Well! This was quite an interesting one... Spent a day scouting out locations, looking out for new spots etc when I drove past this by accident. The site immediately grabbed my attention, it was large, derelict, and looked glorious in the afternoon sun. With absolutely no prior research or preparation, I decided to park up and scout out the perimeter to get a better idea of what was going on. Apart from a local warehousing business using one section of the site for storage, the place looked completely abandoned (from this current perspective...). Having just picked up a new wide angle lens, I was dying to try it out and get some practice in. At the time I had no idea what the factory used to be, if it was actually derelict, whether i'd actually be able to get into the buildings... but I had found a way onto the site, and decided to dive head first into this explore.
• • •
"Welton Bibby & Baron is the UK's largest manufacturer of Paper Bags, Strip Window Paper Bags, Paper Carrier bags, Wicketed Paper Bags, Can End bags and Printed Paper on the Roll. From Bread bags, Fast Food bags and Fashion Carrier bags through to Flour bags, Sugar bags and paper window bags: manufacturing packaging since 1858 Welton Bibby & Baron has established the widest possible range. Wicketed polythene bags, printed collation shrink film and stretch film, stretch Sleeves, CPP, OPP, laminates and polythene carrier bags are also manufactured by our group in sites across Europe and stored within our on-site fully automatic 30,000 pallet space warehouse in Westbury, Wiltshire. As the European market leader for printed paper and film packaging our group is uniquely positioned to solve your flexible packaging needs."
"Manufacturing packaging for over 160 years and now supplying billions of impressions each year around the world, if you are searching for economies of scale combined with a "can do" attitude - welcome to Welton Bibby & Baron."
HISTORY
Thomas Bibby, one of the founders of Bibby and Baron, was born in 1810 in Padiham, near Burnley, the son of James Bibby and Elizabeth Aspden. Thomas was a cotton worker in his early life, married a lady called Betty in about 1828 and they went on to have at least 5 children. In 1856 the family moved to Burnley and in about 1862 Thomas went into partnership with his son James to form Thomas Bibby and Son, which was a Marine Store dealership. They soon expanded into the new industry of paper bag making in 1865. The bags were hand-made and it was a slow process, so Thomas set out to invent a machine which would make them much more quickly and more cheaply. In this he succeeded and he invented a machine which made square-bottomed bags, which were unique at the time. These paper bags rapidly became very popular and the business took off.
• • •
"Welton Bibby & Baron is the UK's largest manufacturer of Paper Bags, Strip Window Paper Bags, Paper Carrier bags, Wicketed Paper Bags, Can End bags and Printed Paper on the Roll. From Bread bags, Fast Food bags and Fashion Carrier bags through to Flour bags, Sugar bags and paper window bags: manufacturing packaging since 1858 Welton Bibby & Baron has established the widest possible range. Wicketed polythene bags, printed collation shrink film and stretch film, stretch Sleeves, CPP, OPP, laminates and polythene carrier bags are also manufactured by our group in sites across Europe and stored within our on-site fully automatic 30,000 pallet space warehouse in Westbury, Wiltshire. As the European market leader for printed paper and film packaging our group is uniquely positioned to solve your flexible packaging needs."
"Manufacturing packaging for over 160 years and now supplying billions of impressions each year around the world, if you are searching for economies of scale combined with a "can do" attitude - welcome to Welton Bibby & Baron."
HISTORY
Thomas Bibby, one of the founders of Bibby and Baron, was born in 1810 in Padiham, near Burnley, the son of James Bibby and Elizabeth Aspden. Thomas was a cotton worker in his early life, married a lady called Betty in about 1828 and they went on to have at least 5 children. In 1856 the family moved to Burnley and in about 1862 Thomas went into partnership with his son James to form Thomas Bibby and Son, which was a Marine Store dealership. They soon expanded into the new industry of paper bag making in 1865. The bags were hand-made and it was a slow process, so Thomas set out to invent a machine which would make them much more quickly and more cheaply. In this he succeeded and he invented a machine which made square-bottomed bags, which were unique at the time. These paper bags rapidly became very popular and the business took off.
