Report - Bowaters Sack Factory..Ellsmere Port, April 2024

[Mikeymutt]

A visit up north involved having a look at this old factory. It’s not the biggest industrial site and is empty, but it’s got some fantastic decay and colours, with some great signs. A nice relaxed wander with my usual two mates. A very underrated place, and was not too heavily visited surprisingly. The offices and admin area to the side was very nice to see with wonderful decay.
The whole site was originally owned by Bowaters and opened in 1951 and was designed so the paper came in one end and went through a process through the factory so that the paper or plastic sacks came out the other end as a finished product. The factory employed around four hundred people at its height and had its own printers for the sacks, a canteen for staff and a maintenance department. It was bought out by Papropack who shortly after shut the factory and it was sold to Mainisty Wharf in 1998. The premises was split up and divided into four sections and taken over by different businesses. The main factory and admin has been left to decay nicely. I did like the big windows which were apparently designed to let the light in as the sun rose and this allowed on a saving in electricity and make a brighter factory to work in.

Starting of with the main factory. It has been used in the past for storage of stuff.

Continued…

 

[Mikeymutt]

Heading into the offices and staff areas, plenty of toilets around here.

Staff entry with phone for calls for staff to make.

A really nice decaying toilet block.

Staff canteen.

Main office.

Board room.

Main reception. And reception desk.

First aid room.

And some film pics to finish off with.

 

[TheTimeChamber]

The decay here is lovely

 

[dansgas1000]

Benn looking forward to seeing your take on this one. Fantastic set of images, and the film photos look great too!

 

[mookster]

The offices here really are in my favourite level of decay, it's so nice to shoot.

 

[JakeV50]

This is one I'd love to see. Beautiful photos

 

[Mikeymutt]

Benn looking forward to seeing your take on this one. Fantastic set of images, and the film photos look great too!

Cheers mate. Sadly out of my whole film I got six photos. I seemed to have a problem and think I heard it reeling itself back in whilst in here. I know when I got to the end of the film I had an issue.

 

[Mikeymutt]

This is one I'd love to see. Beautiful photos

Cheers mate. Definitely worth a visit.

 

[TalkingMask]

I really need to get here before it ends up trashed. The decay and overgrowth is absolutely beautiful, looks straight out of The Last Of Us. Love the photos

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Very photogenic that nicely captured

 

[Mikeymutt]

I really need to get here before it ends up trashed. The decay and overgrowth is absolutely beautiful, looks straight out of The Last Of Us. Love the photos

Thank you. I think you will be ok with this one, don't think many bother with it. Had a little rush on it but gone quiet now.

 

[Mikeymutt]

Very photogenic that nicely captured

Thank you mate. Surprised you ain't been, between being chest deep in water underground.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Lovely level of decay there. Really like the room with the old drawers falling apart. And the film shots have a great atmospheric look. Toilet heaven eh lol

 

[Mikeymutt]

Lovely level of decay there. Really like the room with the old drawers falling apart. And the film shots have a great atmospheric look. Toilet heaven eh lol

Thank you Jane. That whole area around the drawers was amazing. It really was toilet heaven ha ha.