Yorkshire Chemicals ltd.

Yorkshire Chemicals started out as the Yorkshire Dyeware and Chemical Company in the early 1900s, an amalgamation of five smaller firms led by a well-known chemist called William Perkin.

The company expanded rapidly over the next 20 years and was huge by the 1930s, producing best-sellers including the 'fast blue' and yellow organic dyes.

It became Yorkshire Chemicals PLC in the 1970s and finally closed in January 2006, when the firm went into liquidation and the works closed for good.

The chemical industry was always dependent on other industries for its success, and as the textile industry declined, the chemical industry which supplied it with dyes, declined also.

With the increase in manufacture of man-made fibres in the 1950s there was a demand for new dyes and chemicals, both in the UK and overseas. By the 1970's Yorkshire Chemicals was exporting to 52 countries. But in the 1990's textile and dye production moved overseas forcing many companies to go into liquidation or simply close down.

Yorkshire Chemicals had two sites in Leeds, Kirkstall Rd, which we visited and Hunslet Rd.

Both the Kirkstall Road and Hunslet Road sites are now owned by commercial developers Reland and are in the process of being demolished.

Hunslet has now almost gone but Kirkstall Rd is still currently in one piece, for now anyway! Inside is bigger than what it looks and the amount of interesting things still lying about is staggering, the labs and offices are virtualy intact albeit some what smashed and vandalized.

On top of this the place is littered with paper work and photographs dating right back to the companys early days, this alone is worth travelling to see.

Jaff and myself spent hours wandering around in here admiring the chemical tanks that hang from the roofs and sifting through the company archives which date back years.

Being big fans of industrial sites this was a real treat to see, as finding sites with everything still in situ are rather rare these days especially heavy industrial sites like YCL.

Although the place has been hammered by Pikeys and vandals it does still have a lot of character and is very photogenic along with tons of stuff to see.

Just a shame really another great industrial site will soon vanish for ever.