During the next 13 odd years, the factory would continue to expand, change ownership, and become more profitable. In 2003, Welton Bibby and Baron was acquired from British Polythene Industries Plc for a £7.8m management buyout, securing the jobs of all 221 staff. For context, the company had sales of £20.7m the previous year, and made £900,000 operating profit.
In 2005, they opened Welton Bibby and Baron in Slovakia. In 2013, the original factory closed after being on the same site for over 150 years. It moved 17 miles away to continue its expansion and investment in machinery, and they hoped to see all 300 workers move to the new factory. The managing director at the time had said "Basically this site is now too small for this operation. The space we need is fairly big and unfortunately there's no industrial site in the area that is suitable.
"I hope our workforce moves with us. We will be working with the guys to understand what concerns they have and what we need to address their concerns. If it means some assistance in that area [travelling costs] then obviously we will do everything we can."
WELTON OLD BREWERY
The factory structures and ancillary uses take up the majority of the 5.7 hectare site, however, there are also brewery buildings from the 1850s that “survive largely untouched, with most of their external architectural features intact.” According to BANES council, very little specific detail has been recorded about Welton Old Brewery, so most of the information has been derived from a small number of written sources that are available. The site of the brewery is first recorded on a map entitled “Map of the Manor of Midsomer Norton”, dated to 1813. The largest building appeared to be located in the corner of a field/orchard, and it is not possible to say whether it functioned as a brewery at the time, as the awards relating to the map have not survived. However, the comparative size of the building suggests that it served a purpose other than residential, increasing the likelihood that the original brewery was in operation by 1813.
The old brewery in 1996
The main suspected brewery building was recorded as a malthouse in the Tithe Map of 1839. No rent was due on the property, which means that no further details in respect of ownership were recorded, but it was likely to have belonged to the Thatcher family, who owned much of the surrounding land. It was between 1938 and 1957 that the first iteration of the modern factory complex was established. This had been significantly extended by 1970, and it was during this period that many of the old brewery buildings were removed. The great majority of the original brewery buildings have been demolished. The element of the original brewery that survives standing in the site to present does not relate to the earliest structure as depicted on the 1813 and 1839 mapping.
The surviving structure appears to comprise three conjoined buildings. They are arranged atop a stepped terrace to the west of Station Road. Each comprises a ground floor, first floor and second floor, though Sub-Building A is the taller due to a higher first floor. Each is constructed of load-bearing rubble stonework, and each has a pitched roof, and seemingly metal-framed windows, now either blocked or boarded up. The roof has a profiled metal sheet finish, presumably in place of the original clay pantiles. Internally, the structure has evident wooden floors, steel columns and beams, and timber joists. There are otherwise no historical internal features evident, and the interior appears to have been much altered from its original form. It is also in a state of disrepair, with extensive water damage and fungal growth evident. Large areas of structural timber have rotted, certain of the ground floor walls had been knocked through, and not all areas of the interior could be inspected due to the structure being unsound.
FUTURE PLANS
Since the closure in 2013, there have been ongoing discussions with town councillors, the community and the developers to come to some agreement about what the site would be used for moving forward. Here is a 2014 quote from the local council:
"The Welton Bibby & Baron (Welton Bag) factory located on the north eastern edge of the town centre provides a substantial redevelopment opportunity. The factory buildings and ancillary uses occupy the majority of the 5.7ha site. The 1850s brewery buildings survive largely untouched and with most of their external architectural features intact. These present a considerable asset to incorporate into future development of the site. The priority will be to deliver an appropriate mix of employment floorspace and housing, and to improve connections through to the High Street."
