The timber lined reception had been untouched by the demolition crew that had cleared out the admin building (the entire site is listed so no buildings are getting pulled down).

It’s symmetry appealed to me so I made the most of it. Unfortunately all the offices had been stripped and the internal walls reduced to rubble so there was little else to see in here.

It was nice to see that Smith and Nephew had retained this lovely old reception for so long, and resisted the temptation in the 80’s and 90’s to replace it with something awful. I’ve spent a lot of time in factory reception areas over my career – some impressive, some less so, but this must rate as one of the better ones, even in its current state.