Right, so this is my take on mine and @EOA s little adventure to see the Chadderton Baths... Earlier that week I somewhat foolishly asked EOA what he was up to at the weekend, hoping maybe to tag along with a drain or mine or whatever really... but nope. (although we did that later)
I somehow ended up having my alarm set for 4:30 so we could get over to the place and hopefully get in without being seen. On arriving and having an initial walk around it was clear the area wasn't as quiet as we'd expected, who would've guessed the people of Chadderton are so busy they need to walk dogs at silly o'clock.
Nonetheless we proceeded with the ridiculous access arrangements and got inside, somehow avoiding serious injury. Our exit was a little different, not quite as challenging, but more entertaining with some sliding, and having to get a move on when a dog started barking at us, and it's owner came out to investigate.
History
The Art Deco Chadderton Baths opened in 1937. Henry Taylor, the British Olympic freestyle swimming triple gold medallist and champion was an attendant at Chadderton Baths where many of his awards were once displayed. In 2002 a blue plaque was unveiled at the baths to commemorate his swimming achievements. I haven't seen or seen any pictures of this plaque though so maybe the local pikeys have stolen it.
Chadderton Baths were closed indefinitely in 2006 after a structural survey found faults with the roof which could have put the public at risk. The ajoining Chadderton Sports Centre stayed open later and was only closed in 2010 when the Chadderton Wellbeing Centre opened to replace it. An application to demolish the Baths was made in March 2011, following some other pikeys stealing copper pipes and making a mess with the asbestos insulation... a perfect excuse to knock it down. Despite this the Baths were sold to a local organisation for conservation. In 2014 the Baths were used for a one-off music event featuring Kwabs, some guy that I'd never heard of before, but there's a video on YT here.
