Firths Carpets (Clifton Mills) - Halifax - July 08

This is the Firths Carpets building in Balliff Bridge near Halifax. It's been a long time target for those of us who enjoy mills but has been sealed up and looked after since it closed in 2002.

When the company closed, over 100 people were put out of work. A crazy maze of a mill, I'm suprised anyone could run a business in here.

More info here

http://archive.thisisbradford.co.uk/2002/1/7/131692.html

Nice building, got alot of character, really like the pictures of the signs.

Great work

Wow, that place looks really interesting. It is a shame there are no carpet looms left, I expect they were sold for scrap, as they would all have been the old imperial 27", 3', 6' and 12' looms. Pretty much all carpet production (with the exception of the original Axminster and Wilton Royal brands) is now in 4 or 5 metre widths and the majority of it made in Belgium (it is the China of the carpet world). It is probably a contributing factor in this factory closing, as the cost of upgrading it's looms would have been prohibitive.

Just checked out the link you provided, Interface Europe Ltd is an American based company!

Bryag said:

Pretty much all carpet production (with the exception of the original Axminster and Wilton Royal brands) is now in 4 or 5 metre widths and the majority of it made in Belgium (it is the China of the carpet world). It is probably a contributing factor in this factory closing, as the cost of upgrading it's looms would have been prohibitive.

Click to expand...

That's interesting that those well-known brand names are still going strong (can testify to Axminster as it's just a few miles up the road from me ). I'm wondering if that's the same for Kidderminster, as they were once on a par with Axminster, prestige-wise.

That's a really good looking building, KingE...lots of nice details in your photos.