A Look at the Horlicks Factory

 

 

Horlicks factory building, seen from the Stoke Poges Lane bridge

 

Certainly the best of the old industrial buildings in Slough, the Horlicks factory was opened in 1908 on a wheat-field originally owned by Eton College and in a position that would give it easy access to the railway lines. The project began in 1906 but the building could pass for an earlier, Victorian project; red brick, gently arched windows, some light gothic going on in the tower, with its corner turrets and crenellations, and then of course there’s the stack, that mighty symbol of 19^th Century industrialism. The clock, however, is certainly looking more art-deco. The building is much loved and recognised locally and is locally listed. Other than the stack the most distinctive feature is the Horlicks sign, which usually lights up at night and can’t be missed if you’re passing by on the train.

 

The picture was taken in 2014 from the Stoke Poges Lane, which as you can see in the foreground with its bulky rivets and peeling paint, was certainly a contender for Industrial Grunge object of the year; it has since been reconstructed to accommodate the impending Crossrail rail augmentation project.

 

 

Another shot of the Horlicks factory, seen from Stoke Poges Lane

 

In 1909, the year after the factory was opened, an artesian well was dug on the grounds to provide fresh water. It ended up being drilled over a thousand feet deep and at one point was yielding water at a rate of over 90,000 gallons of water per hour; one local’s account described the water as flowing down the Stoke Poges Lane ‘like a small river’ before it was tapped. The water obtained was found to be ‘exceedingly pure’ and is testament to the quality of Slough’s chalk-filtered water. To think, Slough was once salubrious!

 

Contrary to popular belief, the Horlicks drink is actually British, developed by the Horlick brothers in the 1880s but originally produced at a factory in Wisconsin, USA; later, when the drink took off in Britain the Slough factory was built to supply the country and to export further abroad. The building is currently owned and used by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, whose happy gifts to heritage include the CCTV post and the savage iron security railings.