A Christmas tree has been installed at the top of the former Firestone building steps, now West Cross House on Great West Road, reviving the once famous Christmas tree tradition along the Golden Mile in Brentford.

Local sources guess the last time there was a Christmas tree at Firestone was in the late 1970s, and over 10 years since the Great West Road saw a Christmas tree at all.

The tree was put up by Legal and General, who own the freehold of what used to be the Firestone factory.

There will be an official, grand switch-on of the lights today, Friday, 10 December, at 4 pm carried out by Brentford councillor Mel Collins.

Mel, whose dad worked at Firestones, has pushed to revive this tradition.

"It will be quite a humbling experience," said Mel. "And it gives me great pride since we lost what I call the Lighted Great Mile, which used to be a fantastic display of reindeers and Christmas trees.

"People used to come for miles, particularly sitting on the top deck of the bus.

"I've pushed to try to restore the Christmas tree tradition and this is a very small ripple of the pond, but it fills me with excitement, as it's a start."

Several other buildings along the stretch, including the Gillette factory and Beecham building, used to put up a tree at Christmas, lighting up driver's journeys in and out of London.

This festive tradition went on for a good part of the 20th century, from the 1930s when the Great West Road factories were first in operation, up until the 1980s when many of them were closed or demolished.

The Golden Mile was the name given to a short stretch of the Great West Road north of Brentford, due to the concentration of industry there.

The factories along it were built often by American companies who relied on advertising to promote their products, with the factories themselves used for adverts.

'Isleworth History' Twitter account posts an annual 'Great West Road Christmas trees appreciation tweet' of what the Golden Mile used to look like (main featured image), commenting, "gone but not forgotten".

Brentford Thru My Lens Facebook page also posted a photo, taken in the '90's, of Christmas trees outside Wallis House, the former home of Beecham.

Many Facebook users shared their fond memories of the lights, including a former Beecham's worker who said: "how we looked forward to the fabulous trees".

The Firestone Building: history and scandal

The Firestone Building was a distinguished example of Art Deco, built for the American tyre manufacturers, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, in 1928.

It was the second factory to open on the Great West Road, following Hudson-Essex Motors of Great Britain Limited which opened in 1927.

They decided to cease production in Brentford in 1979, and sold the land for development to Trafalgar House.

A call from the Department of the Environment to the developers alerted them that the minister, Michael Heseltine, was going to list the building on Tuesday.

On the bank holiday weekend before, bulldozers were sent in to demolish the façade.

The Twentieth Century Society called the structure their "martyr" and say that its destruction, "focused public attention on the necessity for greater protection for 20th century buildings and led directly to the listing of 150 examples of inter-war architecture (including Battersea Power Station) by the government".

Simon Jenkins wrote in the first Thirties Society Journal: "I can recall few buildings of the last decade whose destruction has produced more spontaneous outrage from laymen."