The former Dylon factory, Worsley Bridge Road, SE26

Image: © Mike Quinn Taken: 12 Mar 2010

I am grateful to Pat Manning, who lived in the Sydenham area in the 1930s and 1940s for the following information about the building. In the early 1930s, there were no factories on the land on the down side of the railway line between Hayes and London Bridge, but by about 1935, the Baird's television factory had been built, followed by three factories on the fields where previously donkeys would overwinter from the beaches at Southend. Maybreys was nearest the Pool River; then Gallenkamps; and then the chemists John Bell, Hills and Lucas which was taken over by the American firm Fassett & Johnson in the mid-1960s. The factory was later occupied by the Dylon textile company. The factory has been demolished, and flats have been built on the site. Back in 2007, developers drew up a scheme for "149 apartments of which 30% are affordable accommodation, there will also be 6,884 sq metres of business premises" http://www.ianritchiearchitects.co.uk/projects/dylon/ . There was some local opposition https://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7980 and a public enquiry in 2010, but the council failed to reach a decision on the plans, and planning permission was granted on appeal in January 2015 - although, curiously, not for 149 apartments etc, but for "74 residential units; A1 retail; A3 café/restaurant; and a D1 crèche/nursery" https://www.richboroughestates.co.uk/appeals/dylon-international-ltd-worsley-bridge-road-bromley-se26-5hd/571.asp and https://www.richboroughestates.co.uk/live/appeals/571a.pdf . The "development” that has now been built comprises "223 residential units and three commercial units" http://www.acorncommercial.co.uk/property-details/array-property-to-let-in-sydenham-london-london-21050/ and some residents have already moved in https://www.crestnicholson.com/developments/dylon-works/ . The block is already on Streetview https://media.geograph.org.uk/files/496e05e1aea0a9c4655800e8a7b9ea28/Dylon_Streetview_2017_v2_2018_09_18.png .

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