Report - Rank Hovis Solent Mills, Southampton - February 2020

[albino-jay]

Excellent report that mate.

 

[Cloth Head]

Quality that

 

[dweeb]

That'll do.pig. Been too long since i did one of these beasts...

 

[mockney reject]

Really decent that

 

[Exploring with Andy]

Fantastic!

 

[obscurity]

YES!!! proper decent

 

[tumbles]

Looks like SAVE are kicking off about the proposed demo. Not sure what you can do with a mill in the middle of a dock thou..

PRESS RELEASE: SAVE condemns proposed demolition of Historic Southampton Mills

 

[Terminal Decline]

Demolition is sadly fully underway now. I believe they started last week and it's estimated to take 40 weeks to clear the site. I'd highly recommend visiting the building before it's destroyed, there's a lot to see there aren't a whole lot of similar places left to close. Access is going to be easy and you can just casually walk through the dock gate into the site.
These photos are taken from the 'Southampton Heritage Photos' Facebook group:

Would be nice if they pulled off all of the crappy cladding from Pre-war silo before tearing it down, the brickwork looks great in old photos

The workshops being demolished

 

[b3n]

Came across this photo, the mill pretty much on its own!

 

[Terminal Decline]

A few more recent demolition shots from that Facebook group. Still plenty to see but going fast.

 

[Ojay]

going, going, almost gone now.. Shifted here

 

[Terminal Decline]

May as well show an update now it's in public, again from the Southampton heritage group. Looks like only the front block remains, the belt manlift is clearly visible on the left of the skinned section.

 

[Flour miller]

ABC Mill
This was a right bugger to get to but I eventually found a way in by chance

This floor would have housed the roller mills, the wall at the end was constructed when G Mill was built inside this part of the site

A bit of Mather & Platt is compulsory in a building like this

The real gem here is the cracking belt manlift - can't be many which survive this well around nowadays

Thanks for looking

Just to let you know what you have called multi purpose warehouse. It was know as the HOVIS warehouse when we cooked germ that went into Hovis bread and a small stone ground mill.

 

[urbansession]

Is it still worth a look or is pretty much gone now? Thanks.

 

[Terminal Decline]

Is it still worth a look or is pretty much gone now? Thanks.

Nothing left of the place now I'm afraid.