Shredded Wheat

Another Welwyn Garden City history lesson from my daily cycle into the "big city":

The factory opened in Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City in 1926 as Welgar, and became part of Nabisco in 1928. The tall concrete cereal silos that form part of the factory are a local landmark and are listed structures, built by Peter Lind & Company of London.

In 1988 Nabisco sold the site to Rank Hovis McDougall (who made own-label cereals for supermarkets), whose breakfast cereals division briefly became The Shredded Wheat Company.

In 1990 RHM sold the site to Cereal Partners. Now, all Shredded Wheat is made at Staverton near Bath, as the Welwyn Garden City site was shut down at Easter 2008.

In February, 2008 Cereal Partners sold the site to Tesco who already owned adjacent sites. "Tesco bosses confirmed they now own all but a single building in the swathe of land running along Broadwater Road from Bridge Road East"

In January 2009 Tesco unveiled a £300m scheme to transform the Broadwater Road site including a new 25-metre swimming pool to be housed in the 1930s production hall, as well as a sports hall, dance and fitness studios, a crèche and a café. Tesco's vision for the eight-hectare site includes a large central "piazza" containing cafés and bars, and a supermarket. There would also be up to 1,100 homes and new employment space.

According to Tesco "A key objective has been to preserve the listed Shredded Wheat factory and the iconic grain silos. Now, following discussions with English Heritage, the architects believe the attached 1930s production hall, with its historic roof lights, would make a wonderful setting for the new town swimming pool. Part of any planning permission, there would be a legal agreement to guarantee the agreed community facilities would be provided in tandem with the commercial elements of the scheme."

Although I knew nothing of this when I wrote yesterdays blip on Welwyn Stores - it dovetails quite nicely into that story. Here we have a supermarket giant saying let us build a supermarket and we'll give you some leisure facilities. Basically they've bought up derelict industrial land that no longer could support its original function and are going to redevelop it - that's good news isn't it?

Another thought is we're talking about preserving 1920s concrete grain silos and a 1930s production hall with roof lights - these were built for a purpose, they've served their purpose should we move on. I'm no expert but maybe the extra expense required to redevelop these facilities could be put towards developing something modern and iconic - just asking the question!

If Mrs L is reading this I'd just like to point out that there's no parallel between me keeping my old T-shirts etc. Those T-shirts are part of my history, maybe they're now full of holes and I'll never wear them again, but they mean something to me. You see absolutely no parallel at all.