epw021900 ENGLAND (1928). Factories on Rubastic Road, Southall, 1928

Right! Dave Brunt has finally located the site correctly. But this is actually SOUTHALL, not Hayes, and looking in the direction of Hayes. That canal is the Paddington arm of the Grand Union, and as the factories are to the east of it, they are definitely in Southall (the Hayes/Southall boundary is the Yeading Brook, just to the west of the canal. The tall brick-built factory was originally the Rubastic Works, and I gather they made golf balls, among other things. Kearley and Tonge's jam factory (opened 1913?) is to the right of it, and the factory to the extreme right of the photo is the Crown Cork Company (opened 1922, on the site of a previous wallpaper factory). The 'goods depot' is the GWR's sleeper creosoting depot. Bull's Bridge is just out of shot to the left, as is the 'Main Line' of the Grand Union to Brentford. The woods the other side of the railway are now housing and trading estates, in Hayes.

Photograph taken in about 1960 looking across Brent Road to what was Tickler Jam Factory and yard.

OK so here is the 1945 google earth photo of the place. You can clearly see the road layout matches as does most of the industrial buildings. The wood in the back of the picture has been reduced to a line of trees outlining where it was

So the straight road from bottom left to mid right under the little railbridge is Brent Rd? (leading to 'Purple Parking' on Google Earth)

Yes, I agree,not Hayes even reversed, canal too straight,no station, either...but where is it?

No, even when it's reversed, it's not Hayes. The original cocoa factory block was more or less at a right angle to the canal, while here it's seen at a right angle to the railway. There are too many 'shed' type buildings seen here, which the cocoa factory, or Nestle's didn't have. Comparing maps with the photo, Nestle's Avenue would have therefore been built through the south of the factory site - which it wasn't. At Hayes, the canal is pretty straight where it passes through the factories area, while in the photo it has a curve In reality the railway is on a gentle curve - here it looks much too straight. The railway goods yard that can be seen - there definitely wasn't one in this location at Hayes, which had it to the north of the station, which if it was Hayes, would be out of shot to the left. Those woods opposite the railway don't appear on any old maps of Hayes, and what are the roads to be seen at the top? NOT Hayes.

Is it Hayes but printed in reverse L-R?...try this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74784995@N00/7561969434/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Sorry guys, I don't know where it is, but no way is this Hayes! The railway line crosses what appears to be a canal at the wrong angle (just look at a map of the area), and from photos I have, the factory certainly is not Nestle's or it's predecessor. Also, Hayes station's good yard was on the north, and opposite side of the railway from Nestle's, and those woods in the location of where the middle of Hayes town would be!

That's it! It's what became the Nestles site the year after this photo was taken. The clincher is the signwriting on the tower; the bottom line reads 'Sandow' the name of the original cocoa company that built the factory.

This is vaguely reminiscent of the Nestle Factory complex in the Hayes area on the Grand Union Canal in Middlesex. The GW railway does craft the canal on the skew by the factory even today. If it is Hayes then there should be Victorian housing off the left of the picture and to the right a short distance away a gas works (southall) and the junction with the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union canal and an electricity substation. In the top left corner of the picture is another factory building. At teh top middle right there is a new housing estate appearing.

The main building / complex in the centre foreground looks like it might be a brewery.

There is a/are name/s on the square tower on the right end of the mill building but I can't make it out.!!