Tales of the Urban Explorer: St Bonifaces Social Club
‘St Bonifaces Social Club’ had already done the rounds. The TourBus had been and left by the time I made my second visit, as well as all the fuckwits who pretend to be explorers, but prefer to smash anything they find apart.
@anidiotexplores managed it early on the initial wave, got in, and saw it relatively undamaged. My first attempt yielded a large gate that appeared impervious to climbing.
I had little idea that just a few weeks later it would be blown off its hinges leaving the woeful ex-club once again open to us terrible explorers.
Word had gotten around about its 're-open' status and this time it needed to be visited with haste.
The social club that hails from the 1980's closed to due to COVID. The linked article talks about flattening it, and building flats as a replacement. As usual, fuck all has happened.
The back door didn’t need to be open, being quite absent and so we passed the James Bondage sticker and waded into an almighty mess and painted white cocks.
Talk about being a little late. With these sights entering my eye sockets I couldn't see a way back to normality for ‘St Bonifaces Social Club’.
Still, there was plenty to dig into. It might be severely vandalised but there was lots of stuff to look at, and the vandals generally don't give a toss at what I home into.
I guess some of the ex-visitors were not royalists. The queen was alive during this period..., barely.
Someone paid £20 a head for a 60th birthday party with 100 visitors. This club did make some money for private functions once.
A message to all future explorers; well that's a first and I suppose somewhat original. I motioned @anidiotexplorers over to see this. We both thought it was ironic to choose this, one of the most vandalised properties ever as the target of those words.
What’s with all the giffgaff cards? They are a cheap mobile provider running on the O2 network. I use them myself.
More like cut by the glass if you stick your finger’s anywhere near that.
Welcome to ‘St Bonifaces Social Club’ indeed! I can’t see anyone answering that number now.
It's too fucking noisy, turn it down say the locals. It is a social club, but the DJs can't turn it up. Was it the locals are fussy twats or did the roof bounce around due to frequent 300db noise levels?
There’s no more music, but now they need to tolerate the vandals smashing up St Bonifaces. I wonder what is worse?
The office was trashed but intact. It could have been worse and burned out. St Bonifaces appears to have been a thriving business once.
Wherever I looked I saw references to cash, and indications showed a decent business. COVID saw to all that, and forced it's closure.
It was a real old-fashioned club, complete with membership. What the benefits were remain a mystery.
Even more notes about money. Did someone snag it all and run off spending it all on hard bondage? I was coming to that conclusion.
A faded old picture of the club in better times, possibly around the festive period.
Just over £1700 for one week with all expenses removed. Does that seem a lot? There's the cost of rent, gas, electricity, water, council tax, and other miscellaneous shit to pay. Maybe it wasn't enough?
Don’t you just love it when the owner leaves all the historical accounts behind? This happens quite a lot. I don’t think they expected it to be broken into and completely wrecked.
How deep did I want to look at all this? I can only take so much of expenses and miscellaneous outgoings.
All very easy listening, was St Bonifaces for the ageing population?
Entering through the windows was always a no-go, all of them are barred on the lower levels. It speaks volumes about the local crime levels.
That's as close as I dare go. Compared to everything else, it was amazing the toilet was recognisable.
Within the room we first entered some items were miraculously intact. If this Heineken dispenser still works then it needs rescuing.
Likewise, the bottles of Orange Cordial appeared sealed and possibly drinkable. I wasn't going to open one to prove a point.
We exited ‘St Bonifaces Social Club’ and walked around the exterior. This was a truly smashed-up wreck.
Nobody had bothered to try and compromise the front door. Why bother when the back is completely out of sight?
The building doesn't strike me as old and could have been built in the 1980s. It was not one of those depressing shitholes from the 60' that I truly detest.
I see demolition approaching for ‘St Bonifaces Social Club’. It's hardly a historic piece of architecture and it would not surprise me if it's already been flattened.
FOOTNOTE: I checked… It's still there, not demolished, being trashed more every day and getting worse by the second.
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are u living in the past?
Yes, it’s my thing
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Tis very colourful! It is a shame that these places get trashed by so called explorers. It's bad enough with the urban wildlife!
It was a sight to behold. Don’t slip on the broken glass or human shit are warnings one must be aware of in such places. The shitter may have been in decent nick but that doesn’t mean it will be used for emergency #2’s.
How are those highlands? Skye was ridiculously priced years ago during our visit, coming to where I am is comparable now in price.
It is still ridiculously priced. To the point that I'm one place we were away we agreed to not bother and move on speed else because it was a rip off. Tis very lovely though. But the rain started in earnest today!
Such a shame that usable buildings get abandoned and trashed. Don't see so many log cabin structures here. If someone did torch it there would not be much left.
