Spring 2020 New Pics
Kentish Town, NW5
Welcome to the Derelict London Spring 2020 updates page.
Join the mailing list HERE to find out about Derelict London guided walks as soon as tickets are released plus news on my new book: London's Lost Music Venues, released in June.
Check the agency website HERE for any available tickets for walks. Walks scheduled to take place during the lockdown have been postponed to dates later in Summer & Autumn. If the lockdown continues then the agency will contact you with confirmation that your tickets have been transferred to the postponed date.
Join the mailing list HERE to find out about Derelict London guided walks as soon as tickets are released plus news on my new book: London's Lost Music Venues, released in June.
Check the agency website HERE for any available tickets for walks. Walks scheduled to take place during the lockdown have been postponed to dates later in Summer & Autumn. If the lockdown continues then the agency will contact you with confirmation that your tickets have been transferred to the postponed date.
United Reform Church - South Norwood, SE25
United Reform Church - South Norwood, SE25
The church opened in 1906 and closed in 2013. The Church Hall next door reopened in 2015 as the World Harvest Christian Centre who are also the owners of this main building but according to the property agents the building has subsided in part and will require extensive repair and refurbishment to meet modern requirements.The Centre appear to be using the old church as storage for chairs, etc. As with all the sites on Derelict London, the longer that this building is left vacant then the worse condition it gets due to damp, pigeons and vandalism. There is also brick and concrete air raid shelter here but I didn't find any clues as to it's existence.
Smithfield General Market and Tunnels - Farringdon, EC1
Smithfield General Market - Farringdon, EC1
Smithfield, originally known as Smoothfield, was, as its name suggests, once a large open space, famous for its horse market, and for jousting and sporting events – as well as public executions. It was also the site where one of the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt, Wat Tyler, was killed in 1381. And since the early Middle Ages it has housed a livestock market.
Shown here is the General Market, originally built in 1883 to the designs of Sir Horace Jones. Bombed during the Blitz,causing 110 deaths, it was repaired in the 1950s plus construction of the dome pictured above, but most of it has been vacant since the 1980s. At the time of the first edition of the Derelict London book back in 2008 the future was bleak as the Market buildings faced demolition at the hands of developers who wanted to put office blocks here. Planning permission for demolition was refused and a later plan to gut out the interiors retaining just the facades was blocked by the Government after meeting opposition from heritage campaigners.
Positive news is that work has commenced to transform the buildings and the extensive basement areas into a museum for the Museum of London as part of a £337 million move here in 2024 from their Barbican site. The adjacent Central Market continues as a wholesale meat business but there are plans to move it, along with New Spitalfields and Billingsgate to the redundant Barking Reach Power Station site in east London.
Shown here is the General Market, originally built in 1883 to the designs of Sir Horace Jones. Bombed during the Blitz,causing 110 deaths, it was repaired in the 1950s plus construction of the dome pictured above, but most of it has been vacant since the 1980s. At the time of the first edition of the Derelict London book back in 2008 the future was bleak as the Market buildings faced demolition at the hands of developers who wanted to put office blocks here. Planning permission for demolition was refused and a later plan to gut out the interiors retaining just the facades was blocked by the Government after meeting opposition from heritage campaigners.
Positive news is that work has commenced to transform the buildings and the extensive basement areas into a museum for the Museum of London as part of a £337 million move here in 2024 from their Barbican site. The adjacent Central Market continues as a wholesale meat business but there are plans to move it, along with New Spitalfields and Billingsgate to the redundant Barking Reach Power Station site in east London.
Tunnels under Smithfield General Market - Farringdon, EC1
Beneath Smithfield is an extensive complex of tunnels. These were used for underground stores and for railway sidings for delivery of meat to the market. During the Second World War, an underground cold store here was used for secret experiments on pykrete, a mixture of ice and woodpulp, believed to be tougher than steel and proposed to used in the construction floating airstrips in the Atlantic to allow refueling of cargo planes. The project was abandoned after it became obsolete with the development of longer-range aircraft. There is still a live railway running through the tunnels, with Thameslink passing by the south-west corner of the site.
Until recent years part of the tunnels were used as an area to store salt for use on the City's street during icy weather. During recent preparatory work on the site for Museum of London (see General Market, above) many bricked up vaults and cellars were discovered containing a large amount of rats.
Until recent years part of the tunnels were used as an area to store salt for use on the City's street during icy weather. During recent preparatory work on the site for Museum of London (see General Market, above) many bricked up vaults and cellars were discovered containing a large amount of rats.
Siemens Factory - Woolwich, SE18
Siemens Factory - Woolwich, SE18
Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business.
