I’m so glad we got to film this place, in all its dilapidated beauty, before it’s changed forever.

Filmmaking rarely occurs without sentences like ‘5.00am start’. This shoot was no exception but, luckily for me, I’m one of those horribly enthusiastic morning people. So 5.00am it was, weighed down by camera kit to the bafflement of suited commuters, and speeding my way eastwards to York for a particularly exciting shoot.

In it’s heyday, Terry’s Chocolate Factory was home to a thriving industry, but technology, markets and time have long since left it empty and echoing. With the 27-acre site newly acquired for development, we’d been offered a unique chance to document the vast spaces for posterity, guided throughout by a former foreman and representatives from the developers.

Loaded with kit, hard-hatted and gleeful, we trekked up the long drive and made our way into the interior of the first set of outbuildings. Abandoned spaces have an aura all of their own, and these were no exception. Vast rooms awaited us, with delicate frescoes of peeling paint more lichen-like than the man-made surface. Streaks of rust and shafts of sunlight dancing with dust were everywhere.

Emerging later, covered in dust and beaming, I could only hope that the developers would do it justice. The extraordinary administrative centre, with it’s vast former dance hall, beautiful Georgian cornice work, elaborate wooden panelling and immense glass ceiling, is a unique space, begging to be brought to life again with the sound of voices and bustle of people. All too often, visions of the past are gutted, making way for cheap, fast, plastic modernity. Just once, I hope things turn out differently.

Role: Colourist and Camera Operator