What was Wharfedale's address in Bradford?

[Hanleyster]

I have been to Bradford a few times before I knew about Wharfedale. I may have walked right by one of their factories!

All I can find is that they were in a few spots in the "Idle" part of Bradford.

Highfield Road, Bradford was another location.

Any exact addresses? I have googled..

Thank you!

 

[Art K.]

...and good luck with that as I have never received a reply by email.

 

[Hanleyster]

I emailed the Bradford visitors centre and they said the are that the factory was located in is now houses.

Oh well.

Were w70e's from england or china?

 

[Gang-Twanger]

The W70E's were assembled in the region where sold, using British-manufactured drivers, except possibly the mid, which I think was made by B&C in Italy (That's supposed to be the case with the W60E, and I think the W70E uses the same 5" mid), who actually has made excellent drivers for both hi-fi and pro-sound applications for decades.

In the book, it describes the original Idle site to be on Bradford Rd, not far from a junction called Five Lane Ends. Now the location of a supermarket, that Five Lane Ends spot (up the road from the original Idle factory location) was apparently home to the Jowett Cars factory at some point, at a factory location known as the Springfield Works. When the Wharfedale Wireless Works firm became incorporated as a limited company in February 1954 (Right after Gilbert took over ownership from his wife Edna, who had served as owner since the early days), they made a decisive move towards expansion/relocation to larger digs, and I believe their new location (right up the road from the original place) was the Springfield Works site, either at or right next to the Jowett Cars location. I'll keep looking for the original address, but that's what I've got so far.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

OK, I read a little more, and I think I got it. When they left the cramped Brighouse location (around 1946 or '47), which I believe was the first actual shop/small factory of theirs, they moved into a much larger building in the Bradford Rd. area. This location is referred to in the book as the Blake Hill Works, and it was originally the manufacturing base for Bristol Tractors going back to 1932 (which, coincidentally, was the same year Wharfedale started business). Now, the factory site up the road that I spoke about earlier, where Jowett Cars was located for many years, that was called the Springfield Works, and I believe this is where they moved to later on when they expanded yet again (around 1954, I believe). Not sure if it WAS the same set of buildings where the Jowett Cars factory was located (Jowett Cars had apparently owned/acquired Bristol Tractors at some point, coincidentally), or if it just sat right next to it, but the new site was supposed to be at that Springfield Works. I know Wharfedale had at least two large buildings at this location, and they probably acquired more, so who knows, but anyway, that's the closest thing I've got to an actual address. I might be able to find the ORIGINAL original factory address, the Brighouse one, but I believe they were just renting a floor in a 2 or 3-story building (This location I think was close to Swift-Levick, their magnet supplier for years... And what fine magnets they are).

 

[Brian]

It is such a shame the company had the fire losing forever even this type of information. I wish I had saved the company literature from back in the '60s and early '70s. It was not plentiful, seems the British companies either were skimping or left it to the importers to print. With the fire and loss of company records and history it would not surprise me the literature may not be some of the higher valued of all audio equipment literature, never researched.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

It is such a shame the company had the fire losing forever even this type of information. I wish I had saved the company literature from back in the '60s and early '70s. It was not plentiful, seems the British companies either were skimping or left it to the importers to print. With the fire and loss of company records and history it would not surprise me the literature may not be some of the higher valued of all audio equipment literature, never researched.

Yeah, the company has quite a history. The key players back in the day, who were there long before even Raymond Cooke, were employees like Bill Escott, Ezra Broadley, and Arnold Hatton (Hatton, along with his wife, who was ALSO an employee there, would later play a pivotal role as Gilbert's eyes and ears in New York during the formative years of the longstanding Wharfedale/B.I.C. partnership... Hatton would apparently oversee the day to day logistics of the cabinet shop, the very-same one where the W*0 models were produced... He and his wife agreed to move there and be Gilbert's employees at large).

I know Gilbert and Raymond Cooke were solely-responsible for the SFB/3 model. It was the result of 3 months of intensive research following a few key prior events (those being the introduction of the Super 3 tweeter, the demonstration of Peter Walker's ESS prototype, and recent developments in the new-at-the-time foam surround technology).

Gilbert had a son, Peter I think was his name, who was killed back in the '40's when he fell out of a window onto stone flags twenty feet below. He was doing a project for Edna Briggs, his mother (Gilbert's wife). I think he was running some wiring up into the area he fell from, some little outdoor balcony-type thing, maybe to put music up there, or maybe just power. I can't remember. It's in the book.

I'm listening to my W90's right now. Dr John's "In The Right Place/Gumbo" MoFi two-fer CD. I forgot how great this sounds through the Wharfies. The horns, the organ, the background vocals, etc. I could listen to this all day long. They really nail that BOMP of a baritone horn.

 

[N1ckR]

I live about 5 miles from Idle, is interesting to hear these familiar locations.
Wharfedale Pro equipment is still made nearby.
There is some more detail about locations in our local paper : http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....ing_tale_of__father_of_hi_fi__Gilbert_Briggs/

 

[Gang-Twanger]

I live about 5 miles from Idle, is interesting to hear these familiar locations.
Wharfedale Pro equipment is still made nearby.
There is some more detail about locations in our local paper : http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....ing_tale_of__father_of_hi_fi__Gilbert_Briggs/

That's right, I forgot. They were on Leeds Rd in the earliest days, and then they had the Brighouse site while making transformers during the war, and THEN they moved to Bradford Rd where they later expanded right up the road. Thanks for posting that link.