Inside the Coin-op Factory

The mystery of what exactly goes on inside the Essex Coin-op factory on Nelson Road has intrigued people for decades.

Now documentary photographer Russell Boyce has been given access to an Aladdin’s cave of the machinery inside – where skilled engineers made things unaided by computers – thanks to the inventor of many of the genius devices, Ken Allen. Russell has captured images of a world people assumed had ceased to exist.

“As I work my way into this set of pictures, I am acutely aware that it’s quite a departure for me. No people, with the exception of owner, 88-year-old Ken Allen. What attracts me to this factory is the thundering silence. For nearly 80 years these machines would have cut, stamped, crushed and drilled metal into shapes to manufacture mechanical devices. The noise must have been deafening. These magnificent machines now stand silent, with only fading hints of the people who used to work them. It’s these subtle human glimpses mixed in with the mighty engineered beauty of the machines that I hope to capture.” – Russell Boyce