Old Gillette Works In Brentford England

[indianajones]

I know that Gillette have been gone from this site for years, The Building is Listed so it will never be demolished, i have driven past many times but never had a close look, so i went there today just to see what is going on with the building.

Ispoke to the guy in the Security Hut, explained that i collected Vintage Gillette Gear and was interested in the History of the Building, he then called the Site Manager down, he said there was no way to look inside because of health and safety, he said there was nothing to see inside that had any reference to Gillette now anyway.


The Building has been Completely Stripped out and you could see workmen are now working inside as it's being turned into a Hotel.


I asked him what became of all the old Gillette stuff inside the Building, he said that This was all disposed of 5-6 years ago.


Here are a few pics from what i took today Today, (only low res for Photo Hosting) but i have high res ones on file.

[smalltank]

wow..I was thinking they had a sign up..beware of falling de blades..lol..where else do the dull blades go..lol..it would be interesting if Gillette converted all their original factories on the inside to being modern and still being used...and left them looking original on the outside..guess not..beautiful pics!

[MacDaddy]

Thanks for posting those, Indy. I'd only ever seen some wide shots of the building and tower before -- never anything close up. That entryway is just awesome! It's cool to hear that they're turning it into a hotel, too. I'll have to plan a trip to stay there once they've finished. I've got some family in London that I could pay a visit to.

In a similar vein, if anyone hadn't already seen, the Gillette building in Montreal has been turned into luxury condominiums:

[YYC.futur]

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to post this.

[ChiefBroom]

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to post this.

+1 x 2!

[Sledgehammer39]

Awesome PIC's!

[celestino]

Very nice and thanks for the pictures!

[Rasierhobel]

Thanks for posting those, Indy. I'd only ever seen some wide shots of the building and tower before -- never anything close up. That entryway is just awesome! It's cool to hear that they're turning it into a hotel, too. I'll have to plan a trip to stay there once they've finished. I've got some family in London that I could pay a visit to.

In a similar vein, if anyone hadn't already seen, the Gillette building in Montreal has been turned into luxury condominiums:

awesome! i like the lofts very much. for me it is funny to read: "luxury modern european style" does that mean: europeans have a better living style ?

[mr-razor]

That´s the Gillette Isleworth factory:

[ironfist]

Very interesting, thanks!!!

[kosby]

Nice piece of nostalgia. Thanks

[woodfluter]

Wonderful pictures - Isleworth built apparently in 1936 per the postal card. The exterior seems to be in very good order and I'm glad to hear it will be put into service and (hopefully) not messed up!

Porter, great shot of the earlier Montreal building. I hope folks here in the US continue to develop an appreciation for their history and not tear everything down every decade or two. It's getting better.

[ERVARGASNY]

Wow, Thats Amazing, Wish we could all go back in time as a group, Wouldnt that be Awesome? Standing behind the workers amd watching the process, Someone has to have a time machine some where for times like this :o)

[hotreds]

You could always see if they would give you that sign in pic 9.

[rxonmymind]

Sweet! Thank you for the history.

[alex2363]

Thanks, Porter, Achim, and INdianjones for posting such great history.

[alex2363]

I actually have the pics to the inside of this factory and with all the workers in the offices, the workers making the Gillette razors in their workers stations and pics of the break room, whoever wants to see the whole book ( Gillette;s new palace of industry) and pics just send me your email and i can send you the EBook

[Copierguy]

Wow, Thats Amazing, Wish we could all go back in time as a group, Wouldnt that be Awesome? Standing behind the workers amd watching the process, Someone has to have a time machine some where for times like this :o)

I think it's been speculated that Jake most likely has a time machine, or so it would seem by photos of his collection. Maybe he could take us back to watch them making some of those beautiful Aristocrats. How about it Jake....got room?

[alex2363]

I think it's been speculated that Jake most likely has a time machine, or so it would seem by photos of his collection. Maybe he could take us back to watch them making some of those beautiful Aristocrats. How about it Jake....got room?

lol. i do have the actual ebook, mailed to me by a B&B member. It has all the workers making the razors inside. And all the inside of the factory layout pics.

[mblakele]

Very nice. Google streetview has a bit too: http://g.co/maps/wunss and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillette_Corner has some more detail on the building design, and http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com...upload_id=1797 has a mockup of what the redevelopment might look like.

The building’s 1930s design presented very specific challenges when designing the hotel’s 505 bedrooms, conference rooms, swimming pool and health centre. While the historic front building contains four floors with very high ceilings, the newly built rear will house five floors and reconciling these was one of the design’s most complicated aspects.

If I recall the conversation correctly, Renzo mentioned having about 1000 pieces from a retired employee of Gillette UK. Many of them may well have been from this factory.