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Report - - Norfolk Feather Company, Diss - March 2023 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Norfolk Feather Company, Diss - March 2023

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dansgas1000

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Introduction
This is a place both myself, @Mikeymutt and @V50jake have been keeping an eye on for a while, so we thought we'd give it a shot.

History & information
The history of the Norfolk Feather Company dates back over 90 years ago and began as a small local feather supplier and later released a large range of products across the UK. The site was one of the oldest employers in the town, but it wasn’t until 1993 when the Norfolk Feather Company started trading from its Diss premises. The company supplied large brands including Harrods.

The 5.2 acre site announced its closure in April 2021, later closing in October of 2022. The closure occurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which was caused partly by a supply shortage from China, in addition to all of the bird flu that was going around last year. The company, which had a £3.5m turnover in recent years, tried to stay afloat but issues sourcing senior management to manage cash flow among other ongoing issues eventually caused it to close permanently. The problems for the company actually started in 2019 when one of its major customers entered liquidation.

As of this month, The Boston Sleep Company has acquired the branding and website of Norfolk Feather Company and some of the products have been relaunched.

Budget supermarket chain Aldi is planning on moving to half of the site, leaving the other half for development for other things, most likely housing.

The Explore
As mentioned, me, Mikey, and Jake have been considering having a look for a few months now, we thought we would take a look on a weekend. Initially, we thought we’d walk in and walk out again as at first it just looked like some empty warehouses but there was some nice machinery left behind, there was also a nice boiler house and a couple of nice little outbuildings. Unfortunately, the kids have started getting in and the condition of the site is already getting worse.

Onto the photos, starting off with a few externals:

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This was the large warehouse building out the back which was primarily used for storage but did have a couple of office desks in:

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Nice old green doors:

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Thanks to Mikey for pointing out this shot of the fire door:

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A bit of machinery in here too:

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Moving to the main part of the site which houses another warehouse part along with some really nice machinery:

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Nice old Avery scales:

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The warehouse area of this building:

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Lots of feathers left behind, it's easy to tell what they did here:

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This fan is pretty retro:

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Nice compressor room hidden away:

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A couple more:

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Continued...
 
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dansgas1000

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Next up is the boiler house, it was quite hard to photograph but it was still nice:

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One of my favourite parts was a small water/electrical type room. I like the rust in here:

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Nice canteen door, green was obviously the colour scheme of most doors on the site, nice to see they kept it consistent!

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And a few others dotted around the site to finish off the report:

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Thanks for looking!
 
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Mikeymutt🐶

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Great selection of photos mate. It was so much better than expected. We don't get many industrial sites around here so nice to see a new untouched ones. Think it was definatley the right time to post it finally now kids have got in the back bit with it being holidays.
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Some interesting bits of industry there. Something different too. Nice to see the lone chair made the cut again. Im beginning to really like these shots
 

CantClimbTom

Enthusiastic Idiot and prolific BS talker
28DL Full Member
Loads of feathers around, Avery scales. While there you could have finally cleared up the mystery of which weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of lead 🤣
 

dansgas1000

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Great selection of photos mate. It was so much better than expected. We don't get many industrial sites around here so nice to see a new untouched ones. Think it was definatley the right time to post it finally now kids have got in the back bit with it being holidays.
Thanks mate, yeah it was really nice in the end wasn't it. Yep it's certainly a rare thing in this area so it was good to see. Yeah definitely, it's going downhill quickly sadly.
A big surprise definitely, the room with the pipes was lovely. Much better than expected.
Really nice wasn't it! I loved all the machinery etc left behind.
Some interesting bits of industry there. Something different too. Nice to see the lone chair made the cut again. Im beginning to really like these shots
Thanks Jane, I do love a lone chair!
Was a very nice unexpected wander this one, will have to get my photos up soon. Glad to see it before it got messed up by the local kids!
It was certainly better than we expected, like Mikey said you timed it really well on your visit down here!
Looks good that!
Thanks, definitely a lot better than expected.
Loads of feathers around, Avery scales. While there you could have finally cleared up the mystery of which weighs more a pound of feathers or a pound of lead 🤣
Good idea actually :rofl
 

CantClimbTom

Enthusiastic Idiot and prolific BS talker
28DL Full Member
The firedoor pic... I just can't make my mind up. (Great shot btw!). Would it be better cropped to remove the roof line and place the centre of the door centre picture so that the handrails become leading lines undistracted by the diagonal of the roof leading the eyes away. Or is that too "manufactured" and benefits from keeping in context. I keep putting my hand over the top and taking away... dunno... I'm no photographer. Just thinking out loud, and hoping to learn from the replies.
 

Mikeymutt🐶

28DL Regular User
Regular User
The firedoor pic... I just can't make my mind up. (Great shot btw!). Would it be better cropped to remove the roof line and place the centre of the door centre picture so that the handrails become leading lines undistracted by the diagonal of the roof leading the eyes away. Or is that too "manufactured" and benefits from keeping in context. I keep putting my hand over the top and taking away... dunno... I'm no photographer. Just thinking out loud, and hoping to learn from the replies.
Here is my version ha ha.


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dansgas1000

28DL Regular User
Regular User
The firedoor pic... I just can't make my mind up. (Great shot btw!). Would it be better cropped to remove the roof line and place the centre of the door centre picture so that the handrails become leading lines undistracted by the diagonal of the roof leading the eyes away. Or is that too "manufactured" and benefits from keeping in context. I keep putting my hand over the top and taking away... dunno... I'm no photographer. Just thinking out loud, and hoping to learn from the replies.
Is this what you mean mate? I did get a shot similar to what you described. Me and Jake were debating which shot to use for the report as he happened to be with me. We decided on the other one simply due to the fact that it can be seen that the fire exit is elevated above the ground floor which looked pretty cool, but otherwise, I agree and prefer the shot with the door in centre stage.

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CantClimbTom

Enthusiastic Idiot and prolific BS talker
28DL Full Member
Is this what you mean mate? I did get a shot similar to what you described. Me and Jake were debating which shot to use for the report as he happened to be with me. We decided on the other one simply due to the fact that it can be seen that the fire exit is elevated above the ground floor which looked pretty cool, but otherwise, I agree and prefer the shot with the door in centre stage.

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Kind of but further back, as a crop of the one you posted originally but only cutting across the top just where the "knee bracket haunch" (triangle thing bracing the corner of the main steel frame) comes into shot
 
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