First off may i appologise for the dire report. We did not get long in here. It was amazing but i failed to capture that too well!
Maypole is a suburb of southern Birmingham, its the kind of place that consists of just rows and rows of 1930s houses, nothing interesting. That is except for this place! I had driven passed many a time and glanced over at it. Stuck on the end of a row of houses it looked like a 30s telephone exchange but something wasn't quite right about it and after numerous passing glances it never seemed to have any activity going on so i started to poke about for a closer look. Peering through the windows it appeared to be industrial in nature. It all seemed very strange but there was a way in so what the hell, one morning myself and Clebby stopped off and had a look.
Inside i was more than pleasantly surprised. The old works was amazing, everything you want from an 'abandonment'. Old this, old that, signs, machines. We started mooching around inside but still something just didn't seem right. In places the building was falling to bits but it still felt too clean, too tidy. Upstairs there were the remains of an old canteen. At the front offices full of old radio equipment and on the ground floor a small machine shop and three injection molding machines. The machines appeared to have last been used to mold buttons.. This was a little at odds with an upstairs door that had mentioned textiles but as would be confirmed later the place had been used to manufacture buttons, at least in its later life!
As we were just considering leaving and coming back later when Clebby had his camera someone knocked on the front door... uh oh its the 5-0! we made our way out and a nice little party was happening on the street. A few cop cars, a few on lookers, strangely some polish mean appeared to be climbing on the garage next door with an extendable ladder.. Like i said it was all very strange! We were definitely busted tho within a couple of mins a car pulls up and its the owner! A nice old boy speaks to the police and goes inside and checks we've not trashed the place. He comes out seeming fairly nonchalant but as i try to strike up a conversation about what the hell the place actually is all about his wife butts in and tell us we are taking it all far too flippantly and should be more ashamed or something like that, i just about hold in a snigger and eventually manage to clam her down with the help of PC plod but try as i might i couldn't get a word with the guy so im still all little in the dark whats going on. We were told to get in the car and leave which i reluctantly did. All very strange!
Maypole is a suburb of southern Birmingham, its the kind of place that consists of just rows and rows of 1930s houses, nothing interesting. That is except for this place! I had driven passed many a time and glanced over at it. Stuck on the end of a row of houses it looked like a 30s telephone exchange but something wasn't quite right about it and after numerous passing glances it never seemed to have any activity going on so i started to poke about for a closer look. Peering through the windows it appeared to be industrial in nature. It all seemed very strange but there was a way in so what the hell, one morning myself and Clebby stopped off and had a look.
Inside i was more than pleasantly surprised. The old works was amazing, everything you want from an 'abandonment'. Old this, old that, signs, machines. We started mooching around inside but still something just didn't seem right. In places the building was falling to bits but it still felt too clean, too tidy. Upstairs there were the remains of an old canteen. At the front offices full of old radio equipment and on the ground floor a small machine shop and three injection molding machines. The machines appeared to have last been used to mold buttons.. This was a little at odds with an upstairs door that had mentioned textiles but as would be confirmed later the place had been used to manufacture buttons, at least in its later life!
As we were just considering leaving and coming back later when Clebby had his camera someone knocked on the front door... uh oh its the 5-0! we made our way out and a nice little party was happening on the street. A few cop cars, a few on lookers, strangely some polish mean appeared to be climbing on the garage next door with an extendable ladder.. Like i said it was all very strange! We were definitely busted tho within a couple of mins a car pulls up and its the owner! A nice old boy speaks to the police and goes inside and checks we've not trashed the place. He comes out seeming fairly nonchalant but as i try to strike up a conversation about what the hell the place actually is all about his wife butts in and tell us we are taking it all far too flippantly and should be more ashamed or something like that, i just about hold in a snigger and eventually manage to clam her down with the help of PC plod but try as i might i couldn't get a word with the guy so im still all little in the dark whats going on. We were told to get in the car and leave which i reluctantly did. All very strange!
