Taylor's Eye Witness Works

Taylor's Eye Witness Works is a red brick industrial building on Milton Street featuring three internal courtyards and rows of windows across its facade for natural lighting. Today it contains residential apartments and ground-floor space for an independent café-bar.

John Taylor founded the company in 1820 and registered the Eye Witness trademark in 1838, drawing inspiration from Shakespeare's Henry IV. The factory became a major production site for cutlery and blades during the 1800s and early 1900s.

The factory floor once housed specialized craftspeople who shaped Sheffield's reputation as a center for precision metalwork and blade manufacturing.

The building sits on Milton Street in Sheffield's city center area with good accessibility for walking around the neighborhood. The mix of residential spaces and ground-floor café makes it easy to visit and explore the surrounding industrial heritage district.

The factory relied on steam-powered machinery and produced thousands of different knife, scissors, and razor designs at peak capacity. This remarkable range demonstrated both the technical capability and adaptability of the workshop to changing market demands.