Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
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  • Homepage
  • Author's Guided Tours of London
    • Minories to Poplar
    • Whitechapel & Bethnal Green
    • Derelict Limehouse & Poplar
    • Woolwich Alldayer
    • Lost Docks of Wapping
    • Isle of Dogs
    • Grand Surrey Canal
    • London's Lost Rivers Tours
    • Shadwell & Stepney
    • Silvertown
    • Bow Creek: River Lea from Bromley by Bow to Leamouth via Canning Town
    • Croydon Canal
    • Dartford guided walk
    • Hammersmith
    • East Finchley to Gospel Oak
    • London's Lost Music Venues
    • Specials
  • Spring 2020 New Pics
  • Summer 2020 New Pics
  • Summer 2020 New Pics part 2
  • Winter 2020/21 New Pics
  • Contact
  • Derelict London - The Book
  • Dereliction and Beyond...Then and Now Photos
    • Derelict London 2008 Book Then and Now Pics
    • Then and Now Pics South of the River
    • Then and Now Pics North of the River
  • London's Lost Rivers - The Book & Website
  • London Transport
    • Derelict London Tube Trains and Stations
    • Derelict London Railway Stations,Lines and Rolling Stock
    • Derelict London Trams
  • Factories and Warehouses
    • North of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
    • South of the Thames Factories and Warehouses
  • Derelict London Homes
    • Homes North of the Thames
    • Homes South of The Thames
    • Derelict homes now Demolished
  • Derelict London Cinemas
  • Derelict London Hospitals
    • Hospitals North of the River
    • Hospitals South of the River
    • Hospitals: Then & Now pics
  • Derelict London Pools and Baths
  • Music History
  • Various Derelict London Buildings
  • Derelict London Pubs
    • North London
    • Derelict East London Pubs >
      • East London Pubs from Dereliction to Demolition
      • East London Pubs - Dead Pubs to Conversion
      • East London Pubs Back from the Brink
    • Central London
    • West & South West London
    • South & South East London Pubs
  • Derelict London Cemetery & Churches
  • Derelict London Hotels and Restaurants
  • Graffiti & Streetart
  • Misc London Derelict pics
  • Derelict London Cafes
  • People
  • Porticos and Pillars
  • Shopping Trolleys
  • Derelict London Shops
  • Signs and Murals
  • Derelict London Sportsgrounds
  • Post Offices
  • Derelict London Toilets
  • Toys
  • Derelict London Telephone Boxes
  • War - Bunkers and Pillboxes
  • Waterways and Wharves
  • Wildlife
  • Vehicles
  • Long Lost Burial Grounds
  • London Riots 2011: The Aftermath
  • Derelict London Boats
  • London's Long Lost Sports Grounds
  • Derelict Kent
    • Derelict Kent DA postcodes
    • Derelict Kent ME postcodes
    • Derelict Kent TN postcodes
  • Derelict Essex
    • Derelict Essex RM postcodes
    • Derelict Essex SS Postcodes
    • Derelict Essex CO postcodes
  • Derelict London Public Buildings
  • Derelict London Offices
  • Derelict London Tee Shirts
  • Sponsors wanted!
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Derelict London - Photography, Social History and Guided Walking Tours
Picture
Summer 2020 New Pics
Picture of flaking paint in abandoned London interior of derelict Ladywell Play Tower former Baths near Lewisham.
Ladywell Baths (aka Ladywell Playtower) 2020
​​Welcome to the Derelict London Summer 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 latest books and website updates. My latest book London's Lost Music Venues is out now and more information can be found at www.londonslostmusicvenues.com.

Picture of partly boarded up empty and now house in South London
Thornton Heath
derelict abandoned property in South Norwood, London
South Norwood

​LADYWELL SE13 - A return to the Ladywell Baths aka The Playtower

Abandoned derelict interior pool area of Ladywell Baths in London
The First Class Swimming Pool hall - Ladywell Baths (aka Ladywell Playtower) 2020
​This site was originally covered in the first Derelict London book back in 2008 and then I posted some updated pictures in 2019 and here is a selection of new ones from June 2020. I took advantage of an opening which has likely already been sealed up. Also I must point out that there are various dangers of entering these sites, like dodgy floors, and to quote the BBC  'we do not recommend that you copy the activities of Paul Talling'
​
This unusual red-brick gothic building just outside Lewisham opened in 1885 and was called Ladywell Baths.They are one of the earliest surviving public baths in the capital.The Ladywell Baths were built on a site procured by the vicar of the adjacent St Mary's Church. At the time, a local paper commented on the juxtaposition of church and baths that 'cleanliness was next to Godliness'.

