UK
Laundry chemicals and solutions provider specialist Christeyns has been working with 509 Arts to look back on the history of its Bradford headquarters and how this has shaped the company’s future. Christeyns purchased the Oil & Soaps Company, and its operations based in Victoria Mills on Rutland Street, in 1998. Oil & Soaps Ltd originally took over the mill in December 1981, but the building has been in existence since the 1800s, one of the many mills across the district at that time. In 1900 there were over 350 mills in Bradford.
Oil & Soaps main business was the provision of detergents to the commercial laundry sector, and so continued the building link with the textile industry for which Bradford was world famous. Prior to this, Victoria Mills had housed the business of W & M Thompson Black, Woolcombers, which involved combing, cleaning and removing impurities from wool.
In 2024 a team from 509 Arts began working on a commission from Bradford Museums to investigate the current status of the mills remaining from Bradford’s rich textile history. Victoria Mills, Christeyns main office building, has been included in the project, now part of a new website that showcases Bradfords textile history.
“We are absolutely delighted to work with 509 Arts on this project and very proud to play a part in maintaining Bradford’s rich heritage,” states Justin Kerslake, Operations Director at Christeyns UK. “The mill is very much a part of our daily operations and we have maintained many original features that remind us of its past and the role it played in the success of the city.”
The firm recently found a safe containing land registries, planning permission documents and other paperwork from the building, dating back to the 19th century.
The new website created by 509 Arts showcases stories and never-before-seen photographs that celebrate the rich heritage of the former Wool Capital of the World. Its Lost Mills and Ghost Mansions Learning Zoneincludes an archive page with interviews and radio programmes, a media wall of photographs and documentaries, and a Lost Mills Map, in which Christeyns’ Victoria Mills is included.
Despite its success, Bradford District’s textile industry declined over the years and now the local economy relies on a more diverse range of industries and technologies. Many of the old mills have however been re-purposed in unique and creative ways and continue to contribute to the social, economic and cultural development of the city.
For Christeyns, its historical headquarters provides the ideal location to take the hygiene chemicals business into the next century. Blending tradition with innovation, the firm continues to support the city and its community.
The project was put together in partnership with Bradford Community Broadcasting and funded by Bradford Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Arts Council.
