Gillette Factory : Gillette Corner, London : Oct. 2008:-

[Downfallen]

Site:
Gillette Factory( former), Gillette Corner, London
Explorer:
Downfallen/ AGK
Height:
170ft(approx)
Status:
Under redevelopment
History:
Designed by Sir Banister F. Fletcher in 1936 and built specifically for Gillette, the razor manufacturer, the design of the building frontage is said to resemble a razor. and is located on the famous art deco 'Golden Mile' in West London.
This factory remained the UK ( and for a time) Euro HQ of Gillette's European Operation , from before WW2 up until production ceased in 2006, where manufacturing was swapped to a new facility in Poland.
Future:
The Bonnington Group have been granted planning permission by the London Borough of Hounslow to develop the 1930s Art Deco Grade II listed Gillette building into a hotel and business park, which will add to the West Cross industrial estate, of which Gillette Corner lies at the west end

First off, all credit to agk for the tip off on this site...nice one mate
I went for a visit to establish the access before returning with agk a week later.
Lots to see in this site.....as usual, the first time in, its all about keeping quiet and expecting to be caught.
Subsequent visit...knowing the layout and the score, times were a little (just a little) bit more relaxed

Alot of ground to cover in this one, so I'll break it down the main areas into a few posts.


The climb into the clock room

Looking back down the spiral stairway....from the safety of the clock room.

Inside the clock room.....clicks, bangs and whirs of the clock mechanism take over the sounds of the outside world.
.....a lovely old skool timer/ chain/counterweight/motor driven mechanism

The clock motor...

The central cog mech.....feeding the 4 clock faces...

The clock mech internals...

Up a ladder and through a hatch, you head up onto the small 'turret' of the clock tower......the highest part of the factory

Up here there was a great view of the factory complex....and the surrounding area

Leaning over the side ( and before 2am) you can view the elaborate neon lighting scheme across the clock faces.

 

[Downfallen]

Re: Gillette Factory : Gillette Corner, London : Oct. 2008:- Report !

The 'Old' Factory​

This part of the site was built specifically for Gillette way back when art deco was the 'in' thing.
Its now completely gutted....its been stripped back to the core structure as part of the redevelopment.
The 4 level floor spaces are bare and massive and other than some interesting shadow play....are completely derelict.

The ground floor of the old factory...

First floor....

There is an interesting and extensive sub basement level......a vast series of corridors and chambers underneath the whole site.....by the looks of them , used mainly for storage and access underneath the factory complex

The loading bay....

 

[Downfallen]

Re: Gillette Factory : Gillette Corner, London : Oct. 2008:- Report !

The 'New Factory'​

I'd skipped past this initially....this area of the factory complex just looked too 'new' and a bit too 'live' for my liking
Getting braver on another visit I ventured in.
This was obviously the production side of the site when they were here....a few levels of machine shops/production floors/offices/conference rooms and a rather spiffing staff canteen...still in pristine condition...almost like they had left yesterday !

Stay Sharp !

The ground floor loading bay of the 'new' factory

A whole cupboard full of prints on the first floor

The paint pellet room....where paint pellets ( of various shades of blue) were processed to make the razor handles...

The paint pellets were ground down, heated and made into a paste before being transported to others areas of the factory by a funky series of pipe work...

One of the machine rooms...

Who ate all the pies ..? ( I think it was Len)

Upstairs....and past the now empty staff shop was the staff canteen......clearly a focal point when the factory was 'live'.....and quite a fancy looking place..

Next to the canteen , the conference rooms...

A large site to cover...... some gems here and there to find, but the clock tower made it for me
But strangely......not a razor blade in site to be found

***​