Walkers Snack Foods Factory

Cadw's description

Location

Set back on the E side of the A483 and fronted by a private car park and access road.

History

Built in 1948 as a factory producing snack foods, and part of the diversification of the local economy in the years following the 1939-45 war. The factory closed briefly c1968 before being purchased by its present owners. The entrance block contained offices, workshops and stores with the main factory block behind. Further extensions were made to the rear in the early 1990s.

Exterior

A factory with a symmetrical 2-storey, 17-bay entrance block in a restrained Art Deco style. The rendered walls are painted white and the roof is behind a plain parapet with blue-painted coping course. The windows, taller in the lower storey, have metal glazing bars painted blue. The central entrance bay has a canted fascia above the doorway and replaced double half-lit doors in a doorway with margin glazing. Above the upper storey is a 2-stage tapering clock tower with a window in the lower stage and a clock above a modern panel. The angles of the tower are recessed. The bays R and L of centre are brought forward and carried up above the parapet of the remaining bays. The windows are placed within a recessed panel. The outer 7 bays on each side have impost bands to the upper storeys and windows recessed from the main face between pilaster strips. The main angles at both ends are recessed and splayed. In the short 3-bay return wall on the R are small metal-framed windows flanking a tall central stair light. The 10-bay L return wall has a 1-storey flat-roofed projection, above which is a blind window at the R end, to the L of which are 4 windows similar to the front, an advanced blind bay to the centre, then 4 blind windows further L.
The main factory block is behind the entrance block and is top-lit with 4 gabled bays. Further, higher metal-clad extensions are behind.

Interior

Not inspected.

Reason for designation

Listed for its exceptional architectural interest as a large-scale Art Deco design with a well-detailed entrance block and prominent clock tower. Additional historic interest as illustrating the diversification of the local economy in the years following the 1939-45 war, its suburban location and reliance on road rather than rail communications also being characteristic of the period.