Various warehouse type buildings off Station Street, Stockton. Pickerings Lifts Ltd can be seen in a couple of the photographs.
Photographs courtesy of Terry Westwood.
Buildings off Station Street, Stockton
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Around the time of 1998, the old Station Street building was home to a computer based company, whom I believe was involved in the intranet for Pickerings Lifts.
Pickerings Lifts & Globe Elevator Works In the 1970’s
Top row – right side: The first floor, right of the rainwater down pipe – Drawing Office.
Centre, bottom row with the roller shutters was the goods inward to Pickerings Lifts.
This will be in the 1990s. Pickerings moved out of this site to refurbished offices and a new factory in 1997. They are currently a couple of hundred yards from here, down Norton Road towards Portrack.
On the 23rd March 1998, I was re-employed at Pickerings Limited as a Draughtsman / AutoCad Operator for a period of time.
I was there then. Credit Control until 2011.If I remember correctly the Drawing Office was in a separate building, around the side of the factory. You will probably remember Brian Crisp, Bob Fletcher etc.
Brian and I started our apprenticeship back in 1971 at Pickerings Lifts. Arriving together for interviews and being accepted for employment. Together, we attended engineering courses at Stockton & Billingham Technical College, Oxbridge Stockton.
Always thought of Bob and Derek Jackson as a duo, easy to communicate with!
In 1998, I was working under Brian Woolaston in the main building and later transferred to Pickerings Manufacturing Limited [PML] at the side as you described, under Alan Neighbour and Colin Brown.
You entered the front door to find the reception and telephonist on the left. Directly in front was a three person lift or the stairs to the right, leading up to the drawing office ( mechanical, hydraulic & electrical ) together with the sales department. In 1971, there were long benches with old fashioned drawing boards for three or so draughtsmen, some of which had lights on hinged brackets. As you reached the top of the stairs, to the left was the chief engineers’ office, straight ahead the directors and the right to the drawing offices. When you passed through the door, the estimators sat to the left and the draughting personnel to the right. At the far end of the drawing office, up a couple of stairs was the ammonia printing machine in a small corridor, I am a little unsure if the electrical drawing department was initially located there to? In those early days, the tracers would actually trolley round drinks of tea or coffee for the drawing office personnel, until they installed an automatic drinks machine with a selection of four drinks, then it was rightly serve yourself. I solely missed the attention and chit chat with them, great ladies. We had two women tracers who would diligently produce high quality drawings as standards for a selection of lifts for repeated distribution. Filing of all the drawings and necessary manufacturing details for the shop floor are stored with respect to the year, going back at least to the 40’s or 50’s. There was one person that attended to storage and retrieval of said documents.
On the ground floor to the right and down the corridor, an early punched card large computer was used. Accounts and purchasing duties were carried out in the general office downstairs.
Yes very sad. My dad worked there for forty seven years, that’s when you had a job for life. Fred Douglas if anyone knows him, he was the manager of the electric shop.
Worked there 1964-1971
I liked the blue sign that read Ten shilling reward for information that will lead to the conviction of anyone found breaking windows or trespassing on these works
This is the “Globe Elevator Works”, originally belonging to Pickerings Ltd (Pickerings Lifts). Opposite the works were residential terraces, the road in front of the works was Beaumont Street, which along with Neasham Street and Croft Street were all demolished and the land incorporated into the works in the 50’s/60’s.
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Pickerings
and seeing as the they are still in business and the HQ is in Stockton:
http://www.pickeringslifts.co.uk/about/history
Nice photos.
Pickering’s Lifts, Ashmores, I.C.I, Dorman Long , Head Wrightson etc, etc.
What’s happened to all the North East industry?
Very sad!