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View Full Version : Nestlé Rowntree, York - Aug '12



Boba Low
21-10-2012, 10:17 PM
I'd already been out once, and was in Selby when SammyDoubleWhammy called. He and Clough had just ditched an attempt at something else and were looking for something to do in York. Now, It's a well known fact that since tourist season at Terry's died down and the demolition crews moved in, York has little to offer to the hungry derp enthusiast in comparison to other Yorkshire cities such as Leeds or Bradford, but there are a few bits and pieces dotted around, one of course being the remnants of the OTP depot, of which barely any of the old plant kit remains, even compared to 2 years ago, and another which I've known about for a long time but, somewhat pathetically in hindsight, had never attempted. A sizeable mill building, the sole remnants of the Rowntree factory, located on the wasteland attached to the main Nestlé site which once produced Smarties. The site has cameras, and having snuck around the main live factory one night with Dempsey I expected at least half-decent security. Nevertheless, I suggested it and the guys both agreed it was worth a pop, even though it was getting late in the day. Half an hour later I met with Sammy and Clough just up the road, and we were in luck. As soon as we were past the fence an access point presented itself. We checked it out and it seemed good to go but the LLS (Leeds Lazy Sods) delegation decided they'd like to have a sniff round the corner to see if the door was open. It wasn't, but no matter. 10 minutes later we were on the roof.

Some wikipediaings:

Rowntree's was first founded in York in 1862 by Henry Isaac Rowntree, who bought a chocolate company from the Tuke family. In 1869, he was joined by his brother, the philanthropist and famous face of the company, Joseph Rowntree. The original factory was in the centre of the City of York, by the River Ouse at Tanners Moat, but was relocated in 1906 to Haxby Road in the north of the City. The Company merged with Mackintosh's in 1969, to become Rowntree Mackintosh. Rowntree was responsible for such chocolate favourites as Kit Kat, Smarties, Aero, Fruit Pastilles and Black Magic, while John Mackintosh and Co. produced Rolo, Munchies, Caramac and Quality Street. The same year, Hershey entered a licensing agreement with Rowntree Mackintosh to introduce Kit Kat and Rolo in the United States. The company went public in 1987, and was the subject of a takeover battle between Nestlé and Jacobs Suchard in 1988. Nestlé eventually won control with an offer valuing Rowntree at $4.5billion. The takeover was controversial, as Nestlé was effectively protected from similar takeover attempts under Swiss law. After the Nestlé takeover, the Rowntree chocolate ranges began to use the branding "Nestlé Rowntree", before eventually the Rowntree name was dropped from the packaging altogether, except on Rowntree's Cocoa and the famous "Fruit Pastilles" and "Fruit Gums". In September 2006, it was announced that the manufacture of Smarties was to be moved abroad, causing 646 job-losses at the York factory.

It was a bit shit, but I never expected anything better, and enjoyed it more than I thought. The floors were to me the most impressive features, rusting hexagonal metal tiles, big weird stains, pools of tar, you knows. Explored the whole thing in a weird order, got very confused. Offices were rammed full of clutter, blueprints and kit, but for some reason I didn't take any photos in there, I was too busy looking for diagrams of machines ;). Shot on Kodak Gold 200 from the pound shop, developed at Tescos, hence the absolutely filthy grain. Fucking gay Kodak.

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GeoVDUB
21-10-2012, 10:25 PM
Boss! Maybe less text... Only cos I can't be arsed reading, pics are banging though. Top work.

Boba Low
21-10-2012, 10:35 PM
Yeah I get ya. I does like to write a bit though. I found changing the theme from the black one makes it look like less text....

birdinanaviary
21-10-2012, 11:53 PM
First two pictures are proper belters!!!!

When u say u were in selby.... U were hanging around a mushroom farm yeh
Coz if u haven't been there ...... It's good..... Bit like Chernobyl

GeoVDUB
22-10-2012, 10:53 AM
Yeah man the text is good I guess, bit of personality and that, I just never read it. Specially when your pictures are banging. 1x picture = 1000x words.

Clough
22-10-2012, 11:30 AM
Yeah there banging mate, ill move these to proper member reports in a bit. Our you not a full member thought I upgraded you ages ago?

ERNIE99_UK
22-10-2012, 12:52 PM
i kinda like the graininess of the shots, it adds a bit of age to them.

Boba Low
22-10-2012, 03:41 PM
Cheers Clough, appreciated. Just to clarify, I have never ever been to Selby mushroom farm, or Chernobyl, as I would consider neither to be my cup of tea, so cannot attest to the similarity of the two. I thought there were experts around here for that sort of thing anyway.

nelly
23-10-2012, 06:50 PM
Nice stuff mate, I find that if I have one with a lot of history then I separate the paragraphs with a photo or 2, you see Northerners have a very low attention span, if they see more than a couple of lines without a picture to marvel at then they switch the PC off, don the flap cap and take the whippet for a stroll to the local Greggs

;)

I await the torrent of abuse!!!

;)

Boba Low
23-10-2012, 07:32 PM
Sometimes I get really fucking stoned and write too much, don't read it, it's all bollocks anyway...

Rebel
23-10-2012, 11:52 PM
I've used the Kodak 200 and it's never been that grainy but i've never used it in dark places. Ilford black and white is usually the choice for that!

No.2's looking good! no access to the clock tower then?

Boba Low
24-10-2012, 02:49 AM
No clock tower here pal.

Rebel
24-10-2012, 09:45 AM
doh, thinking of Terrys. Looks so similar.

jST
26-10-2012, 11:06 AM
Class, you and your film.

Only2Eyes
26-10-2012, 12:07 PM
Film film film film film film

wolfism
04-11-2012, 12:38 AM
Nice shots, looks well worth the effort.

Shot on Kodak Gold 200 from the pound shop, developed at Tescos, hence the absolutely filthy grain. Fucking gay Kodak.
Try Ektar, virtually grainless and gives a slight reddish hue to your shots..

Only2Eyes
04-11-2012, 12:55 AM
Try Ektar, virtually grainless and gives a slight reddish hue to your shots..

+1 for Ektar, it is delightful.