Workmen queuing at a mobile canteen, Fawley, Hampshire
The men in the picture were working for John Laing plc to build a reservoir for the Esso Refinery Company in September 1954. In the 1950s, it was common for people to dress formally for work and, even on a construction site, some men wore suits. Laing were a building company who often brought facilities, such as canteens, onto their building sites. Some of the projects were so big that workers had to live on the sites, often in caravans. Nurses, shopkeepers and butchers visited the sites to service the needs of Laing's workers.