The undocumented Palitoy warehouse, “My Granddad's factory”. Palitoy called it, The Finished Goods Warehouse

laurencedyer · Oct 17, 2015

Andyclarke said:
Fabulous read Laurence and great work. You must be very proud of your grandad and his fantastic legacy. Well done matey and thanks for sharing.

Thank you Andy and yes I am extremely proud of my Granddad.

starshipriot · Oct 17, 2015

One of the best posts on here. Top research buddy, a really facsinating insight.

sith-smith · Oct 17, 2015

Wow....that was all kinds of awesome! :shock:

Great read. 8)

cantinos · Oct 17, 2015

Fascinating read. great story.
the upper level doors are probably to future proof the building. Additional floor levels at a later date as said in an earlier post and in my opinion the installing of high level machinery or industrial shelving. easier to bring material in from the outside at the level its needed.

racdye · Oct 17, 2015

I tried to post earlier - a wonderful piece of writing Loz. Thoroughly interesting and a very detailed piece of research. I didn't know this about Grandad W either. No recollection of hearing about it at all - although I must admit, I do have a terrible memory. Looking forward to reading about any further developments. Well done bro - I am your Sister!

jasdev999 · Oct 18, 2015

Wow Wow Wow.

Great article and absolutely brilliant research. Many thanks.

ChrisG · Oct 20, 2015

Great research and very thorough! Loved it!

-chris

laurencedyer · Oct 20, 2015

racdye said:
I tried to post earlier - a wonderful piece of writing Loz. Thoroughly interesting and a very detailed piece of research. I didn't know this about Grandad W either. No recollection of hearing about it at all - although I must admit, I do have a terrible memory. Looking forward to reading about any further developments. Well done bro - I am your Sister!

How did you find your way on here?
The penny has only just dropped but coincidentally the warehouse opened on your birthday.

laurencedyer · Oct 20, 2015

cantinos said:
Fascinating read. great story.
the upper level doors are probably to future proof the building. Additional floor levels at a later date as said in an earlier post and in my opinion the installing of high level machinery or industrial shelving. easier to bring material in from the outside at the level its needed.

Apologies for any confusion, the fire door in mid-air was a fire door. It has been clad over now on the outside but the concrete bases still exist on the floor outside for the stairs leading down as attached below.
The newspaper editorial also has the M.E, Engineering Company listed as a supplier who specialised in mezzanine floors so I have deduced that the fire door was for an upper level mezzanine floor.
I have only just noticed that M.E. Engineering also constructed the canopy extension early the following year and had an input into the original build with what I suspect to have been a mezzanine floor.

steve obi wan · Oct 24, 2015

Great post , great story

Thanks buddy for sharing

laurencedyer · Oct 26, 2015

steve obi wan said:
Great post , great story

Thanks buddy for sharing

Thanks Steve, I'm glad you liked it.

Lafos · Oct 27, 2015

What an incredible story Laurence !

palitoyjunky · Nov 2, 2015

Fantastic Read Laurence thanks for sharing all this great info :shock:

laurencedyer · Nov 4, 2015

I have a fresh document in with regards to the warehouse. Not much of this is new information although the most interesting item is the statistics after the warehouse being open for 3 and a half years. and a couple of named former employees :wink: .

"In an average year some three quarter of a million cartons will pass through the warehouse and of these some sixty thousand will be export business".

This was before the ESB film and toy range was launched so I would assume before the peak of the Star Wars line. Maybe export increased dramatically in the 80's so maybe these figures topped 1,000,000 cartons at the height of the boom.

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/download/file.php?mode=view&id=15108

Stuart Skinner · Nov 11, 2015

Just giving this a much deserved bump up the threads as some people may be unaware of the updates Laurence has added to this research.

I had the privilege of speaking with Laurence yesterday evening for the November podcast regarding his collecting habits and this research and its fascinating stuff by someone who has so much passion for the topic, Laurence is truly one of the nicest blokes I've spoken with and his work documenting this has taken him on an awesome journey so be sure to check in with Novembers podcast to hear all about it.

Great research and a great thread. Fingers crossed you can uncover more Mr Dyer.

laurencedyer · Nov 15, 2015

One more item I have been meaning to add.
This article was from the Coalville and Ashby Times on 7th February 1986 on page 3. It shows that whilst the production at the Coalville site was being split up. The Sales and Finance office was to remain at Coalville and all other operations including Play-Doh and the quality control where being transferred to Ashby.

I wonder if Ashby was responsible for the Woolworths eight packs?

laurencedyer · Nov 20, 2015

I received a few fresh images of the warehouse today. I actually stated incorrectly on the post that I had seen two water tanks on Google earth but after re-checking after receiving these photos there is only one

.
These photos where taken when the new owners acquired the site.
The last picture shows a lot of the 10 miles of the pipework running inside the roof for the sprinkler system.

mr_palitoy · Dec 3, 2015

Finally got round to reading this after listening to you your piece on the podcast. A great piece of investigation and documentation of how a large toy factory is designed and built. If only the dumpsters had still been full!

Jason

laurencedyer · Jun 17, 2016

So I just recieved a random picture message from my brother. Nothing too out of the ordinary to receive a message from him and to my surprise when I tapped the image to enlarge it there was an original draft of my factory.
When we were kids growing up in our early teenage year's he aspired to be an architect as my Granddad and Uncle were. My Granddad gave him several set's of drawings that have been rolled up for year's in his possession of various warehouses and building's.
It's only an original draft of the Finished Goods Warehouse. Never thought to check he would have anything , in all fairness totally forgot he had any plan's and didn't have the foresight to check.
Totally made my day, just got to extract them from him now.

Denys Fisher Toy's LTD.

Vinyl Jawa · Jun 18, 2016

Brilliant post, Laurence.

The undocumented Palitoy warehouse, “My Granddad's factory”. Palitoy called it, The Finished Goods Warehouse

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