly they were all of the companies sister factories and not Sudbury so epic local find denied!.. :mad More recently the company has been known as Guilford Kapwood and then Guilford Europe but ive used the Gainsborough name just for Dweeb :laugh
Worth a look if your in the area. Last visit i spent over 3 hours there getting into some the less obvious parts its not massive but cirtanly not small either..
Ive been trying to find a comprehensive history of the company but there doesnt apprear to be much online. From talking to verious people and making a few observations of how the site is put together i think the oldest buildings date from around the 1920-30s. There is an old block of offices that appear to have been disused for quite a while. The fabric of this building was very nice with big wooden doors, brass furniture and peely paint, its a shame there was not more left from the same era! The majority of the rest of the site is 60s/70s but there was still some good bits hidden away that took me quite a few visits to sniff out. The boilerhouse was a good find as its two Davey Paxman boilers do have a bit of age to them. Another nice find was the former photography club darkroom just off the canteen, this had a wodge of old factory photos but annoyingly they were all of the companies sister factories and not Sudbury so epic local find denied!.. :mad More recently the company has been known as Guilford Kapwood and then Guilford Europe but ive used the Gainsborough name just for Dweeb :laugh
Worth a look if your in the area. Last visit i spent over 3 hours there getting into some the less obvious parts its not massive but cirtanly not small either..