The principal works were here on the Woolwich/Charlton borders adjacent to what is now the Thames Barrier, a site covering 35 acres, where cables and light-current electrical apparatus were produced from 1863. In it's final years , the Woolwich factory principally produced telephone exchanges for the General Post Office. After these became obsolete, these Woolwich works in 1968 were closed and 6,000 employees lost their jobs bringing much hardship to the area particularly as the area's main employer the Royal Ordnance Factory closed the previous year
Several buildings were damaged by bombs in World War II, including the oldest building of 1863-65. A range of two and three storey buildings (the white ones) from the 1870-90s are derelict. Across the road a number of larger buildings constructed in the first half of the 20th Century are also derelict. Many of the latter were used for light industrial and art studio purposes until recent years.
Plans have been submitted for nearly 500 homes at the former Siemens factory site. All but one of the derelict buildings will be restored. A large 5-storey L-shaped building built in 1911 will be demolished.
The principal works were here on the Woolwich/Charlton borders adjacent to what is now the Thames Barrier, a site covering 35 acres, where cables and light-current electrical apparatus were produced from 1863. In it's final years , the Woolwich factory principally produced telephone exchanges for the General Post Office. After these became obsolete, these Woolwich works in 1968 were closed and 6,000 employees lost their jobs bringing much hardship to the area particularly as the area's main employer the Royal Ordnance Factory closed the previous year
Several buildings were damaged by bombs in World War II, including the oldest building of 1863-65. A range of two and three storey buildings (the white ones) from the 1870-90s are derelict. Across the road a number of larger buildings constructed in the first half of the 20th Century are also derelict. Many of the latter were used for light industrial and art studio purposes until recent years.
Plans have been submitted for nearly 500 homes at the former Siemens factory site. All but one of the derelict buildings will be restored. A large 5-storey L-shaped building built in 1911 will be demolished.
Derelict Victorian Building at the former Siemens Factory in Woolwich, SE18
The White Horse - Chadwell Heath, Romford, RM6
The White Horse in Chadwell Heath, Romford, RM6
More pubs have closed down in Barking and Dagenham in recent years than any other borough in London, according to data from the Inter-Departmental Business Register published in 2018. Between 2001 and 2017 the borough lost 25 pubs - a fall of 56%. With just 20 remaining the borough also has the least amount of pubs in London. Note to avoid confusion: Chadwell Heath is postally a part of Romford but administratively it is in the borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Drinks have been served on this site since the 17th century. The White Horse was a former coaching inn, on what was known as the Great Essex Road, with stables to the rear (more recently used as a function room) and a blacksmiths. Some of this existing building is from the early 19th century but underwent considerable reconstruction at the end of that century. Its claim to fame was that it was said to the only pub in the country to have its own set of traffic lights in order to exit the car park onto the busy main road.
The pub closed in 2017 and the site which includes a large car park and gardens which in total is the best part of an acre went on-sale for £4 million. The development company want to retain and reopen the pub alongside approximately 50 new homes.
Drinks have been served on this site since the 17th century. The White Horse was a former coaching inn, on what was known as the Great Essex Road, with stables to the rear (more recently used as a function room) and a blacksmiths. Some of this existing building is from the early 19th century but underwent considerable reconstruction at the end of that century. Its claim to fame was that it was said to the only pub in the country to have its own set of traffic lights in order to exit the car park onto the busy main road.
The pub closed in 2017 and the site which includes a large car park and gardens which in total is the best part of an acre went on-sale for £4 million. The development company want to retain and reopen the pub alongside approximately 50 new homes.
West Ham Magistrates Court - Stratford, E15
West Ham Magistrates Court - Stratford, E15
Built in 1884 and closed exactly 100 years later. This Grade II-listed courthouse owned by Newham Council has deteriorated significantly since closure.
An arson attack in 2013 gutted a court room and destroyed upper floors resulting in emergency conservation work such as scaffolding & a temporary roof to prevent further decay to the buildings. Renovation works have now commenced with the building to be used as a 'community asset' once completed.
After a gig at the ABC in Romford in 1965, The Rolling Stones were on their way home when they stopped at a petrol station in Romford Rd, Forest Gate for a toilet break. The attendant didn't like the look of them, so he refused to let them use his loo and told them to clear off. They then started to swear and replied "We'll piss anywhere man!" and urinated up his wall. This resulted in Jones, Jagger and Wyman appearing at West Ham Magistrates Court when they were fined £5 each for insulting behaviour. Mick returned to Stratford 53 years later when the Stones played a concert at the London Stadium.
An arson attack in 2013 gutted a court room and destroyed upper floors resulting in emergency conservation work such as scaffolding & a temporary roof to prevent further decay to the buildings. Renovation works have now commenced with the building to be used as a 'community asset' once completed.
After a gig at the ABC in Romford in 1965, The Rolling Stones were on their way home when they stopped at a petrol station in Romford Rd, Forest Gate for a toilet break. The attendant didn't like the look of them, so he refused to let them use his loo and told them to clear off. They then started to swear and replied "We'll piss anywhere man!" and urinated up his wall. This resulted in Jones, Jagger and Wyman appearing at West Ham Magistrates Court when they were fined £5 each for insulting behaviour. Mick returned to Stratford 53 years later when the Stones played a concert at the London Stadium.
