The History
Typhoo Tea Factory, founded by John Summer in 1903, was known as one of Birmingham's most prominent landmarks. The factory was used for tea production from the 1930's, surviving bombing by the Luftwaffe in WW2. Typhoo merged with Schweppes in 1968 and the following year merged with Cadbury to form Cadbury Scweppes. The factory eventually closed in 1978.
The site, which is currently being used as a 148-space pay and display car park,
has been granted planning permission as part of a £14 million project to be turned into a university campus for Birmingham City University.
The Explore
So after months and months of constantly checking this place, access finally popped up during a Birmingham trip with @plod and some other users from 28. We started the day off with the usual quote of "lets check typhoo again even though we won't get in", followed by our customary perimeter check for access and another visit to the boiler room, and surprisingly we managed to find an access point which had evidently come up fairly recently so our timing was spot on there. We spent a good 3 or 4 hours exploring the tea factory as well as S Rose & Co; there was a lot to look around (and we did get lost a few times, we had more trouble finding our way out than trying to find a way in!) although sadly nothing much was left there which was a bit disappointing as nobody would have guessed what it was by looking at the place, but it was still definitely worth the trip. Despite the failures it was a pretty successful day.
Typhoo Tea Factory, founded by John Summer in 1903, was known as one of Birmingham's most prominent landmarks. The factory was used for tea production from the 1930's, surviving bombing by the Luftwaffe in WW2. Typhoo merged with Schweppes in 1968 and the following year merged with Cadbury to form Cadbury Scweppes. The factory eventually closed in 1978.
The site, which is currently being used as a 148-space pay and display car park,
has been granted planning permission as part of a £14 million project to be turned into a university campus for Birmingham City University.
The Explore
So after months and months of constantly checking this place, access finally popped up during a Birmingham trip with @plod and some other users from 28. We started the day off with the usual quote of "lets check typhoo again even though we won't get in", followed by our customary perimeter check for access and another visit to the boiler room, and surprisingly we managed to find an access point which had evidently come up fairly recently so our timing was spot on there. We spent a good 3 or 4 hours exploring the tea factory as well as S Rose & Co; there was a lot to look around (and we did get lost a few times, we had more trouble finding our way out than trying to find a way in!) although sadly nothing much was left there which was a bit disappointing as nobody would have guessed what it was by looking at the place, but it was still definitely worth the trip. Despite the failures it was a pretty successful day.
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