A local one for me, and with the short days over the winter, figured I should finally get it done, as it's been sat low on my list for a long while now. Definitely late to the party with this one, but I've only been doing this a little over a year now. Not been posted in a while either, so about time for an update 👌🏻
Photo Heavy, as per
The History -
@Imba did a phenomenal write up, (although I can't find the thread to link) so I'll keep it brief.
The site started life as a creamery on land owned by Batts Farm in the late 1890s, subsequently being purchased and expanded by C & G Prideaux in 1900. Later the site was owned by Unigate, producing milk powders and cheeses for St Ivels. This continued until 2000, when the milk and cheese division was sold to Dairy Crest.
The factory was retrofitted for the production of desserts, but was marked for closure in 2006, although this decision was reversed in 2005 due to production issues at another facility in Shropshire. Evercreech produced desserts and cottage cheese for M&S right up until closure by Greencore in 2018.
The Explore -
Explored with an exploring mate, access is simple, just a case of choosing a spot really, no way of being subtle unless you go in the dark.
It's quite a sizeable site, but not really all that much to be seen in most of the more modern buildings, other than the odd bit of Graff, hygiene signs, and an abundance of hairnets.
You can see how all the machinery was just ripped out as you walk around. There wasn't much to see in the fridges/production areas, other than the obligatory chair, and pallets full of totes.
Found the warehouse section. I found the almost brand new racking in the warehouse section quite amusing, only 2 years old at time of closure, wasted investment there 😂 also found a random gauge dumped on the floor, not sure what it came from. Surprised it wasn't smashed tbh.
Ended up getting a decent view of the pipework crisscrossing the rooftops of the various buildings by climbing a service ladder.
The oldest buildings on the South side of the site proved to be a treasure trove, with paperwork, schematics and floppy disks littered around, and a workshop that was in pretty good nick albeit without any tooling left behind.
Admin Offices -
Workshop -
Few interesting bits adorning the walls -
Chemical Safety -
The former silk mill building was very interesting, with an old goods lift, and a conveyor belt system on the uppermost floor. The top floor was a little on the sketchy side to walk over though!
External Shot -
Goods Lift-
Conveyor -
There was a more modern office block next to the old mill, totally trashed inside, although there was a couple of displays showing packaging for products that were made on site, and a safe.
M&S desserts produced on site -
Peely Safe -
There were still signs of the redundancy process dotted around a staff area, with jobs fayre signs, and vacancies plastered over the walls. Having been through the process myself recently, couldn't help but feel sympathy for the people that lost their jobs when the site closed.
We also came across a building containing an on-site laboratory. Again, mostly stripped, but odd few bits to look at in there.
Couple of interesting old documents from a locker room -
That's pretty much it, made our way back through the site, checking out the gutted boiler house on the way through. Chose the wrong moment to exit the site, went over the wall right in front of a guy walking his dog 😂
Externals -
Photo Heavy, as per
The History -
@Imba did a phenomenal write up, (although I can't find the thread to link) so I'll keep it brief.
The site started life as a creamery on land owned by Batts Farm in the late 1890s, subsequently being purchased and expanded by C & G Prideaux in 1900. Later the site was owned by Unigate, producing milk powders and cheeses for St Ivels. This continued until 2000, when the milk and cheese division was sold to Dairy Crest.
The factory was retrofitted for the production of desserts, but was marked for closure in 2006, although this decision was reversed in 2005 due to production issues at another facility in Shropshire. Evercreech produced desserts and cottage cheese for M&S right up until closure by Greencore in 2018.
The Explore -
Explored with an exploring mate, access is simple, just a case of choosing a spot really, no way of being subtle unless you go in the dark.
It's quite a sizeable site, but not really all that much to be seen in most of the more modern buildings, other than the odd bit of Graff, hygiene signs, and an abundance of hairnets.
You can see how all the machinery was just ripped out as you walk around. There wasn't much to see in the fridges/production areas, other than the obligatory chair, and pallets full of totes.
Found the warehouse section. I found the almost brand new racking in the warehouse section quite amusing, only 2 years old at time of closure, wasted investment there 😂 also found a random gauge dumped on the floor, not sure what it came from. Surprised it wasn't smashed tbh.
Ended up getting a decent view of the pipework crisscrossing the rooftops of the various buildings by climbing a service ladder.
The oldest buildings on the South side of the site proved to be a treasure trove, with paperwork, schematics and floppy disks littered around, and a workshop that was in pretty good nick albeit without any tooling left behind.
Admin Offices -
Workshop -
Few interesting bits adorning the walls -
Chemical Safety -
The former silk mill building was very interesting, with an old goods lift, and a conveyor belt system on the uppermost floor. The top floor was a little on the sketchy side to walk over though!
External Shot -
Goods Lift-
Conveyor -
There was a more modern office block next to the old mill, totally trashed inside, although there was a couple of displays showing packaging for products that were made on site, and a safe.
M&S desserts produced on site -
Peely Safe -
There were still signs of the redundancy process dotted around a staff area, with jobs fayre signs, and vacancies plastered over the walls. Having been through the process myself recently, couldn't help but feel sympathy for the people that lost their jobs when the site closed.
We also came across a building containing an on-site laboratory. Again, mostly stripped, but odd few bits to look at in there.
Couple of interesting old documents from a locker room -
That's pretty much it, made our way back through the site, checking out the gutted boiler house on the way through. Chose the wrong moment to exit the site, went over the wall right in front of a guy walking his dog 😂
Externals -
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