Report - Spillers Millennium Mills, London, April 2012

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Visited with Catullus. His report is here: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=70176

We started early and spent a good 4 or 5 hours in here. We started off by finding ‘the leap’ which turned out to be nothing like what we expected and left me wondering “was that it?â€￾ After about 4 hours in Millennium Mills we went back across to Rank Hovis for a look around.

History from Wikipedia:

The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock. Along with Millennium Mills, there remains a small section of the now destroyed Rank Hovis Premier Mill and a restored grade II listed grain silo, labelled the ‘D’ silo. Described as a "decaying industrial anachronism standing defiant and alone in the surrounding subtopia", the Millennium Mills has become a well-loved icon of post-industrial Britain and has made its way into many aspects of popular culture, being used as a backdrop in films and television shows such as Ashes to Ashes and Derek Jarman's The Last of England. Millennium Mills is also a destination for Urban Explorers despite high security, dangers of structural weakness, ten-storey drops and asbestos, and there are many reports and internal photos of the site.
Millennium Mills was designed and built by millers William Vernon & Sons in 1905. The mills were extensive, featuring two plants, equipped by Henry Simon Ltd, that had a capacity of 100 sacks per hour. W. A. Vernon described the mills in a single word as "palatial". Vernon and Sons named the mill after their most successful product, a flour variety which they called "Millennium Flour" after winning the "The Miller Challenge Cup" at the 1899 International Bakers Exhibition. The flour had been selected from "the best wheats of the world" and was put through a carefully designed industrial process. The victory gained Vernon and Sons "world-wide fame" and dominance in the English flour market. Millennium Flour was aimed at the rising 20th-century masses, proving particularly popular in the mining districts, where it was known to make "beautiful white bread sandwiches". The erection of Millennium Mills at the Royal Victoria Dock meant that this new flour could be brought to the Southern England market.

The Royal Docks closed in 1981, and many businesses relocated to Tilbury.

Photos:

 

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A few from the adjoining Rank Hovis mill: