Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Furniture Factory
Some of the best places you can find are found by driving past them. Keep your eyes open and you see..., and see much.
I saw this wreck of a place but it was far from good.
Something had been attached to the side of this decaying furniture factory and a little digging told me it used to be a pub, demolished several years before.
Why they didn’t carry on with the demolition I don’t know, the building that remains is a mess with lots of holes in the roof and can be clearly viewed by walking on the Leeds / Liverpool canal.
I could see from the bridge there was an entrance into this old warehouse that it was derelict, and that dodgy graffiti fest of a van had not been driven recently.
To the left looked like a way in if I could scramble down the bank and navigate the canal without falling in and drowning.
Parking up I left a muttering @bingbabe in the car who refused to accompany me and walked around the other side to see anti-climbing fencing pushed over.
...'anti-climbing fencing in it's finest form, pushed over and collapsed'...
There were a couple of Asian blokes walking close by giving me strange looks, but I chose to ignore them.
This is where the pub used to be, the metal door was unyielding but didn’t go anywhere.
I needed to jump down this embankment which was around a 6-foot drop. How I would get back up would be a problem for later.
I eased my way down the wall trying not to give myself a massive jump and deftly hit the soft earth below, so far so good.
The rusty metal fence could be manipulated by hanging on to it while swinging around and dodging the barbed wire.
It wasn’t so bad and I found myself in the compound with those same Asian blokes in huddled conversation and gawking at me now from the other side of the canal.
Trying to look as official as possible (without wearing a high visibility outfit) I proceeded to snap a load of photographs of the immediate surroundings.
Remnants of the old pub were strewn about, they must have just thrown all this clobber into next doors junkyard during demolition. Very thoughtful of them!
I peeked inside and found it quite dark. Not expecting to be doing any interior Urbex that day, I had failed to bring the huge light with me.
The inside was full of bric-a-brac of all sorts. I was standing on brand new window frames soiled by many footprints before mine. The rest of the junk was furniture and looked abandoned.
Further inside got darker though the roof was peppered with many holes. Going to the second storey without a back up was out of the question. I’m kind of stupid but there are limits.
I never did find the stairs, they may have been behind all the junk at the back. Thinking about what I saw, there’s little worth stealing if that’s what I would have come for which I didn’t.
I was inside for only around ten minutes all the time having the nagging feeling I would soon hear a siren.
The two blokes had clearly seen me enter and not exactly through the front door, and so I retraced back to where the 6-foot wall was and looked at what I needed to do.
...'a watery death awaits just one slip while navigating this metal fencing'...
There an old window frame or something I could stand on to help me up. I wasn’t the first person to nosily look into this old barn or whatever else you may want to call it.
It took me four massive heaves to get my leg onto the wall, my arms struggling to heave my bulk up.
I’m not a heavy bloke weighing in around 12 stones (168 pounds), but my arms just wouldn’t work.
Scrambling on my belly, I managed to get my body up after a most enormous effort and walked around the building back to the car.
It was maybe 30 minutes later when my shoulder started aching. Why the delayed reaction I don’t know, but for almost 4 months that shoulder ached and hurt.
If anything I was annoyed by this ‘betrayal’ of my body.
Perhaps I need to start doing some strengthening exercises in preparation for the more demanding climbs I need to perform when attempting to invade more interesting locations.
All images are my own unless cited.
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Haha, a hidden "gem" from the back streets of Liverpool. I think you'll need to do some strength exercises if you need to do some urban scrambling on your next adventure though. I could imagine you doing some sort of Indiana Jones-esque swing around that metal fencing and barbed wire!
That part was surprisingly simple, if the bar I placed my feet on went it would have been very bad. The canal is not a nice place to drop into.
No, I can imagine that would cause a dampener on the situation...
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Ooh oh a Christmas update.
You are 168lbs? I’m like slightly lighter than you. I’ve always imagined you a larger man myself.
There's another person being the maniac, he ate too many pies.
I was the skinny lad when younger who got teased by the regular dudes. I see them now on Facebook, most of them fatties now.
Cool find. The outskirts of Gloucester are full of old buildings like this near the docks, and along the Severn. I keep saying to myself I should look into the land registry, and see who owns some of them. Possibly investment at the correct money. Apparently a lot of them are still in despite of who owns them, after certain companies went bankrupt decades ago.
They are everywhere in our county. I find it fascinating exploring these places, and there's a tinge of danger that goes with it. They also make for good Steemit blog posts!
I think i would've redistributed one of those ladders from there to over by the wall,..
It's not a bad idea, that white thing in the last picture is what I stood on. Otherwise I would still be there!
Another classic posts. New windows to boot!
A little cleaning and they would be ready to fit!
Haha you go on the best adventures. Did you snag one of those old pint glasses to bring home and cleanup?
I always imagine jaws from Moonraker tromping through these places when you go on these adventures.
Thanks for the Christmas story my friend! Hope you and yours are doing great.
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Ack no, the code of conduct prevents me from grabbing anything, if you take even the smallest item it's then a crime. Trust me, the cops would have busted me if I had grabbed even a pebble!
Hope not, or there will be no more stories from me!
It looks sweet and something I would like to explore, but damn it also looks like a mess haha :D
I have been hanging on to this one for months, it was around July when I was there. There are much better explores..., I go for the photography really, it was a bit of a let down but I wanted to see what was in there.
Ye, I can see its a bit of a downer compared to a lot of other abandon places.
I just do it for the exploration not the pictures tho :D
That would look great after a remodel. What a great place, left to rot...
I guess it will get demolished in the next few years. There's lots of eyesores in a similar situation.
They are relics of the industrial revolution that happened in the mid 1800's.
Me.. I'm just nosey and wanted to snoop inside!
It's funny because like we have said, even though I wouldn't try to do this kind of thing in the states, I am more aware now of my surroundings and I always notice the kind of places you might want to explore. Much more than I used to in the past. Nice shots!
There's always the outsides of creepy mansions. You don't need to go inside if you don't feel safe. There's some good photography to be gained with effects and lighting.
@tipu curate
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Thanks!