The Bottle Factory Outing: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 1974

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Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >5% Unknown (existing listed building with shell and core fit-out) With this approach, we hope we have ensured the life of the building for another 100 years, and for many more chapters in its story.

Freda cooks up the scheme of a factory outing, which is one quirky calamity after another ending in complete disaster. That's where the unexpectedly bizarre twist steps in. Oh, it's delicious. It's like a French movie in a book: you know it's over because the credits roll up the screen. The masterful restraint of Beryl Bainbridge’s sentences reveals an author in complete control of her artistry’ Guardian We’ve had strong interest from a range of occupiers, from well-known food production companies to local creatives. Many are attracted by the area’s excellent connectivity, local industry and the building’s heritage features. It is truly unique in a populous urban centre. And the best thing is that Bainbridge offers the same pleasures (and nasty surprises) on a chapter-by-chapter level too. Just as I found myself reading and re-reading and doubting the meaning of individual sentences, so later events in the novel threw everything in the early stages into confusion. Hilarious passages about Brenda’s weak character, or the factory overseer Rossi’s wandering hands, take on sinister new implications following the gloriously ugly denouement.

300ml Sports Bottle

The few Beryl Bainbridge books I've read are all slightly quirky and odd - populated with characters who, if they were flat shapes would be all corners and sharp edges rather than smooth and curved! This is no exception. And yet, on reflection I did enjoy it - and I judge that partly on the basis that I laughed out loud several times when I was reading this book! (that in itself was an uncomfortable feeling though as I read this book on the dreaded, evil, Kindle, while walking the dog in the park - the looks from other dog-walkers and park -users at the man with the dog suddenly breaking out into laughter will forever be in my memory and associated with this book!). Probably two stars for my personal enjoyment of it and four for its actual quality – so, three as a compromise. (And I still intend to read more Bainbridge!) Freda is loud, large and domineering whilst Brenda is compliant, quiet, serious, educated and desperate not to give offence - despite a less than attractive description, and to Freda’s chagrin - Brenda also seems to attract numerous male admirers who try to possess her. It was unfair. She told her so. ‘I always wanted to live in a house with a big kitchen. I wanted a mother in a string vest and a pinny who made bread and dumpling stew.’

Maybe today,’ Freda said, ‘Vittorio will ask me out for a drink.’ She looked at Brenda who was lying down exhausted on the big double bed. ‘You look terrible. I’ve told you, you should take Vitamin B.’ Beryl Bainbridge made it to the Man Booker prize shortlist a record five times but never succeeded in winning the award. The Bottle Factory Outing, her fourth novel was one of the shortlisted titles in 1974 but was beaten to the prize by Stanley Middleton's Holiday. My first Beryl Bainbridge and possibly my last unless my Goodreads friends have any recommendations. Having established her characters, Bainbridge brings them all together for a ridiculous and ultimately tragic day out in the country. It’s supposed to be a treat - a picnic, a day away, a sort of team-building outing - but again those words come to mind: absurd and squalid. Freda plans a seduction and Brenda hopes to avoid one, but the day unravels into something out of everyone’s control. Their day of freedom fails to live up to all their expectations. It's starts with the non appearance of the van they'd booked as transport and gets steadily worse because instead of a wine-fuelled picnic in the grounds of a stately home, they have to enjoy their repast on a patch of grass near the road. It all ends in in tragedy.Bainbridge tended to write autobiographical novels, often adding a murder into the mix to spice things up... this is no exception. But the outing itself goes on for too long- almost half of the book- and I found myself willing it to be over, which is not my usual response to Bainbridge's writing. It seemed to me inevitable who the victim would be, even how the body would be disposed of. Our 750ml sports bottle is ideal for the thirsty athletes amongst us. We find this bottle very popular with gyms, football/rugby/tennis/squash clubs and corporate banded sporting events. The Bottle Factory has now been adopted into Southwark’s conservation area which will mean it stands the test of time while the area surrounds are being lost to residential redevelopment. The Bottle Factory Outing is a 1974 novel by English writer Beryl Bainbridge. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize that year, [1] won the Guardian Fiction Prize [2] and is regarded as one of her best. [3] It is also listed as one of the 100 greatest novels of all time by Robert McCrum of The Observer. [4] The book was inspired by Beryl Bainbridge's own experiences working as a cellar girl in a bottling factory after her divorce in 1959. [5] [6] Plot [ edit ]

Provides two print areas for your artwork/logo; a band of 22.78cm x 1.2cm around the top of the bottle and a main print area of 22.78cm x 13.24cmSuperb… taut in construction, expansive in characterisation, vibrant in atmosphere and profoundly comic’ The Times Freda's also obsessively infatuated with her employer's nephew, Vittorio. He's the tall, rich, young and handsome Italian man and she spends lots of time daydreaming about living in his castello or his swanky flat in Hampstead. The funny thing is that one is never given actual proof that Vittorio actually has a castello in Italy and the flat in Hampstead is conjured out of Freda's fictional dream for future marital bliss. Freda is often found ogling him at work when she thinks he's busy. But the most humorous part of it all is that he's aware that she wants him and is always watching him. She kinda reminds me of this little dog and how he tries to hide the way he is salivating over the man's sandwich: