A picture tells a thousand words #3

The last of our three part mini posts takes us up to Vauxhall. The now rather unprepossessing Westminster Business Square (now the much cooler named Vox Studios) at the corner of Kennington Lane and Durham Street for many years was the London HQ of Marmite.

The Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in 1902 and was based at Burton upon Trent where it had ready access to its main ingredient – a by-product of the brewing process – courtesy of the Bass Brewery. It is still manufactured in the Staffordshire town today.

This ‘Marmite Goes Vegas’ photo was taken in 1951. It closed in 1967. The homeless charity St Mungo’s took on the building for use as one of its first hostels in the 1970s, and now it is one of those flexible workspaces that nobody goes to anymore. It doesn’t look quite as exciting now.

The internet is littered with stories of the smells that came out of the place. People either hated it or loved it (you knew that was coming, right?).