HISTORY
The UK's largest Conservative Club, built in 1890 with a Grand Ballroom that once held 1000 guests. The club was designed by WJ Morley and G Woodhouse, with the funds provided by John Bullough. Bullough was a millionaire through his partnership with a Mr Howard, and owned the massive Globe Works, a huge textile machinery factory in Accrington. In the 1990's the Con Club was converted into a nightclub called Churchills that closed in 2003 due to a customer being killed in a fight outside. Since 2003 the club has had a long and painful history, having owners buying, neglecting and being taken to court over the condition of the Grade II listed building, with plans for different renovation schemes and conversions falling through more than once
CURRENT STATE
The current state of the club is dire, Lead thieves have damaged the roof of the grand ballroom, the lower windows and doors have been bricked up due to vandals causing a fire in an outhouse during 2013 which took out the majority of the second floor landing & Staircase, the current owner has filed planning permission to keep the facade of the building and demolish the rest (including the ballroom) which is to be replaced with an office complex. Planning permission to demolish a now unusable fire escape on the southside of the building was filed and approved in January 2014, so work is slowly being done on the site, I don't think it'll make it to 2015 unless more political red tape hinders the redevelopment. Oddly, there are 2 facebook pages (Accrington Con Club and Churchills Accrington) that both post updates on the state of the building and planning applications etc. I get the feeling the Con Club page is owned by a preservation society and the owner of the building runs the Churchills page... worth checking for updates on the planning / repairs etc.
OUR VISIT
Although this is my first 28DL post I'm no stranger to exploring, I'd estimate this is around my 50th location visit! Visited with fellow member #35, we were missing Gidged500 (The third leg of our exploratory tripod!) so decided we'd head here as a last-minute trip just to fill out the last hour of daylight, so weren't expecting a full explore but somehow managed it. Entry to this place is uncomfortable and dangerous, anyone thinking of attempting this be VERY careful where you put your feet from the moment you're inside! I haven't been in a building this badly fire damaged since I started exploring and fire & the elements have left every floor of this building treacherous! As mentioned, we headed there at the end of the day so all my photos are dark and gloomy.
Remnants of the Club's last incarnation
Despite being themed around Winston Churchill the dancefloor has an Arabian motif.. very odd!
The Grand Ballroom seen in 1996 and 2014
An idea of just how fire-damaged the building is...
There's alot of dead fowl on a stairwell
The UK's largest Conservative Club, built in 1890 with a Grand Ballroom that once held 1000 guests. The club was designed by WJ Morley and G Woodhouse, with the funds provided by John Bullough. Bullough was a millionaire through his partnership with a Mr Howard, and owned the massive Globe Works, a huge textile machinery factory in Accrington. In the 1990's the Con Club was converted into a nightclub called Churchills that closed in 2003 due to a customer being killed in a fight outside. Since 2003 the club has had a long and painful history, having owners buying, neglecting and being taken to court over the condition of the Grade II listed building, with plans for different renovation schemes and conversions falling through more than once
CURRENT STATE
The current state of the club is dire, Lead thieves have damaged the roof of the grand ballroom, the lower windows and doors have been bricked up due to vandals causing a fire in an outhouse during 2013 which took out the majority of the second floor landing & Staircase, the current owner has filed planning permission to keep the facade of the building and demolish the rest (including the ballroom) which is to be replaced with an office complex. Planning permission to demolish a now unusable fire escape on the southside of the building was filed and approved in January 2014, so work is slowly being done on the site, I don't think it'll make it to 2015 unless more political red tape hinders the redevelopment. Oddly, there are 2 facebook pages (Accrington Con Club and Churchills Accrington) that both post updates on the state of the building and planning applications etc. I get the feeling the Con Club page is owned by a preservation society and the owner of the building runs the Churchills page... worth checking for updates on the planning / repairs etc.
OUR VISIT
Although this is my first 28DL post I'm no stranger to exploring, I'd estimate this is around my 50th location visit! Visited with fellow member #35, we were missing Gidged500 (The third leg of our exploratory tripod!) so decided we'd head here as a last-minute trip just to fill out the last hour of daylight, so weren't expecting a full explore but somehow managed it. Entry to this place is uncomfortable and dangerous, anyone thinking of attempting this be VERY careful where you put your feet from the moment you're inside! I haven't been in a building this badly fire damaged since I started exploring and fire & the elements have left every floor of this building treacherous! As mentioned, we headed there at the end of the day so all my photos are dark and gloomy.
Remnants of the Club's last incarnation
Despite being themed around Winston Churchill the dancefloor has an Arabian motif.. very odd!
The Grand Ballroom seen in 1996 and 2014
An idea of just how fire-damaged the building is...
There's alot of dead fowl on a stairwell
