East Winch Hall – Our Office

Built in the 19^th 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.