It had two public swimming-pools – one for first-class and one for second-class users. The charges for use were originally 6d for the first class pool and 2d for the second class. The building had live in accommodation for the buildings wardens who would stoke the boilers to heat the premises. The red-brick cylindrical tower originally had a conical roof but this was removed in 1907. In 1941 the Baths suffered minor bomb damage.

The swimming baths were closed in 1965 and the pools were floored over. A gym was opened in the second-class hall and a children's play centre (and subsequently the building became known as the Playtower) in the first-class hall. The building was last occupied by Ladywell Gymnastics Club who left in 2004. Plans to demolish the building and construct a secondary school on the site came to nothing, and the baths were then awarded grade II-listed status in 2006. A fire in 2008 badly damaged the second-class pool hall and the area is now roofless and largely overgrown with piles of debris on top of the decaying (and dangerous) floor over the old pool. 

The London Borough of Lewisham, whom own the building appointed Guildmore and Curzon Cinema to bring forward proposals for the restoration of Ladywell Playtower. These proposals include a cinema,café & bar with two new blocks of housing within the grounds. 
Decaying interior of abandoned swimming baths in South London
Abandoned sports facilities. The Playtower building was last occupied by Ladywell Gymnastics Club who left in 2004
This unusual red-brick gothic building just outside Lewisham opened in 1885 and was called Ladywell Baths.
Ladywell Play Tower was once called Ladywell Baths
Paul Talling's Derelict London is a gallery of abandoned and secret London of pools, pubs, hospitals, music venues, tube stations and sports grounds
Paul Talling's Derelict London is a gallery of abandoned and hidden London
Graffiti in derelict swimming baths at the Ladywell Pool in South London
Interior of a dangerous derelict building in London. this one is the Ladywell Baths
Derelict London. Ladywell Baths an abandoned London swimming pool
The Ladywell Baths were built on a site procured by the vicar of the adjacent St Mary's Church. At the time, a local paper commented on the juxtaposition of church and baths that 'cleanliness was next to Godliness'.
Bath house graffiti in abandoned pool in London
Dilapidated unstable interior of derelict building in London
Pigeons at derelict buildings in South London
Picture of derelict exterior of former swimming baths Ladywell Play Tower in Lewisham
Ladywell Play Tower 2019
 built in 1884 and called Ladywell Baths.They are one of the earliest surviving public baths in the capital.The Ladywell Baths were built on a site procured by the vicar of the adjacent St Mary's Church.
unusual red-brick gothic building just outside Lewisham
Ladywell Play Tower. The London Borough of Lewisham, whom own the building appointed Guildmore and Curzon Cinema to bring forward proposals for the restoration of Ladywell Playtower.

Walworth, SE17 - Church Army Houses

Picture of vacant properties - the boarded up Church Army Housing on  Horsley Street and Queen's Row
Walworth, SE17 - Church Army Houses
​These two terraces dating from 1925 run parallel with each other on Horsley Street and Queen's Row with a courtyard in the middle. The houses were boarded up for years after being sold off by the Church Army Housing but in 2012 the new owners (a developer) gave a 5 year lease of the properties to Westminster Housing Co-op. That lease is now owner and the properties are boarded up again.
Church Army Housing terraces dating from 1925 in South London
Forlorn empty houses in Walworth, South London
Empty and abandoned properties in South London on the Derelict London website
Abandoned residential properties in Horsley Street and Queen's Row, Walworth in South London
Church Army Housing. Who was Mildred Cross?

​Soho W1 - Gay Hussar

The closed down boarded up Gay Hussar restaurant in Greek St, Soho
Diners at the Gay Hussar, Greek Street, Soho included T. S. Eliot,  Aneurin Bevan, Barbara Castle, Gordon Brown and Ian Mikardo.
The Gay Hussar was a famous Greek Street  restaurant that opened in 1953. It was named in honour of the elite Hussars of the Hungarian army associated with the name of a popular Hungarian operetta, The Gay Hussars.

Diners over the years included T. S. Eliot,  Aneurin Bevan, Barbara Castle, Gordon Brown and Ian Mikardo. Michael Foot celebrated his 90th birthday there. In recent years a group of journalists, politicians and lawyers formed the "Goulash Co-operative Ltd" to raise money to secure the lease but its bid was rejected by the owners The restaurant closed in June 2018.

Deptford, SE8 - Lord Palmerston

Picture of derelict Lord Palmerston public house in 81 Childers St,  Deptford, SE8.
Deptford, SE8 - Lord Palmerston
This pub closed in 2013 and once served employees of  adjacent Stone's foundry (all gone now) which had nearly 700 employees. Stone & Co was a British marine and railway engineering company for the manufacture of nails and rivets. The Deptford factory closed in 1969, but production continues to operate in Charlton though are due to close down soon after selling off their land to developers for the building of 1500 flats.

A Deptford warehouse was used in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall and Daniel Craig was seen drinking at the Lord Palmerston and playing darts with the locals.

