Tunnel at former Wills factory

[Alycidon]

Interesting stuff that^ Got happy memories of being taken to the annual Wills Christmas party when I was a kid - both my parents worked there until 1983 (if I remember correctly). And a cracking piece of architecture to boot!

-Jim

Hi JIm - also the son of a WIlls employee, I too remember the cracking Xmas Parties, also remember being shown round the factory which was very interesting. Couple of (possibly) unknown facts:

1) Before the law was changed to charge duty on the finished cigarette, duty was charged on the raw tobacco, and the whole factory was vaccuumed top to bottom every year and any tobacco reclaimed was claimed back from HM customs
2) It was common to shave 1mm off the length of a cigarette as a cost saving measure, this would not be noticed by the smoker, but when you produce millions of cigarettes a day this made a huge saving.
3) Staff were givein an allowance of free cigarettes each week, these were stamped S.I. on the paper seam, and if you were caught with any "normal" cigarettes, without the S.I. on your person during regular stop checks it was instant dismissal.

JBH

[Fat Cat]

My workmate worked in Wills' factory for 25 years before getting made redundant. We both now work in the Royal and she always maintains that Wills was far cleaner than the Royal ever is. She told me about them hoovering the walls and that it came under the Food Hygiene act (or something similar)

As for a tunnel, I will ask her about it and post later.