A few shitheads spoil things for the rest of us.
I tend to write these up draft ( this was written on the plane travelling to Gran Canaria) and then contact @anidiotexplores about current status.
Miraculously is has not been burnt yet, it’s a matter of time and yes… log buildings burn well.
You should give the Idiot a share of the rewards and then he might take more of an interest in Hive :)
Enjoy your holiday. I saw Bing found it hot for running.
He’s not a writer and knows I get ‘paid’ for the articles. I suppose we take it for granted that we have the ability that many cannot do. I don’t see it as hard or challenging .
nice club but sorry for what happened to it
Oh wow, so this one hadn't been abandoned for very long then huh? I mean I guess it has been three years, but still... That's pretty funny them asking the DJs to keep the music low. Like asking a predator to be a vegetarian!
Lol, you can complain to the authorities about noise pollution but this does appear somewhat strange. Why buy a property close to a club if you don’t like loud music?
We had an issue like that over here. There was a coffee house that they ran as a tavern in the evening. People bought condos above the business knowing ahead of time that was the case and then complained non stop about it. You knew what you were getting into!
Looks like it might have been a decent place at one time. By the looks of some of the numbers, it seems they were doing decent business. Guess it is like you said, Covid screwed them. As it did so many other businesses. Looking forard to the next explore.
I have covid to thank for a percentage of the places I visit. During the banned times so many places were empty causing non abandoned locations to get “explored’. Not great for the owners.
oh shit. over here that would not be safe at all. That might actually get them shot in some cases.
Woah what a find! It was so surreal getting to read those records, seeing people's names, how much they paid and other details gave me such a strong feeling of sonder there for a little bit! I also cannot believe that stuff like the dispensers and bottles of drinks were left behind like that as well, so surreal, makes me miss this sort of thing from my university days.
The intact dispenser and drinks were strange. The ones who visit to create trouble generally rip anything apart. The fact it was in the entrance room made it more surprising.
This is such a nice cabin structure. Do you think is boredom that makes these people do all this damage?
The writings on the walls are hilarious though.
They do it because they can and for no other reason. I expect it to be young people but that’s not always the case.
The note to other explorers is funny. Nice attempt.
Toilet still intact though, maybe it worked?
The Schweppes is a nice artifact for the aliens when humans are gone from this planet....
I tend to not get close to derelict toilets as they tend to be literally full of shit 😀
Lmao 😂
Smart. Stay away then
I love reading all the captions of each photo. Indeed, it is the most vandalized place I have ever seen. It is such a waste. It seemed like the owner of the place didn't have time to pick all the stuffs that are still usable. This thing tickles my mind on how or what really happened? Incredible story you have there. Nice photography as well 😍
What happened? Now there’s a question I can only guess at the answer.
Someone broke in, (not me) and things escalated from there. Once word gets out on the UX scene it’s doomed.
Social clubs were so popular somewhere to have sport of some sort, a meal, drink and chat or disco night every so often for fund raising.
Buildings invite explorers as soon as the owners leave, pity the loss of another social club I must admit.
!BEER
I wouldn’t mind a few more like this, at least there’s something inside besides weeds, rubble and bricks!
Modern urban explore, nice wooded hut one would think it could be used toward something useful...
Blocks of flats always end up as ugly monstrosity.
View or trade
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BEERKING.Just looks like they closed down and abandoned the place without really cleaning out their items. That's a building that's just an eyesore, needs demolition I agree with you. The funny thing is it isn't all that old, I guess nobody thought it was worth buying and starting a new business.
Pubs and clubs are hardly big business here! If it does get bought by anyone I will be very surprised.
In that case it's definitely headed for the wrecking ball!
Great club. COVID messed everything up. Thanks for sharing your experience. !PGM
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That place is trashed. I'm always surprised that people would choose demolition over renovations when it comes to places like this that aren't even that old. Either way, it's going to be a big cleanup.
This is really sad and depressing.
I am perplexed by the log cabin lodge aesthetics and the American country music compilation record. Was that a UK trend 40 years ago, or am I misinterpreting something British through my skewed Yankee perspective?
LOL.., not a clue.. and while I did go in pubs they all tended to be town center places and not log cabins.
It's pretty trashed considering it only closed due to COVID. The vandals work quickly!
Some nice treasure there and not a hypo in sight!
Still open if you are interested!
I saw recently that work has begun on it?
Oh..., you know more than me.
nah not really just saw some snaps of it surrounded by harras fencing
So sad to see yet another victim of the covid pandemic and the ridiculous shutdowns. When places like this die it takes a small part of the 'community' with it. The nihilistic mindset of the vandals speaks volumes to the dysfunctional state of our culture/society. No I am not a Daily Mail reader just don't understand the urge to destroy of these people.