I finally, after a long break, managed to get my teeth into the kind of sprawling industrial facility I love.

This facility is the last surviving building of a former film studio complex which is long gone. It was built in 1936 and is one of only five buildings in the UK designed by Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus movement. As it's such a rare survivor of industrial architecture from the Modern movements of the 1930s it was given protected status in 1985. At it's height it employed 1200 staff and processed in excess of 500 million feet of film a year which was shipped to cinemas worldwide, making it the largest and most advanced film processing laboratory outside of Hollywood. By the time of closure in 2014, it employed only 70 staff. Some of the films produced, processed and edited here included Brief Encounter, The Great Escape, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Tomorrow Never Dies, ET, Superman 1,2 & 3, GoldenEye, Eyes Wide Shut, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, and Stanley Kubrick was such a fan he insisted all of his films were sent here.

The release of Avatar in 2009 was the beginning of the end for facilities such as this, because soon after the industry shifted in a big way towards digital production methods rather than film. Me and my friend caught this place just in time, a large amount of the original 1936 building has been stripped bare ready for conversion and there is heavy demolition equipment on site preparing to tear into the more modern additions.

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There is a huge amount of movie and cinema history contained within these walls, so I feel privileged I managed to be one of the last people to see inside.

As a huge movie buff, this is a dream for me! Were you able to save anything really cool (Kubrick film, posters, etc)?

If so I WANT IT!!

Superb mookster.
You out did yourself yet again
Simply outstanding.

Awesome set man, this place looks crazy cool

You never cease to amaze me with your findings. Excellent work, excellent write up. I cannot believe this place has been shuttered, but I guess that is technology for you.

Really great set dude.

Thanks everyone, it was a very cool place to see. A lot of empty rooms but amongst that was some awesome stuff.

Posted by CatAndTie As a huge movie buff, this is a dream for me! Were you able to save anything really cool (Kubrick film, posters, etc)? If so I WANT IT!!

Sadly they had done a very good job clearing most of it out, there was evidence of an auction held after it had closed so I guess everything that didn't sell just got left behind

Wow. What an incredible set! It's really interesting to see all of the now antiquated machines used for DIT and handling film...not many of those facilities left in the world, that's for sure.

Great work, and a great find!