Fine Decor Wallpaper Factory, England

This Fine Decor Wallpaper Factory was an old industrial site in northern England. The highlight here was the large wallpaper machine, with many shiny rollers and control panels.

History of this old wallpaper factory

A wallpaper works were first established here in the early 1900s. The two founders already worked in a nearby city, but decided to set up their own business closer to home. They selected an old building works for their site, and purchased the site for £2,500 (about £260,000 today). The site is 10.5 acres. Eventually, a huge factory grew which employed 200 people in its heyday. The owners also built a social club for the staff, as well as the community.

At the turn of the 21st Century, Fine Decor Wallpaper Factory was bought out by an American family-run business. As the decades passed, the old factory became more outdated. The owners decided that a move to newer premises would be in order. They set their sights on a new site in a nearby town, with the goal of building a more modern factory. But what to do with the old site? A building company that specialises in building on brownfield sites answered the call, and filed their plans for the re-development.

After 10 years of red tape and planning problems, the re-development plans were approved. Fine Decor Wallpaper Factory was slated for demolition, and new homes were to be built on the site. Finally, after a decade of delay, demolition took place at the end of 2020 and into early 2021.

Our visit – better late than never

We visited the site right before the final stages of demolition towards the end of 2020 (check out this blog which rounds up my 2020 explores). Much of the factory had been cleared. Unfortunately, we missed out on seeing much of the machinery. Already the heavy demolition machines were on site. Some of the walls had been demolished, presumably to aid in clearing the larger machines out of the building. We had a good few hours exploring Fine Decor Wallpaper Factory, which still had some treasures tucked away.