East Winch Hall – Our Office
Built in the 19th Century by the Astley family, East Winch
Hall is something of a local landmark, and a building that Adrian Flux
Insurance Services is proud to call home.
Designed in the style of a colonial tea-planters home, the hall was
renovated in 1906 by local businessman William Lancaster JP, who added
the imposing gates of a nearby slaughterhouse to the grounds, and was
later knighted for building a grammar school in nearby King's Lynn.
One of William's grandchildren was Osbert Lancaster, now Sir Osbert,
the famous author and cartoonist. Sir Osbert discussed childhood visits
to the hall in his book "All done from memory", recalling terra-cotta
masks of Comedy and Tragedy that decorated the plain expanse of yellow
brick between the first and second storey. The masks and the yellow
brick were lost following a fire around 1960 which necessitated some
rebuilding with non-matching bricks so the whole building was later
whitewashed to disguise the difference.
Held in trusteeship and frequently renovated and expanded over decades
following William Lancaster's death, the hall came into the possession
of the Vassalos family in the late 60s, owners of the local Campbell's
Soup factory, who used the building for entertaining.
In 1970, East Winch Hall was occupied by the Dredging and Construction
Company, which added a three-storey office block to the grounds. The
building was then sold to German science company Hoechst to serve as the
head office of their agricultural division, and finally came into the
hands of Adrian Flux in 2000.
Today the hall is the office for more than 750 employees, working
across several brands to provide insurance for a huge range of needs.
The hall's grounds are also used as the venue for the annual Flux Ball,
attended by staff and friends, and the site of several motor shows and
rallies throughout the year.