Intro
It had been a while since our last explore... about a week to be exact, so time to get back on it!
We hadn't done something tall in quite a while so we were craving some juicy views of London all lit up for our crisp Autumn night explore. There is a certain magic about London explores that radiate the adrenaline we used to get from more tame explores and they are certainly usually a better test of our climbing and research skills!
After our escapade at London Chest Hospital with the two large african security men, Gweejee has been in a sort of PTSD like state where he has yet to regrow his exploring balls, so myself and @Shlum Le Flame hit this one, while Gweejee kept watch outside.
The Explore
I will preface this one by saying that this place is pretty well stripped out, with basically nothing remaining except for in the ground to first floor, so if you are looking for fresh photos or decay shots, this one wont excite you...
At fist glance on Google maps, this one was looking fairly sealed up, although showing signs of construction work starting.
As construction work is usually a good sign of access opening up, we thought we'd give it a crack.
As we arrived on site, we as always, started with the traditional 360 walk of the perimeter.
The busy London streets were somewhat bustling with the expected Friday buzz, with people heading out for drinks and lots of poncey locals sniffing around so we thought perhaps we'd find the local pub and mull our choices over a beer.
Beers emptied, and the streets outside seeming somewhat quieter, we thought we would give it another 360 before entering. It developed that the site office where we suspected the security may dwell was around one side of the building, so we picked the other side for our entry point.
Upon completion of the perimeter walk, and with a quick peek over the construction hoarding, it was time to make hay while the streetlights shone...
It was at this point that Gweejee discovered he was at his vertical limit here on the ground floor, so myself and @Shlum Le Flame pressed on.
We hopped over onto some concrete blocks and past the second layer Heras fence, and hastily shuffled inside.
We didn't mess around and went straight up the main stairwells to the roof - Thats what we were there for. Climbing what felt like endless flights of stairs, we joked that any security would have to be athletes to come up and get us in any short amount of time, so we had some time to take some good shots at the top.
Our explore was rewarded with some of the finest views of London that plucky explorers could ask for. We could see the London eye, (and the only slightly smaller Winter Wonderland Ferris Wheel haha), The Shard, The Gherkin, St Pauls and many other familiar London skyline sights off in the distance.
After mooching around on the roof for a while, checking out the panorama, it was time to head down and out.
We got to the first or second floor and discovered what appeared to be the only non ripped-out part of the building - The boardroom.
Taking a few snaps and pausing in the room for a couple of minutes, we noted that there were tea making amenities in the corner, and what smelled like either weed or some curry like food or maybe even pot noodle.
It dawned on us that this was the secca's break room! We looked out the window quickly and saw we were right next to the site office! We needed to move quickly...
Momentarily after, we were just about to descend the final flight of stairs to the ground floor and made eye contact with a small Indian security man. Trying not to overly alert him, we just broke gaze and shuffled quickly around the corner. As soon as we were out of sight, we broke rank and ran for a different stairwell!
He mustn't have seen us as by the time we were outside of the building looking back, we caught sight of him searching the stairwell with his torch.
He looked outside briefly to see us smiling and waving to him as we crossed the street and off the the local chicken shop.
As we got to the queue outside the wing joint, we turned to see him and another very pissed off looking security guard posted on the other side of the street glaring at us. So fair to say there are likely two or possibly more security on site.
We ordered a fleet of wings and consumed them trading our experiences with Gweejee. @Shlum Le Flame couldn't wait to leave the place and as soon as we'd polished the wings off, we bounced back to our transport and left.
A funny night explore with everything except cool stuff to see inside!
Enjoy the snaps!
Egg out.
It had been a while since our last explore... about a week to be exact, so time to get back on it!
We hadn't done something tall in quite a while so we were craving some juicy views of London all lit up for our crisp Autumn night explore. There is a certain magic about London explores that radiate the adrenaline we used to get from more tame explores and they are certainly usually a better test of our climbing and research skills!
After our escapade at London Chest Hospital with the two large african security men, Gweejee has been in a sort of PTSD like state where he has yet to regrow his exploring balls, so myself and @Shlum Le Flame hit this one, while Gweejee kept watch outside.
The Explore
I will preface this one by saying that this place is pretty well stripped out, with basically nothing remaining except for in the ground to first floor, so if you are looking for fresh photos or decay shots, this one wont excite you...
At fist glance on Google maps, this one was looking fairly sealed up, although showing signs of construction work starting.
As construction work is usually a good sign of access opening up, we thought we'd give it a crack.
As we arrived on site, we as always, started with the traditional 360 walk of the perimeter.
The busy London streets were somewhat bustling with the expected Friday buzz, with people heading out for drinks and lots of poncey locals sniffing around so we thought perhaps we'd find the local pub and mull our choices over a beer.
Beers emptied, and the streets outside seeming somewhat quieter, we thought we would give it another 360 before entering. It developed that the site office where we suspected the security may dwell was around one side of the building, so we picked the other side for our entry point.
Upon completion of the perimeter walk, and with a quick peek over the construction hoarding, it was time to make hay while the streetlights shone...
It was at this point that Gweejee discovered he was at his vertical limit here on the ground floor, so myself and @Shlum Le Flame pressed on.
We hopped over onto some concrete blocks and past the second layer Heras fence, and hastily shuffled inside.
We didn't mess around and went straight up the main stairwells to the roof - Thats what we were there for. Climbing what felt like endless flights of stairs, we joked that any security would have to be athletes to come up and get us in any short amount of time, so we had some time to take some good shots at the top.
Our explore was rewarded with some of the finest views of London that plucky explorers could ask for. We could see the London eye, (and the only slightly smaller Winter Wonderland Ferris Wheel haha), The Shard, The Gherkin, St Pauls and many other familiar London skyline sights off in the distance.
After mooching around on the roof for a while, checking out the panorama, it was time to head down and out.
We got to the first or second floor and discovered what appeared to be the only non ripped-out part of the building - The boardroom.
Taking a few snaps and pausing in the room for a couple of minutes, we noted that there were tea making amenities in the corner, and what smelled like either weed or some curry like food or maybe even pot noodle.
It dawned on us that this was the secca's break room! We looked out the window quickly and saw we were right next to the site office! We needed to move quickly...
Momentarily after, we were just about to descend the final flight of stairs to the ground floor and made eye contact with a small Indian security man. Trying not to overly alert him, we just broke gaze and shuffled quickly around the corner. As soon as we were out of sight, we broke rank and ran for a different stairwell!
He mustn't have seen us as by the time we were outside of the building looking back, we caught sight of him searching the stairwell with his torch.
He looked outside briefly to see us smiling and waving to him as we crossed the street and off the the local chicken shop.
As we got to the queue outside the wing joint, we turned to see him and another very pissed off looking security guard posted on the other side of the street glaring at us. So fair to say there are likely two or possibly more security on site.
We ordered a fleet of wings and consumed them trading our experiences with Gweejee. @Shlum Le Flame couldn't wait to leave the place and as soon as we'd polished the wings off, we bounced back to our transport and left.
A funny night explore with everything except cool stuff to see inside!
Enjoy the snaps!
Egg out.
