Work begins on demolishing old Gannex raincoat mill

Robert Sutcliffe

IT’S the end of an era for one of Calderdale’s best-known landmarks as demolition work beings on Gannex Mill.

The mill won worldwide fame through its association with the late entrepreneur Lord Kagan who created the famous line of Gannex raincoats which premiers and royalty were proud to wear. New owners Pennine Housing 2000, which bought the property last year, want to build 65 low-cost homes and create more than 200 new jobs.

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The scheme is expected to cost up to 20m although demolition work will progress slowly at first as the building is riddled with asbestos.

Pennine Housing 2000 bought the huge mill after plans by a company to convert it into apartments and hi-tech offices fell through.

Last night Lord Kagan’s widow Margaret said: “It has lots of wonderful memories that Joseph and I shared and not only myself and Joseph but all the people who worked there too.

“In a way it will be sad to see it go, though it has not looked its best of late. I remember Joseph and I looking longingly at it in the 1950s and thought it would be nice to buy it for our expansion plans.

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“At one point we thought if we could get it we could just use part of it and let the rest but we got a loan and within a year we had occupied the premises.

“When we bought it it had been manufacturing silk rather than wool which was rather unusual then.’’

The Kagans bought the mill, known then as Broad Lea, in 1959 and sold it about 10 years ago.

It has been empty for some time but that has not stopped developers coming up with new uses for it.

In 2001, Asda was refused permission to demolish the mill and build a supermarket, a bus station and 42 houses on the site.

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