History
The factory was built in 1932, founded by Tomas Bata, to offer over 4000 new jobs to the people of East Tilbury. The company made a huge difference for the people as they provided homes for all the workers known as the Bata Estate. The factory ran for over 70 years until production began to decline in the 80's when production moved closer to the export market. The factory and the Bata estate has now been declared part of a conservation area so we can keep on remembering its importance. As well as being part of the conservation area one of the Bata Factory buildings is a grade II listed building. This building has remained empty since 2005 while the rest of the factory area is a functioning industrial estate.
The Explore
Originally while in East Tilbury we weren't planning to go to the factory but we saw an opportunity and decided to take it. Our main aim was to get to the roof of the building. Our first attempt to climb the outer stairs to get in had failed. Luckily we found another way in. There were workers around so we had to make sure we weren't seen. Once in the building we made our way to the top. The view and the feeling of being on the roof was amazing. Along one side of the building on the floor you could see a big pile of desks and chairs, we assumed it was where they had cleared out the factory, although we could be wrong. Of course we climbed on top of the Bata sign, how could we resist! It got cloudy and started to rain so we made our way back in the building. Although most of the floors were empty we took our time exploring each floor. We found it weird that all the toilets had been concreted in. The bottom floor looked to be the most in use floor with some machinery left there. I'm not sure if it was just temporary storage for some of the site's things. We did notice in one of the smaller rooms a motion sensor but that was the only working one that we found. Now we had seen everything we decided it was time to leave but we had to wait as a truck was unloading right by our exit.
The Photos
On the roof
The pile of office furniture
empty factory floor
In the stairwell
tTe concrete toilet
tTe bottom floor
The factory was built in 1932, founded by Tomas Bata, to offer over 4000 new jobs to the people of East Tilbury. The company made a huge difference for the people as they provided homes for all the workers known as the Bata Estate. The factory ran for over 70 years until production began to decline in the 80's when production moved closer to the export market. The factory and the Bata estate has now been declared part of a conservation area so we can keep on remembering its importance. As well as being part of the conservation area one of the Bata Factory buildings is a grade II listed building. This building has remained empty since 2005 while the rest of the factory area is a functioning industrial estate.
The Explore
Originally while in East Tilbury we weren't planning to go to the factory but we saw an opportunity and decided to take it. Our main aim was to get to the roof of the building. Our first attempt to climb the outer stairs to get in had failed. Luckily we found another way in. There were workers around so we had to make sure we weren't seen. Once in the building we made our way to the top. The view and the feeling of being on the roof was amazing. Along one side of the building on the floor you could see a big pile of desks and chairs, we assumed it was where they had cleared out the factory, although we could be wrong. Of course we climbed on top of the Bata sign, how could we resist! It got cloudy and started to rain so we made our way back in the building. Although most of the floors were empty we took our time exploring each floor. We found it weird that all the toilets had been concreted in. The bottom floor looked to be the most in use floor with some machinery left there. I'm not sure if it was just temporary storage for some of the site's things. We did notice in one of the smaller rooms a motion sensor but that was the only working one that we found. Now we had seen everything we decided it was time to leave but we had to wait as a truck was unloading right by our exit.
The Photos
On the roof
The pile of office furniture
empty factory floor
In the stairwell
tTe concrete toilet
tTe bottom floor
