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Description: | In 1930 Eric Pasold, a 23-year-old man from Bohemia, inherited his family knitware business, Pasold Limited, better known as Ladybird's. As he was unable to import his goods into Britain, he decided to build a new knitwear factory in Britain.
He visited a number of potential sites, and while he was trying to find a possible site in Uxbridge, he took a wrong turn and ended up at an almost square meadow south of Langley Station. The plot of land was to be developed into housing, but Pasold had found the location of his dreams and by his own admission, fell in love with the sleepy village.
Persuading the developers that they could build their houses elsewhere, Pasold also had to fight through strong local opposition. By June 1932, however, his new factory was complete.
In such an unfamiliar environment, Eric and his brother Rolf at first had a few problems, so much so that Eric lived in the freezing factory to save money. However, within a year things began to pick up and by 1934 they were receiving orders from Marks & Spencer and from the company that they were later to become synonymous with, Woolworths.
By 1953, Ladybird employed 663 people and the factory produced over 30,000 items a day. However, by the early 1980s, the factory closed. With the redevelopment of the factory site into smaller units, the illuminated ladybirds on the top of the factory tower, so long a local landmark, were destroyed. | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Slough Library | Subjects: | Ladybird ; Pasolds Limited ; Trade and industries ; Factories | Temporal: | start=1982-04-01; end=1982-04-28; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Reg Harrison | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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