Urban exploration

A friend visited me this weekend. His latest hobby is urban exploration so we decided to give it a go in Bristol. We considered a few sites but eventually we happened upon a factory by chance which shall remain nameless.

Entry was through a small hole in the side. The ground floor doors and windows had been bricked up with breezeblocks, but apparently a past visitor to the factory had somehow removed a block from the wall, leaving a 65 x 22cm hole to squeeze through.

Once inside, it was clear that the owners of the building had taken measures to prevent unauthorised entry.

Most of the ground floor was a no-go area, since the windows had been bricked up and we had no torches, making it impossible to see. The windows on the other floors had not been blocked so sunlight was able to come in.

It was rather creepy. There were pigeons making noises occasionally, making us freeze in our tracks in case the guards were on patrol. Perhaps worse, drips of water fell here and there, and made a rhythmic sound like footsteps. They were especially loud where they fell on sheets of metal, barrels, etc.

The smell was surprisingly agreeable, presumably because it was well ventilated due to the open windows. It smelt slightly of damp but nothing else.

We found some vats which were once used to store chocolate. 12,000 litres of chocolate sounds good to me!

There were several factory buildings and in the alleys between each, glass rooves have been added to create spacious halls. This one was used to house some water tanks.

In the main building there were several floors; all similar. The machines have almost all been removed now, leaving empty space with rows of iron columns.

The building was in generally good condition, but there were some places where wooden floors were unsafe, or walls had holes.

Another of the covered alleyways.

This office looks down upon one of the alleys. It had a huge box of investment reports still inside, but we didn’t have time to sit around and read financial documents.

We saw this sign attached to a door, and wondered what the Collision Films notice was about. Later on we found out via the Internet that McFly filmed the video for Lies in this building. We saw burn marks at odd places on the walls of the building, but from watching this video, I’m not surprised.

A view down into one of the alleyways

Looks like some water has got into this floor, either through a leaky roof or through a broken window.

Goodness knows why there was a door 3 floors up, and goodness knows why the door and its frame have been removed. I didn’t try leaning out, though.

On this floor you can see where machines once stood on the raised areas of the floor.

We found this room in the eaves of the building. It had a service lift and some other interesting features, but the floorboards were broken in places (hence the walking boards between the lift and the doorway, where I stood).

This is the other main shaft in the room, although it’s not entirely clear what it was for. Perhaps some kind of goods lift, or a conduit for some pipes.

Of course, a trip onto the roof was in order, too.

Ten points to anyone who can tell me what this machine is. Twenty points to anyone who dares put their hand in it.

Go on, grab it, I dare you…

There were some deserted offices – many with coffee cups scattered around.

A view down onto one of the covered alleyways. You can see the chocolate vats, the dial of which we saw earlier.

Some high pressure pipes emerge from the floor of this room. I don’t know what they would have carried.

As we concluded our tour, we had a glimpse of daylight from the tiny hole through which we entered and left.