I've always found stuff like this quite surreal - seeing places that should be full of life, looking worse for wear.
For example, this closed shopping mall in America - there's a fair amount of pictures.
Here's another more local one here in Sheffield - the old Sunwin House building, it was a Co-op owned department store that closed around 2005. TK Maxx used it as a temporary store for a few months in 2008, complete with original 90's awful architecture such as golden tinted glass, horrid chandeliers and other bits.
Does anyone else have anything like this worth sharing?
Abandoned Stores
Me too. I love snooping in big abandoned shops, always have - earliest memory of it was peering up a staircase at what I think must have been a disused floor in Nottingham's Co-op Department store.woah wrote:I've always found stuff like this quite surreal - seeing places that should be full of life, looking worse for wear.
For example, this closed shopping mall in America - there's a fair amount of pictures.
Here's another more local one here in Sheffield - the old Sunwin House building, it was a Co-op owned department store that closed around 2005. TK Maxx used it as a temporary store for a few months in 2008, complete with original 90's awful architecture such as golden tinted glass, horrid chandeliers and other bits.
Does anyone else have anything like this worth sharing?
Years later I befriended a guy who worked at an old Woolworths in Brighton which at one point had either 3 or 4 trading floors, but by the end had just one. The former café had at some point become the staff canteen, and I think there was an entire floor which was completely sealed off. That got me thinking and Googling, turns out there must be a hundred or so such cases across the UK. The most famous example is Lewis's (of Liverpool) 5th floor: http://www.stephenkingphotography.co.uk/portfolio/?c=35 - no idea what the circumstances were but all the fittings and everything just remained in tact and largely undisturbed. Sort of sounds unlikely at first but when you think about it, obviously it's sealed off for a reason and why would the owners invest money in stripping the fittings?
Not so long after, the Allders in Nottingham closed. Allders (and the Co-op before it) had a bridge over to the adjoining car-park on the second floor (must've been fancy in the 70s!). TK Maxx later took the unit but sealed off the second floor, with the exception of the area at the very back with the bridge and access to the lifts and a corridor which featured a staircase, Allders' Customer Toilets (locked) and at the very end access to what would have been Allders' cafe - and from what I could see it was still all there. Would love to have had a poke around.
When I moved to Sheffield in 2008 I had a right field day - not only was there that zombified Sunwin House (complete with "Sunwin Cares" signage still in place in the lifts, sealed off and spooky looking basement and all the other tragically outdated fixtures) but also Castle House SCS department store which had just closed, but still had the food hall open in an awkward space downstairs with Greggs as an in store bakery and a lift to take you up to the Post Office two floors up! In fact, first time I went they had started to accept Co-op membership but did not yet have tills which would accept it so when I handed my card over I was given a sigh and the woman had to write down all the details on paper. It's all changed now - they have a shiny but boring Co-op now, if it wasn't for all the remaining Co-op signage all over the rest of the building you'd have no reason to think it was ever one thing.
I went hunting the Hillsborough Co-op a little while back but couldn't actually find it, is it still there and if so is it worth a visit? I'm hoping for something like this: https://twitter.com/soult/status/177392834909966336
May I recommend http://www.labelscar.com for American dead malls, I must've lost hundreds of hours to that site. Would love to start a similar blog for something similar in the UK, maybe when I get some wheels.
Not enough shops on therePhilip wrote:I sometimes visit this site and also get lost in it for hours...
