General Chat

On the subject of riding a bike past a factory.........many years ago I cycled into the wall of a local canning factory ( which is no longer operating )......serves me right really . I had my eyes closed at the time and was singing " Hi Ho Silver Lining "......was determined not to open them til I'd reached the end of the song !!!..............children really do the most studid things sometimes : )))

can't stop singing this song now.

Coming home after school
Flying my bike past the gates
Of the factories
My mom doing the laundry
Hanging our shirts
In the dirty breeze

Thank you all for contributing to this thread .
It has giving me the answer that I suspected in the first place.....that there really isn't much industry to speak of going on here anymore .

So instead of producing our own goods we have horrid ugly , distribution centres springing up all over the place . They probably only employ a handfull of staff.................it makes you wonder how it will all turn out in the future ?

Hi all

We have Nissan and Komatsu - at least a bit of a manufacturing base. But, given the losses we took up her in the north east with the wholesale closure of the mines (don't get me started..), the shipyards and the steelworks, they're a drop in the ocean.

Sad to say, but the world's changing. Cheap, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing is the province of Indo-China.

GB's only hope of economic survival is knowledge based -there's nothing to be gained by harking back to the past.

Sue x

We used to have Cantralls and cockrin sp they made fissy pop....and Buckta sports wear and I used to work in Politts sweet factory...I nearly wrote sweat factory which would be more fitting..

One of the biggest factories in the town was Charles of the Ritz. Everyone knew someone that worked there and could get freebies.
When they moved out, Ericsson's moved in - they have now gone.
We have had in the past
Van den Bergh makers of Stork margarine, Elmlea, Persil
Schweppes - drinks
Topps of England - filofax
Schering - makers of the contraceptive pill

Fancy that Kay............I must have missed you by a few years . I started in 1979 . Putting collars on boiler suits .
As you say......it all comes in on container ships these days , hence the new " outer harbour " that has just been built in Gt.Yarmouth . Things are going to change here a lot I think in the next few years .

Amanda
I worked at Johnsons between 1965..1975.
You are right when you say where are the factories..
We dont manufacture anymore in this country...must all come in on container ships.
Kay

We have the Walls factory and at least two engineering plants Messier Dowty and Smiths Industries. There used to be a lot more in Gloucester, match factory and clothing.

Mummo, that brings back memories, the smell of the Smith Crisp factory as I travelled past on the school bus.

Six Miles from me was a huge Steelworks 4miles long its gone now took a few years to take down. Now its a Hospital site with housing planned and a College Campus.

I have lived all my life (63years) in South London, I can remember the Smelly Marmite Factory at Vauxhall, Peek Freans Biscuits in Bermondsey and remember my auntie worked at Badgers Sweets. Lots of other factories were suituated in London but most have disappeared, my family owned factory that made Bras and Corsets called Au Fait long since gone.

Me too. I'd say at least 1 in every family i'm related to are factory workers.

There are a few that have been about for years that closed down so it is a worry.

x

Flower....... You certainly are fortunate to live in an area where there is still quite a lot of industry . I hope your factories stay up and running : ))

There are quite a few factories around by me. We have real Crisps, Braces Bakery. Carpet factory a few plastics factories, the Pot Noodle Factory and there are a few more which i dont really know what they do.

In all we are pretty lucky to have alot of work opportunities around us.

Flower :)

So.........the general picture seems to be that any large factories that are still in existance are food production of some sort .

Most , if not all of out textiles ( clothing / shoes etc ) industry has been taken over seas.............a few little places remain making componants for electrical stuff .

What about the paint and chemical factories ? or is that all bought in from elsewhere as well ?

Do we not produce anything here anymore ?

Amanda, we've got the Kettle Chips factory just up the road from here, and on the airport, there are still lots, Heatrae who make water heaters, (just had a fire there last week), amongst others. Sadly Colmans is no longer in production in Norwich, Caleys' chocolate was taken over by Nestle, though still sell under the Caley's name, Startrite shoes is now only a distribution warehouse, the shoes are made abroad, but there are a lot of factories still in operation in Norwich, just not under recognisale brand names, many of whom make components for the bigger brands.

I live in 'Shoe Town' but I think there are only a couple of shoe factories left now. When I was a child I lived in an area that had four factories in our street. I think they are all flats now. I have to say, though, a street with four factories in it was a bit dismal! We also had a newsagent and four grocers. You can't imagine it now. I can only think of one factory here now and they produce sandwiches.

Mummo........there was a Smiths Crisps factory in this area to but it closed in the 80s .

Yes Kay.........I worked at Johnsons but it was called " Clares Calton " by the time I worked there.