First off let me start by saying this place is HUGE! Anyone in the area will know it as either Alpine Coldstores or the KP Foods factory I guess. There must be 18 acres or so to the site, some of it is still in use and has been divided up into smaller units but there is a large part of the site still derelict. The factory employed more than 980 in it's heyday and produced 27,000 tonnes of crisps and snacks a year.
Im not sure when the place was built but i'd hazard a guess it was in the 1960's with additions in the 1970's judging by stuff we found inside such as old GPO Telephone sockets and 'antique' computer sockets. There's an article online from the Independent in 1995 about the closure of the factory, United Biscuits blames lost jobs on snacks war - Business - News - The Independent I assume it closed in 1995 some time. After that point it was purchased in around 1998 and parts of the warehouse were turned into a coldstore and that company went bust in 2010 and it's not been used since. Some areas of the site haven't been used since the 1995 closure and are boarded up really well. As i said it's a huge site and i couldn't get in to a lot of the place but i'll go back and take more photos when i can.
Outside the front loading bays
Entrance to coldstore compressor room
Factory compressor room
Alley between offices and factory
Factory worker's entrance
Inside the main factory
one of the many workshops
Upstairs in one of the office blocks
Glass roof hidden behind a suspended ceiling
The end!!
That's it for now, i'll get some more photos when i go back next time. Also if anyone could recommend any image hosting websites beside Flickr it'd be much appreciated!
Im not sure when the place was built but i'd hazard a guess it was in the 1960's with additions in the 1970's judging by stuff we found inside such as old GPO Telephone sockets and 'antique' computer sockets. There's an article online from the Independent in 1995 about the closure of the factory, United Biscuits blames lost jobs on snacks war - Business - News - The Independent I assume it closed in 1995 some time. After that point it was purchased in around 1998 and parts of the warehouse were turned into a coldstore and that company went bust in 2010 and it's not been used since. Some areas of the site haven't been used since the 1995 closure and are boarded up really well. As i said it's a huge site and i couldn't get in to a lot of the place but i'll go back and take more photos when i can.
Outside the front loading bays
Entrance to coldstore compressor room
Factory compressor room
Alley between offices and factory
Factory worker's entrance
Inside the main factory
one of the many workshops
Upstairs in one of the office blocks
Glass roof hidden behind a suspended ceiling
The end!!
That's it for now, i'll get some more photos when i go back next time. Also if anyone could recommend any image hosting websites beside Flickr it'd be much appreciated!
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