WD & HO Wills Bristol

The Changing Face of Bristol over the past 100 years including 3000 free to view photographs on-line
My Bristol Website

This non commercial 'hobby' site, has been evolving and expanding on line since 2001 and is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only.

A photographic record of WD and HO Wills.

Almost a hundred years since it rolled its first tobacco, the company was valued at more than £30m (in today’s money) with brands such as ‘Woodbine’ soon becoming market leaders. ‘Capstan’ and ‘Gold Flake’ followed suit and so long as there were World Wars to fight, cigarette manufacture was a lucrative way to make a living. In the 1960s, Wills produced 120,000 cigarettes every hour and with the popularity of ‘Strand’ and ‘Embassy’ brands, the company’s future seemed secure.

But with increased health awareness and a steady rise in excise duty, the golden age of cigarettes was over by the end of 70s, and despite the investment made by Wills, production tailed-off dramatically, forcing the Board to cut back while the nation cut down.

In the end, the Hartcliffe factory – despite the superlatives – was too much of a drag on the company’s health and at the end of the millennium it was flattened to make way for a retail park.

84 photos | 1,224 views

items are from between 20 Nov 2007 & 01 Dec 2007.