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk
it is great though.Castle House was always a funny old place - it's a real shame you just missed it. At least one of the lifts always had a woman who pressed the buttons to take you to each floor. The cafe on the top floor was a truly terrible place, painted dark green with trellices and fake plants everywhere - I've been looking for photos to no avail. It was never a great store in it's later years but the wonderful old staircase and bits of architecture are great. It deserves some investment and its a real shame to see it getting increasingly tired, it's a bit of an eyesore on the city centre at present.WillPS wrote:When I moved to Sheffield in 2008 I had a right field day - not only was there that zombified Sunwin House (complete with "Sunwin Cares" signage still in place in the lifts, sealed off and spooky looking basement and all the other tragically outdated fixtures) but also Castle House SCS department store which had just closed, but still had the food hall open in an awkward space downstairs with Greggs as an in store bakery and a lift to take you up to the Post Office two floors up! In fact, first time I went they had started to accept Co-op membership but did not yet have tills which would accept it so when I handed my card over I was given a sigh and the woman had to write down all the details on paper. It's all changed now - they have a shiny but boring Co-op now, if it wasn't for all the remaining Co-op signage all over the rest of the building you'd have no reason to think it was ever one thing.woah wrote:I've always found stuff like this quite surreal - seeing places that should be full of life, looking worse for wear.
For example, this closed shopping mall in America - there's a fair amount of pictures.
Here's another more local one here in Sheffield - the old Sunwin House building, it was a Co-op owned department store that closed around 2005. TK Maxx used it as a temporary store for a few months in 2008, complete with original 90's awful architecture such as golden tinted glass, horrid chandeliers and other bits.
Does anyone else have anything like this worth sharing?
I went hunting the Hillsborough Co-op a little while back but couldn't actually find it, is it still there and if so is it worth a visit? I'm hoping for something like this: https://twitter.com/soult/status/177392834909966336
The tills at all the Sheffield Co-op's were all quite old fashioned, I can't remember the name of the system they ran on but they had little greyscale monitors and Siemens-Nixforf equipment. When the Chip and PIN system become standard around 2005, they tried fitting them - but I can only ever remember them working about twice! You just signed the reciept instead. They were only replaced with the IBM standard tills when the stores started to get refurbs around 2007-2008.
Hillsborough Co-op is somewhere I haven't been for years - I remember it having a food area as well as a smaller 'department store' sort of area. This is where it is, though I'm not sure how it is inside - whether there is empty floorspace leading to the food mall, whether the food mall has been refurbished, et cetera. It wasn't especially nice in it's later years either.
As you are local to Sheffield - here's another good one of Castle College in Sheffield - which is now long gone, an empty piece of land. It's from 28 Days Later, which as Philip says, has some fascinating stuff if you look around (that's if you've not already been on there!)
Any other questions about Sheffield-y stuff - just ask and I'll do my best to answer!
The branch of WHSmith I worked at years ago occupied half of what used to be Templetons Supermarket. Although we had only half the ground floor we had the entire upstairs for offices (and nicely, also had the plant room so we had air con whereas the shop next door didn't).
Sealed off behind a false wall was the remains of the 1960s cafe, still with public toilets and parts of the kitchen. It was used for storing spare shelving / signage and other bits and bobs.
Apparently John Menzies had considered using it for a second sales floor however once you put in a public staircase and a lift you'd lose so much space on both floors as to make it futile.
Sealed off behind a false wall was the remains of the 1960s cafe, still with public toilets and parts of the kitchen. It was used for storing spare shelving / signage and other bits and bobs.
Apparently John Menzies had considered using it for a second sales floor however once you put in a public staircase and a lift you'd lose so much space on both floors as to make it futile.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
Castle College was properly grim. My girlfriend went therein what must've been the last academic year it was open (half her lessons were in the nice new building).
The whole of Sheffield is getting a bit fusty really, and there's no sign of things changing. Castle House has changed hands (I don't know who to though) and Sunwin House is probably going to be demolished as part of the Moorhead redevelopment (the occupier of the McDonalds unit has again been kicked out in preparation!).
I helped to strip a branch of Jacksons to prepare it for a Sainsbury's Local refit (Nether Edge). Another (Weston Park) still has lots of bits and bobs remaining from Jacksons.
The whole of Sheffield is getting a bit fusty really, and there's no sign of things changing. Castle House has changed hands (I don't know who to though) and Sunwin House is probably going to be demolished as part of the Moorhead redevelopment (the occupier of the McDonalds unit has again been kicked out in preparation!).
