Anne - I can't take credit for thinking of the number 2617 - it came from Christine. I simply thought it sounded plausible for an Art Deco type item, all Sowerbys number being chronological. My memory on this one is very hazy and I haven't a (first hand) clue as to the actual number. I'm not even 100% sure I've seen one in the flesh.
Marcus - As a naiive (sp?), young newcomer I simply accepted that the area was called "The Painters". It was probably a few years later that the penny dropped that it probably referred to painting things like the panels on the subject of this thread with a hydrofluoric acid/flour concoction and not simply painting the offices or factory railings! Remember that at that stage I hadn't seen any acid processing - that came later at Davidsons, and I didn't have much to do with it even there. As a thoroughly nasty process it was done (Davidsons) at the far end of the site where the effluent could go straight into a tributary of the Tyne!
Adam D.