Palmer and Harvey Ltd

Research by Miles Marshall

The building of The Indoor Tennis Court was next taken over from Austin Hoy Ltd by Gyproc of Rochester, manufacturers of plasterboard, though it was only their Contracts Department that came to Lacey Green, supplying and erecting partitions and suspended ceilings, so only stores and offices came here.

PALMER & HARVEY. In 1965 Gyproc sold to J. K. Taylors of High Wycombe, a much respected manufacturer of old fashioned boiled sweets.   Several members of the Taylor family had been Mayors of Wycombe in their time.   Like many businesses it became part of a much larger concern, Palmer and Harvey Ltd, whose speeding red vans are a daily reminder of the industrial heart of our once rural village.

Hallmark Advertisement. Palmer and Harvey Ltd Advertised for staff from August 1978 to December 1983

APRIL 1986. COMMENT IN HALLMARK by the editor - PALMER AND HARVEY TO CLOSE

We had no idea that Palmer & Harvey were to close when we featured the history of the premises last edition. It’s only a rumour, but if planning application is submitted for houses on the site, it will be a sad end to the old tennis court.  It’s not a pretty building, but very much part of old Lacey Green and an accepted building doing a very useful job in supplying jobs for village people.   So if anyone asked us what is best for the community – 20 new houses or 20 local jobs – we should have no hesitation in saying the latter.

PLANNING APPLICATION

In 1991, in need of repair, a planning application was made to demolish the building and build houses on the site.

The numerous letters sent to and published in Hallmark following the Planning Application are printed under Palmer and Harvey site.