Did any interesting bits and bobs remain from either Templetons or Menzies? A couple of Smiths I've seen still have a few Menzies stripes showing on door handles etc.Pete wrote:The branch of WHSmith I worked at years ago occupied half of what used to be Templetons Supermarket. Although we had only half the ground floor we had the entire upstairs for offices (and nicely, also had the plant room so we had air con whereas the shop next door didn't).
Sealed off behind a false wall was the remains of the 1960s cafe, still with public toilets and parts of the kitchen. It was used for storing spare shelving / signage and other bits and bobs.
Apparently John Menzies had considered using it for a second sales floor however once you put in a public staircase and a lift you'd lose so much space on both floors as to make it futile.
I helped to strip a branch of Jacksons to prepare it for a Sainsbury's Local refit (Nether Edge). Another (Weston Park) still has lots of bits and bobs remaining from Jacksons.
There's a Sainsbury's Local in Hull city centre which used to be Jacksons. On the floor at the entrance is a monogram with WJ on it. It stands for William Jackson, and Sainsbury's are banned from getting rid of it because the building is listed. I think even the signage - and the Jacksons sign it replaced - covers up an old Wm Jackson and Son sign. That branch never used the Grandways name prior to being Jacksons, unlike most of the others.
The AMF Hull Bowl recently closed down and that building is now looking a sorry mess with it's signage removed. I can't think of anything you could do with a bowling alley, so I can see it staying that way for years.
The AMF Hull Bowl recently closed down and that building is now looking a sorry mess with it's signage removed. I can't think of anything you could do with a bowling alley, so I can see it staying that way for years.
Slightly O/T (but I'm not sure it warrants its own thread), I'm also fascinated by the huge numbers of closed down petrol stations across Britain and their subsequent fate. To put this in context there are now just 8,480 petrol stations left in Britain, compared to 39,958 in 1967 (source).
Often the oil company in question doesn't seem bothered about de-branding the site and allows it to become a derelict eyesore, but with all the original signage still in place: Example 1, Example 2.
Alternatively, the oil company will sometimes remove its modern plastic edging from the perimeter of the overhead canopy, revealing relics of the site's previous branding from the era when it was simply painted directly on to the canopy. Like this one which was Jet before being Shell.
I drove past a garage somewhere in Leicstershire last week that is now being used as a hand car wash, but amazingly the canopy still bore the pre-2000 BP logo and branding ("Welcome to BP") and at first glance looked like an operational petrol station, until you noticed that the pumps were gone!
I'm surprised the oil companies don't do more to protect their brands by fully removing all traces of them from former sites, even if that means offering to foot the bill for such works where the site isn't actually owned by the oil co. It seems damaging for a brand to be visually associated with abandonment and failure.
And then you get the ones where the new owner has done a cover-up job with some paint and vinyl graphics, but you can clearly see the sign's provenance, like this former Esso sign.
Often the oil company in question doesn't seem bothered about de-branding the site and allows it to become a derelict eyesore, but with all the original signage still in place: Example 1, Example 2.
Alternatively, the oil company will sometimes remove its modern plastic edging from the perimeter of the overhead canopy, revealing relics of the site's previous branding from the era when it was simply painted directly on to the canopy. Like this one which was Jet before being Shell.
I drove past a garage somewhere in Leicstershire last week that is now being used as a hand car wash, but amazingly the canopy still bore the pre-2000 BP logo and branding ("Welcome to BP") and at first glance looked like an operational petrol station, until you noticed that the pumps were gone!
I'm surprised the oil companies don't do more to protect their brands by fully removing all traces of them from former sites, even if that means offering to foot the bill for such works where the site isn't actually owned by the oil co. It seems damaging for a brand to be visually associated with abandonment and failure.
And then you get the ones where the new owner has done a cover-up job with some paint and vinyl graphics, but you can clearly see the sign's provenance, like this former Esso sign.
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bilky asko
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