Louth: Goodbye to the Maltings

Image: © Chris Taken: 18 Oct 2014

ABM Malt Kiln, a slightly less charismatic landmark than St. James' Church on the Louth horizon, has finally met its match and is being dismantled literally step by step, with the lowest section reduced to piles of mangled concrete and reinforcing rods. It is well past its sell-by date, and Aldi are planning to do everyone a favour by building a supermarket in its place. It has put up the good fight, and a demolition squad who moved in in about 2003 withdrew, seemingly with their tails between their legs, for the building remained intact, complete with its treasure trove of asbestos and its thick reinforced concrete walls. However it is not without its own fascinating and very impressive history. Construction began in 1949 and replaced the old maltings, which were built around 1870 and destroyed by German bombs in 1940. The new site had to be where its predecessor stood to qualify for war compensation. It took two years to finish the project, with post-war cement rationing slowing down the process. The production section was finished for malting to begin in 1952. The interior was an extraordinary honeycomb of 96 eight foot square, 90ft high storage chambers for barley and malt. Dalgety's took over ABM in 1972 then Paul's Malt in 1987. Their plans to expand production by building three huge new silos were refused in 1989 by East Lindsey District Council and on appeal, following bitter opposition from the Civic Trust and conservation minded councillors. Louth was producing 30,000 tonnes a year. In the late 1990s Paul's invested £30,000,000 in a new plant at Bury St Edmunds which increased production by 100,000 tonnes. Read more, and photos: http://www.midlandsheritage.co.uk/industrial/4541-abm-paul-maltings-louth.html#ixzz3GVZyJ87w Residents of housing developments in close proximity will be relieved that, finally, they will no longer be looking out at a vast and overbearing concrete wall. See also Image], Image] and Image For aerial shot of the Maltings and housing see Image

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0