In 2018, planners refused permission to clear the old site, but after an appeal, permission was given, although at the time it was thought that these plans would include 200 new homes. At one point, the plans apparently included up to 1000 new houses, including a care home. Ultimately, these ideas led to nothing. Jump forward to March 2020, and the town council had gotten an update on the plans to redevelop the site. Apparently it is now "crunch time" for the planning application, which has been in the works for multiple years. The current plan now outlines 95 houses, including a supermarket - "not a superstore, more like a Lidl-sized store". I have yet to find out any more updates on progression of the redevelopment, but will be keeping a close eye out...
THE EXPLORE
Okay, so now, things get interesting...!
After finding my way in, I set out around the outskirts, staying away from a couple of cameras I had spotted. After taking a couple shots, I quickly moved on due to being completely exposed in this yard.
Continuing around the edges of a large warehouse, I rather quickly found a safe way inside. I was in what looked to be a small office, and then kitchen, with a corridor at one end, leading off in two directions. I slowly creep forward, and find myself at the entrance to a large lit warehouse, and behind me at the other end of the corridor was darkness.
After taking a quick shot of the warehouse, I decided to explore back in the other direction as i'd suddenly realised this place may not be as abandoned as I had first thought. Going back on myself, I crept through the darkness to find a couple of rooms with lots of pipes running along the walls, varying shades of paint splatters, and some kind of paint mixing machine (?).
Apologies for the crazy HDR shot.
I moved back towards the lit warehouse , and quickly took a corner into it, and down some steps to another one.
I then spent the next hour or so wondering around in here taking photos, completely undisturbed...
There were some smaller rooms around the outer edges, so I started to check them out too.
Yum.
Looking outside, the main entrance of the site is in the distance.
I found some offices at the far end of this warehouse, completely full of old folders, labels, and other random office crap.
So, by this point I had found a staircase, leading up to more large office looking rooms, storage rooms with shelves stacked full of branded paper bags. I had left my camera downstairs whilst I checked this out, but had a itching feeling to get back down to it, even though I thought no one else was around. Camera back in my hands, I go back to the staircase, and hop onto this filing cabinet to try and get a decent shot of the stairs.
Suddenly, I hear close footsteps coming from the warehouse. I'm still sat on the cabinet, and realise I have no time to move and hide without making a load of noise. Accepting my fate, I sit there, half stunned, fumbling around with my camera. A security guard walks past the entrance to the stairway, scans his phone against a QR code next to another door. *beep*. He then turns around, and comes straight through the doorway, with me staring right at him.
This pic is to help demonstrate just how ridiculous this situation was - I'm sat on the cabinet, security walks both ways along the corridor outside to the right, before coming straight into the stairway, and up the stairs which are just to the left and behind the perspective of this shot.
To my complete surprise, he was too busy playing Pokemon Go to even notice me. So he walks straight past me and up the stairs. As I start to process the situation, I remembered I had my gopro handy, so quickly switched it on in case something happened. I hear him walking around above, his steps thundering against the hollow sounding floor directly above me. A few more beeps echo away as he scans more codes. I didn't remember seeing another way out from upstairs, and realised he would be coming back soon. I half stumble off the cabinet, trying to be as quiet as possible, then crept underneath the stairs and hid.
After spending a few minutes still hiding, I slowly crept out, inspected the QR codes he was scanning, and quickly popped onto 28DL to ask if anyone knew what the codes were for. After learning that they are used to prove that security have actually been doing their job by patrolling the site (don't think it worked this time!), I made a note of the time for future reference, and then decided to start leaving as I didn't want to push my luck any further today. This was a tough decision to make, as I was very curious about some more of the older buildings further into the site, which I learned after doing my research to be the old brewery. That will be another story for another time.
Unfortunately this is where this report ends (for now). I wanted to make a better effort at narrating the actual explore in my reports, as I've really focused on the history until now. If anyone has any feedback regarding my reporting style, the history, my photography etc, it is always very much appreciated! I will end with a random phone pic to close this off, maybe it will give some of you a laugh. A massive thank you to everyone who reads through these, especially if you've made it all the way to the end again ♥
)
I was a bit uncertain having not done any prep before this one, but I had my camera, and time, and the place was just asking for a visit! Most fun i've had on an explore for a while.
