In 1933 a factory was opened on the Essex Marshes at East Tilbury by the Bata Shoe Company. This Company was based in Czechoslovakia and had been founded by Tomas Bata, who was killed in 1932 in a plane crash.

Over the next 70 years Bata was an important part of the local economy and an international community grew up on the Bata Estate, houses built for the workers by the Company. The people who lived and worked in this community have many memories of both the good and bad times and we in the Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre are trying to collect these memories in order that future generations will better understand some of the Social History of the C20th.

In the process of collecting memories we have also built up a vast collection of artifacts and photographs pertaining to British Bata which are available for all to see within the Reminiscence and Resource Centre.

Our website aims to bring a taste of the history of this unique place where Eastern Europe meets Britain and the World.

Bata Remiscence and Resource Centre is supported by:-