Lankester & Wells

[December 1978]   This fine old structure, empty and derelict at the time of the photograph, was once the Lankester & Wells building, on the north bank of the River Nene, just by South Bridge in Northampton.  The building was demolished shortly after this photograph was taken.

I include it here because this was the location of my first paid employment.  Lankester & Wells was a wine importer and bottler.  My job was to operate a small machine that put corks in the wine bottles.  I worked in one of those rooms down at the bottom level, with a window looking out on the river.  That would have been the Easter vacation in 1960.  Pay was four pounds a week.