please empty your brain below
As a kid I lived further up the A40 in Hillingdon, and one of the highlights of the journey into town was always driving past the Hoover Building - even in its former, abandoned, dirty state, it still had a beauty and grandeur unmatched by most industrial buildings, so it's great to see it now has a proper use and has scrubbed up nicely.

Geoff | Homepage | 15.07.08 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I do like these old 1930s art deco buildings. I think I remember once reading an article about what life was like for a worker in the Hoover building way back when it was actually producing vacuum cleaners. Apparently, it was extremely hard work, and the wages weren't that great either. However, things were much cheaper back then...

Andrewh | 15.07.08 - 11:51 a.m. | #

Elvis Costello wrote a song about it called "Hoover Factory" and it's a fine song. You can find it on the reissues of "Get Happy" which is one of his best albums.

Paul Adderley | 15.07.08 - 12:32 p.m. | #

That is one amazing hunk of architecture. It's a pity, given all the standard atrocious modern structures built these days that this particular style hasn't been revived.

john | Homepage | 15.07.08 - 4:19 p.m. | #

When Tesco took over Hoover Building I knew the incoming manager and he lent me a video which had been copied from a cine film of the first time the staff from Wales were brought down to see the new factory. You see a load of thirties clad women in cloche hats getting of a charabanc and men in their sunday best suits but the most interesting thing is that the cameraman pans round and shows the A40 out front. As he tracks across the road there is just one bloke on a bicycle pedalling along and that is it. If they could see the 6 lane traffic jam that now exists they'd probably have kittens.

Kennamatic | Homepage | 15.07.08 - 7:49 p.m. | #

A few years back, I visited on Open House Weekend and remember that we all got to look at the men's toilets which were pretty fancy too!

Caroline | Homepage | 15.07.08 - 8:51 p.m. | #

Thanks once more, DG. I've enjoyed every bit of this little trip.

Great Aunt Annie | 16.07.08 - 9:17 a.m. | #

My dad actually had worked in the Hoover building years ago! Wow, he had some old photos of it but on the inside I have never seen! Kool!!!

John Stimpado | Homepage | 18.07.08 - 5:48 p.m. | #











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