In the 1930s, Tomas Bata’s shoe making empire was expanding rapidly. After a diicult start, the company began to grow signiicantly and factories were built not only in the Czechoslovakian town of Zlín, but all around the world. These “Zlín satellites”, up to 40 in the company’s heyday, were copycat towns created between the 1930s and the 1970s. Nicknamed “Bata Villes”, these communities were designed to be modernist workers’ utopias rooted in Tomas’ global vision of a place where everyone would work, live and play in a state of near autarchy. In 1933, East Tilbury, UK was selected to become the new site of the Bata Shoe Company. With the construction of Tomas’ factory the country town in Essex became a kind of Promised Land for a few hundred Czechoslovakian employees and their families. Indeed, streets in East Tilbury bear not only the names of English royalty but also those of Bata and his family. In addition to the factory, an ambitious estate featuring houses, a community building/hotel, cinema, primary school, training college, open-air swimming pool and tennis courts was built to mirror the design and scale of the town of Zlín. With an architectural style adopted from Bauhaus, the estate stands in stark contrast to the surrounding area even to this day. East Tilbury is considered to be one of the most important planned landscapes in England and is part of a group of purpose-built locales known as Garden Cities. Eighty years after its creation, the Bata Shoe Company, once known for its ground-breaking manufacturing practices became a victim of globalisation as competitor outits capable of producing shoes cheaply sprung up in Asia. In 2006, the East Tilbury factory ceased production and the local community consequently began to disperse. With a shrinking remaining local community Alphaville proposes to explore the legacy of one of the Bata Ville townships and life after the factory closed its doors. This project is an attempt to capture some of the last local residents and former workers way of life by revisiting places of work and social living spaces. This project is a visual testimony of what remains of an unique community. Phil Le Gal
Bata shoe factory buildings, 2013.
Thomas Bata Avenue, East Tilbury, 2013. East Tilbury roads bear the names of English Royalty as well as Bata-related titles such as Thomas Bata Avenue.
Thomas Bata and his family, circa 1980. His father Tomas Bata died when his personal Bata plane crashed in 1932.
Mick Pinion, Head of Production until 2006 at the Bata Shoe Company. On the wall are the lasts used to manufacture boots.
Overleaf : Bata Estate, East Tilbury 2013. Tilbury power station can be seen in the background of the leather factory. The Bata factory had its own boiler house to provide steam for machinery located inside the buildings.
May Vaclavik (right) grew up on Bata Estate and her parents originated from Czechoslovakia.
One of the many social spaces built by the Bata Shoe Company, alongside the cinema and recreation club, was the Espresso Bar. It was used as a place to socialise by all the Estate residents.
East Tilbury Village hall, formerly the Bata cinema, was one of the many social places provided by the Bata Shoe Company for its workforce and their families.
Shoe manufacturing inside the Bata rubber factory. The company employed up to 3000 workers in its heyday..
Mike Tarbard, whose parents worked for the Bata Shoe Company, is Chairman of the The Bata Heritage Centre (BHC).
Bata Hotel and princess margaret roadrose garden, circa 1974.
Hostel to accommodate single workers (now a GP practice). Families were ofered other types of houses with subsidised rent. The houses are copycats of Eastern European houses with lat roofs..
Bata Hotel. Bata accommodated factory workers and families. There was a large sumptuous lat on the top loor used by the Bata family.
Statue of Tomas Bata, erected in 1955.
Bata factory building, East Tilbury, 2013. The factory buildings are replicas of existing lagship Bata buildings in the town of Zlin, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). The buildings are built in the proto-Bauhaus style and were easy to build and eicient to run.
Rhys Jones, a volunteer at the Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre, whose parents worked for the Bata Shoe Company.
Tilbury power station, Thurrock, Essex, 2013.
Leather factory trip to Margate 1950.
Mike Ostler, a local historian of the The Bata estate and factory. In 1993, both the estate and factory were designated as a conservation area.. The War Memorial, erected in 1955 to the memory of Bata employees who lost their lives in World War II. Bata employees who were called for service in the Armed Forces during the Second World War were guaranteed jobs upon their return after the War. In order to keep the factory running, many of the wives took over their husband’s jobs.
Next season’s fashion, August 1964.
Founder’s Day on 12th July, the day on which Tomas Bata died, was commemorated each year by the Bata management with a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomas Bata Memorial.
Leather factory, East Tilbury, 2013. The factory buildings are now owned by a storage company.
Overleaf : Left : Derelict building of the Bata factory, East Tilbury, 2013. Right : View of the administrative oice entrance of building 13, East Tilbury, Essex. 1980.
Bata Shoe Shop, Oldham Street, Manchester. Sales assistants, 1960s.
Overleaf : Left : Bata Avenue Cul de sac, East Tilbury, 2013. Right : Bata Fire brigade, circa 1973
Mrs Irene Addington, lived on the Bata estate from 1953 until 1973. Her dad worked in the leather factory as an engineer. Behind her is one of the many houses built for the managers of the factory with a driveway and garage, garden and balcony.
Queen Elizabeth Avenue, East Tilbury, Essex. The houses were constructed following the Czechoslovakian model to accomodate workers of the Bata factory.
Paul Addington, seen inside the Bata cinema (now East Tilbury Village Hall) studied at the Bata Technical college (1967 to 1969) before pursuing a successful career at Bata.
Bata store in Gravesend, October 1958.
St. James Churchyard, West Tilbury. An angel is watching over the Tilbury area, 2013.
Workers in the sewing department of the Bata factory.
One of the irst computers at the Bata factory, East Tilbury.
Brenda Mackenzie, whose parents worked for the Bata Shoe Company.
Phil Le Gal would lile to thank the members of the Bata Heritage Center for their participation and assistance towards making the project possible. All archive photographs courtesy and used with permission of the The Bata Heritage Centre BHC, East Tilbury Library, Princess Avenue, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8ST, England.. http://www.bataheritagecentre.org.uk http://batamemories.org.uk
Alphaville All photographs (except archives) Š Phil Le Gal http://phillegal.org 2016
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In the 1930s, Tomas Bata’s shoe making empire was expanding rapidly. After a diicult start the company grew signiicantly and factories were built not only in the Czechoslovakian town of Zlín but all around the world. Many “Zlín satellite” copycat towns (up to 40 are accounted for in its heyday) were created between the 1930s and the 1970s. Nicknamed “Bata Villes” the modernist worker’s utopian communities were the result of the founder’s global vision: A place where everyone would work, live and play, in a state of near autarchy. On the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Bata Shoe Company in East Tilbury, Essex, UK, the project “AlphaVille” explores the legacy of this “Bata Ville” community.