Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Black Greyhound

"The Black Greyhound' appears to have been visited by every known explorer in North-West England and has been sold out to the newspapers on several occasions. Is it any wonder that it's hardly the biggest local secret?

I picked this up from Facebook in early 2023 and required barely any effort to track it down. The inner sights I was seeing looked 'apocalyptic' as described, just up my street.

Having been in a state of 'rotting' for the past ten years, the outside sign appears to have been removed, which removes a little of its identity, and like many of these decaying buildings, there have been several applications to convert the property into something other than an eyesore, some of which may still be pending.

Source
...'The Black Greyhound, circa 2009, looking slightly better than now'...

This one didn’t present a challenge whatsoever in terms of entry, and if boards had been applied once, then they must have been repeatedly pulled off.

I noticed an Indian Restaurant was sellotaped onto the rear, which would save the pint-pulling bar staff from having to deal with food orders.

…’the problem with this is people don’t hang out at pubs solely to get pissed anymore, that is a 20th-century ideology''…

‘Bengal Dynasty’ is hardly an original name but having googled it, the food reports were decent, but it has been described as ‘always quiet’. Hardly a good platform for a healthy and thriving business.

I earmarked the Indian for part two of this explore and we headed into the bowels of 'The Black Greyhound’, having to trample over crates, edge past spiky wooden doors, and avoid a pool of some fetid-looking swamp water just to get past the entrance.

Urg, it’s one of those boozers that sell that putrid piss they name ‘Mild’. David Dire, my fat twat of an ex-boss from 'The Horrors of Kwiksave' would have loved it here.

Having made it to the bar, the sighs were indeed of epic apocalyptic proportions, and a truly welcoming water hole for a thirsty tribe of the undead. The only colour I can discern from this is those wall tiles.

The hole in the bottom left corner of this image is where we emerged from. One false move and this comes down on top of you. Some subsidence has occurred on the bar which could render the ordering of your drinks a little more challenging.

Images such as the front door from the inside are truly spectacular when witnessed. I do love these intact but ravished scenes that you typically don’t tend to see when visiting your local McDonald's.

While the invite to sit down on the local comfortable furniture hugging the edges of the room may be have been overwhelming, it wasn’t as convincing as shelling out for a new pair of trousers.

Surely up there more wonders would be accosting our eyes, if we dared to go up.

In these larger pubs, there’s generally more than one set of stairs, and that was the case for “The Black Greyhound’. Sadly, only a levitation spell would get you safely down the alternative set.

The upstairs rooms revealed little initially, with several being quite bare.
The kitchen units were intact with a little natural light peeking through the partially destroyed roof.

A few pieces of furniture hardly worth looking at adorned other rooms.

The last one was the most interesting, if you can call it that with a leather sofa and a place to rest your weary bones in the corner.

Bring your own pillow, move the planks of wood resting across your legs, and you will drift off in seconds to restful oblivion within such a luxurious divan.

The urge to have a relaxing bath followed by a much-needed shit after my blissful sleep could have been on the cards, but the attire was sadly a little two-star for my tastes.

We left ‘The Black Greyhound’ and entered ‘Bengal Dynasty’ with even less hassle than the former property. Derelict kitchens are best avoided, especially if they vacated in a hurry and didn’t was the dishes.

I loved the seating arrangements, all curvy, round and very naturally green. Maybe this was a vegetarian Indian restaurant?

With the front desk on the left, eating at the ‘Bengal Dynasty’ would truly have been a pleasure if it wasn’t pissing down.

Take your seats on either the left or the right of the large room. The central area is reserved for the illegal Cannabis farm, or what’s left of it.

This small section on the left has been partially saved due to a little roof being left overhead. Ellie's Dream can still come true.

If ‘The Black Greyhound’ had been photogenic, then ‘Bengal Dynasty’ was more so. I do remember these scenes and thinking, ‘Well, yes that’s different and very cool looking’. Now I need to find some old images of what it used to look like when open for business.

Apart from the main dining area, ‘Bengal Dynasty’ was your typical derelict mess and was getting to the stage of collapse. I would give it a few more years and the roof and walls are going to be no more.

The grand entrance, but now you walk through where the glass used to be in those fancy doors, and then duck to vacate.

On leaving I noted one trace of identification on the old pub. That one must be a little high up for the thieves to steal. I do wonder if they nick them for mementos.

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