Health & Safety At Fort Dunlop, B'ham

[Vincent]

I've been listening to this prog about Fort Dunlop, just down the road from here and, although now shut down and turned into Bistros and Offices, was once in the top 3 biggest employers in Birmingham.
On the prog, an old geezer who worked there all his life was talking about how, in one part of the factory, the girls working there would regularly pass out from the fumes of the glue used. The Foreman would just pick the girls up, walk them outside and lean them against a wall until they came around

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qpmgh

https://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/Drewskovitch/Jap%2070s%20bike%20toys/Bike%20toys/Fort-Dunlop-7_zpsfeyow707.jpg
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Space Is Deep

[Taught2BCauti...]

I was taken on a tour of Fort Dunlop as part of my apprenticeship, and remember the fumes. We were warned that sometimes, when it is very windy outside, the ventilation system would cause the fumes to be blown back inside the building.

Happy days.
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Honda Varadero XL125(V8)
www.TheFutureIsHere.eu

[Vincent]

Yeah...the place stunk outside as well as inside, with the right wind, you could smell it from our house about a mile away Whenever I spend a few days back in Brum, my nose still gets clogged up in short time....and about 80% of Industry has been closed down. Like a lot of other people then, I used to use snuff in an attempt to keep by airways clear.
I never ever got to look inside the plant though and I've yet to see what they've done with the place now. May take a look next time I'm up.

Apparently, when the factory was first built, as there was no road then, workers would arrive by canal boat
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Space Is Deep

[Taught2BCauti...]

Reminds me of some other smells from my childhood.

Ansells brewery and HP sauce - Aston.
Kunzle cakes - Garretts Green.
Wimbush bakery - Green Lane.
Bird's Custard - Deritend.
The glue factory - Milk Stret.
Hughes biscuit factory - Bordesley Green.
Gas Works - Saltley.

Any combination of the above, depending on which way the wind was blowing.
____________________
Honda Varadero XL125(V8)
www.TheFutureIsHere.eu

[Vincent]

I remember the smell of the HP factory as I worked at Tubes and another place around the corner. I was there recently picking up some bits from Machinemart...or some similar place, not a manufactory to be seen
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Space Is Deep