Planning permission to convert the premises into flats was refused and the intention is for it to return to being a pub but lets see...
Lord Palmerston pub in Deptford. Planning permission to convert the premises into flats was refused and the intention is for it to return to being a pub
Ales and lagers sign on closed down derelict pub Lord Palmerston Deptford
Wines and Spirits sign on abandoned Lord Palmerston pub in South London


Croydon CR0 - Zodiac House 

Picture of empty brutalist Zodiac House in Croydon which has been abandoned and derelict for years
Croydon CR0 - Zodiac House
​Zodiac House was built as offices built in the 1960s and has been long term derelict. The development also incorporates Zodiac Court, an 8 storey block of flats above it which is still occupied. The block's claim to fame is that TV sitcom Peep Show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb was filmed on location for the first two series in one of the flats. It is said that they only stopped filming in Zodiac Court when the landlords banned them because they through it was harming the building’s reputation....

Zodiac House was offices for various companies over the years including Abbey Life. Since the late 1980s it has been empty with plans at one point for converting it into a hotel though in 2017 permission was granted to convert it into flats though no progress appears to have been made yet. The ground floor facing London Road (with the green canopy) was a car showroom for many years and is currently a restaurant.
Derelict Zodiac House, London Road, Croydon was offices for various companies including Abbey Life. Since the late 1980s it has been empty with plans at one point for converting it into a hotel
Signs of the Zodiac on abandoned Brutalist South London concrete building in Croydon
Zodiac Court, Croydon a block of flats above Zodiac House is still occupied. The block's claim to fame is that TV sitcom Peep Show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb was filmed on location

​Peckham SE15 - Solomons Passage 

Newbuild dereliction in South London. ​Peckham SE15 - Solomons Passage
​Peckham SE15 - Solomons Passage. Modern Derelicts...
​These blocks of flats built in 2010 were already featured on Derelict London back in 2017 and some of you who have been on my River Peck walking tour may remember me pointing them out to you across Peckham Rye Common.

The standout issue here is that these examples of modern craftmanship had such a short life. The four blocks, owned by a housing association, with 85 homes were built  by a company which went into administration shortly after construction. The local MP described the development as an “unprecedented construction failure” after serious faults were identified such as water damage to the timber framework, inadequate fire protection, defects to roof, basement car park flooding, defective balconies, poor drainage and so on. As a result, two blocks are to be refurbished and the other two (including the one photographed above) are to be demolished.  72 households have now moved to a permanent home elsewhere and the remaining 13 households will return to the redeveloped Solomon’s Passage whenever that might be.

Here are my latest photographs of Solomons Passage now that the residents have moved out and the place looks even more sorry for itself.
These blocks of flats built in 2010 were already featured on Derelict London back in 2017 and some of you who have been on my River Peck walking tour may remember me pointing them out to you across Peckham Rye Common.
modern craftmanship of vacand newbuilds in Peckham
Solomons Passage abandoned London properties after water damage to the timber framework, inadequate fire protection, defects to roof, basement car park flooding, defective balconies, poor drainage
unprecedented construction failure of modern South London flats now awaiting demolition or refurbishment
 Derelict London pictures of abandoned Solomons Passage dilapidated housing association flats in South London

Richmond, TW10 - ​J. Clarke & Sons' Dairies

Hill Rise, Richmond, TW10  ​J. Clarke & Sons' Dairies vacant shop with decorative tiles
Richmond Hill empty dairy shop with decorative tiles  ​
​Thankfully not derelict, just vacant. This Grade 2 listed shop on Hill Rise was constructed in the early 18th century and was originally the Sudbrook Farm Dairy dating back to 1852 and taken over by Josiah Clarke  whose family business gradually expanded into a local chain of shops. Their decorative tiles can still be seen inside the shop. In 1917 they merged with rivals F & H E Hornby to became Hornby Clarke Ltd who traded until 1960 when they were taken over by Express Dairies. 

The shop has been a succession of businesses over the recent years including a hairdressers, a fabric retailer, Italian coffee shop and a desert shop specialising in tiramisu. Hopefully the next business will be a long running as the old dairy.
Grade 2 listed 18th century shop in Richmond was originally the Sudbrook Farm Dairy
decorative tiles at former dairy, 84 Hill Rise, Richmond, London. TW10 6UB
 Dairy tiling. Hornby Clarke traded on Richmond Hill Rise before taken over by Express Dairies.
 Hornby Clarke Ltd traded until 1960 when they were taken over by Express Dairies.

And finally. Some public notices in Purley and Dartford:

Keep Your Pissing Dog Away From The Building !!! (notice in Purley)
Can you please stop peeing in the letterbox. If not, smile you are on CCTV (sign in Dartford)
Paul Talling's Derelict London - all photographs are copyright © 2021
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