British American Tobacco (BAT) will close the Guildford Depository, an archive located near London created as part of a US legal settlement, and move the contents to a long-term storage facility, the company said.

Guildford came into existence in 1999 as part of a settlement between several tobacco companies including BAT, the State of Minnesota and health-care provider Minnesota Blue Cross Blue Shield. Most documents in the Depository are available online, and the site has not received a visitor for more than three years, the company said.
“British American Tobacco has not been legally obliged to keep the Guildford Depository open for several years and it is a facility that is expensive to maintain,” BAT said. The facility will be closed on 31 Oct.