AT last month's meeting of Thurrock Local Hostory Society attention turned to a major local landmark when members were treated to a talk by Mick Pinion on the history of the Bata Shoe Company in Zlin and East Tilbury.

Mick had been an engineer at East Tilbury, living and working on the estate. He said the employees were known as Bata children, a happy place to be.

The founder Tomas Bata was born in 1876 in Zlin in the Austrian-Hungarian empire, to a family of shoemakers, he being the seventh generation. Their showroom and shop were small, employing 20 people. In Zlin many people could not afford shoes and people used felt sacks instead. Tomas wanted to make them more affordable. He started business with his siblings and when they moved on he was on his own aged 18.

In the early 1900s he went to America and worked with new machines there. A visit to the Ford factory showed the conveyor belt system and he adapted this for shoes. In Zlin output increased, prices down, only having to train people to do one job. Firstly he made leather and canvas shoes.

He built a new factory and expanded, the conveyor system dramatically improving output. Bata made Wellington boots where the last changed position on the belt as it went along for each process. His outlook was to make things easier and faster. He said a contented worker was a more productive one.

Amenities were built including football stands, a swimming pool and 2200 houses. Tomas also had his own aircraft. In 1914 he had a contract to make army boots, passing on profit to his workers. Tomas built his own shops and by 1932 employed 20,000 people, making millions of shoes a year. His estate was laid out well, including a medical centre. He was one of the first people to use air travel for business. In 1932 he died in an aircraft accident in Switzerland. His son, also Tomas, was too young to take over, so his half-brother Jan helped. They formed a 10 year plan, expanded dramatically throughout the world.

Bata came to the UK in June 1932. Northants shoemakers complained about their low prices, made possible by having their own shops. A tax on imported shoes was proposed, so they had plans to build a factory at East Tilbury. There was depression and unemployment, the government did not want a factory built and wanted potatoes planted instead! They were eventually allowed to build, employing 200 people making leather shoes.

Hotel in 1950's.

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They built a one-storey building, then five storeys, added rubber and leather factories and started building houses. The estate was up-market and modern. Tomas wanted staff to have things to do outside work, so built a community house in 1934. A ballroom for 600 followed, also shops and a workers' canteen. In 1937 plans were drawn up for the Bata Estate. In WW2 they had their own home guard and fire brigade (helping London the blitz). There were street parties after the war.

In 1946 things drastically changed. Communism arrived and businesses were nationalised. Businesses lost 70% of organisation. Tomas Bata scaled back plans due to austerity, exporting to Asia and South America, not Europe.

In 1936 a swimming pool, tennis courts and a football field were laid out, followed by a cinema in 1939. They played an annual football match against West Ham, when Bobby Moore played - in 1953 Bata actually won. They also built a school and technical college and took on apprentices who had to cover all jobs in the factory, learning every skill.

By 1964 Bata were making 12 million pairs of shoes, exporting 5 million. Wayfinder shoes were made for schools and scouts, with animal tracks on the sole. They made football boots too and for all other sports.

The decline started with the rubber factory, India and Pakistan setting up their own factories. By 1970 imports were cheaper than goods Bata could make. They went over to plastic production with children's boots and high end industrial footwear, They also had a hosiery department making stockings and socks.

For security Bata used retired warrant officers and ran the factory like an army. Employees had to clock in by 7.30 when the gates were locked, losing 15 minutes' pay if you were late. Staff worked on the conveyor system, wages being paid according to output.

They had 430 houses with cheaper rent than the Council. In 1946 they had full central heating. Bata had 400 shops, including one in London's Oxford Street. In 1980 most of them disappeared; they had started in the 1920s/30s on 50 year leases which ran out, it being much more expensive to sign new ones, so they were sold off to Sears Groups. Factory output was unaffected, making shoes for the British Shoe Corporation and others. Tilbury had 620 acres, 150 of them for factories. A dairy farm, orchard and market garden were set up, farming 400 acres. They had their own fleet of lorries. In 1959 an Espresso Bar was built with juke box, open to 10pm, proving very popular. The community house became a hotel. There was a recreation block for employees – snooker, darts etc. It was a Free house, so beer was cheaper. There were Annual Gala Days with a fun fair – free tickets given to children, including one for ice cream. Also a children's Christmas party.

In 1955 two monuments were unveiled – one for Tomas Bata and one for those killed in WW2. Sadly some vandalism occurred and bronze plaques were stolen, later replaced with plastic ones. The factory closed in 2005/06 and is now an industrial site with 80% occupancy. The Bata Estate is still thriving.

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With many of Thurrock's inhabitants working or knowing someone who worked at Bata's, this was a pleasurable journey, illustrated and told so well by Mike.

The Society's next meeting is on Friday 15 May at 8pm at St John's Church Hall, Victoria Avenue, Grays when Phil Lobley will be giving a talk entitled "Geraldine Elizabeth Batt: "Our Lady" to London Thieves'. Visitors are most welcome.