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Description: | By the 1920s it was clear that Huntley & Palmers were losing profitability because of their antiquated machinery. When Neil Gardiner, son of Alfred Palmer's daughter Phyllis, joined the firm in 1928 things began to change. It was he who persuaded the Executive Committee to approve a new building on the South Factory site. This was to be equipped with two auto-band plants which involved continuous rolling and cutting, and travelling ovens 204 feet long, made by Vicars. Manufacturing costs would be only a quarter or a third from those of older machinery, thus the capital outlay of 33,000 pounds was expected to be recouped within four to five years. This photograph shows the scene when the demolition of the old buildings had almost been completed. Reading Gaol can be glimpsed in the background. | 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 | Publisher: | Huntley & Palmers | Rights holder: | Reading Borough Council (Reading Museum Service) | Subjects: | building environment social history trade | Temporal: | start=1936-01-01; end=1936-12-31; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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