Tales of the Urban Explorer: Hudson Bay NightClub
This would not be the first time I had visited Hudson Bay, advertised as ‘Ashtons Most Exclusive Nightclub’. That would have been almost a year ago when @dizzydiscovery and I failed to get inside.
We had been unlucky that day as a swarm of cops were in the area chasing a convict who was legging it down the street. He happened to run past us followed by half a dozen PC Plod’s chasing. The drama!
It wouldn't have mattered as the nightclub was sealed and short of climbing the roof, thus distracting ‘plod’ it was not going to happen.
It was now 2021 and I was not feeling confident as no recent reports had emerged.
I looked at the four floors of ex-nightclub, and probably a seedy basement where some sneaky shagging may have happened. What stories did it have to tell?
I had to do a little digging to at least try and discover something about it. This image is from 2013 and while it looks better it's still sealed up.
Along with a few more images, all I could find was that it opened in the late 1980s to cater for the upmarket clientele and closed in the mid-'90s.
I also discovered that Ashton is famous for the abduction of John Kilbride at the market by Moor's Murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. Well isn't that nice?
The upmarket 'Ashtonees' must have been unimpressed by Hudson Bay, as it didn't last very long. 25 years of being all alone meant it was going to be a derp in there.
Why were old videotapes scattered around the side of this ageing tree-ridden building?
The building attached to it had obviously been demolished leaving ugly scarred brickwork on the side. They probably should have taken the remains of Hudson Bay at the same time.
To our surprise, we found ourselves inside within minutes. It is rarely this easy and I would gamble that by now it is sealed again. Right place, right time.
Does that say 'Aquarium?'. I figured this to be a nightclub, not a fish tank.
It’s always good to have at least a single piece of wood holding the roof in place.
These are surely the old pumps for the beer.
…which means the bar probably was on the right of this picture, with that raised section being a small dance floor.
Is that an old round table? The hole gaping below was not making me want to go any closer.
This is the second floor which amazingly is still standing. If there was more to see it would have been better.
Dare I go and look through the window onto the main street? Underfoot was covered in the usual pigeon shit. You take your chances or you don't.
Now, this would be interesting if the rest of it was there.
There are limits to where I will walk. The floor at the end was a little.. erm dodgy.
There's even a 5.25' disk mixed in with the Amiga 'warez'. Surely that's what they were. The grot level was a little too extreme for me to inspect them.
Descending the stairs we headed for the basement where all the action should be.
Did the ladies get no privacy in Hudson Bay? The floor was soaked though with something or other, hopefully not human lady piss.
The video connection was now starting to sink in. Some wanker had nicked some, figured they might be a tad damp to play, and whizzed them outside.
That is quite a collection, all damp, sodden, and ruined. Did the management spend their time watching videos and not employing bouncers to throw the riff-raff out of Hudson Bay?
Paperwork, always my favourite find; As much as I would have liked to find some scandal about the befallen nightclub, the pages dissolved in my hand.
After a few goes at extracting something I gave up. My feet were getting wetter and it was not much fun trying to keep my balance on all the slimy shit I was treading on.
On the way out we bumped into three teenagers looking for thrills. They were harmless enough and not explorers.
I told them to check out the basement, persevere, and go right to the end wading in the ankle-deep piss.
“There’s something really good at the end…, worth money!!”. I wonder if they were dumb enough to believe me?
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'Tales of the Urban Explorer'
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I hope your shoes don't rot away after rreading in all the suspected human lady piss :0D
My shoes are usually in a state when I get home. I have specific UX ones that are beat up and can't be used for anything else!
PRobably quite the good idea!
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I'm sure the aquarium was where they kept the mermaids.
It is impressive the place looks quite spacious, unfortunately it is so deteriorated that the distribution of its spaces cannot be better appreciated. good job buddy
Wow! Just look at that shot of the fireplace!
And to think the basement was still actually walkable; when was it this building was built (or did I miss it)?
It looks typical of the Victorian age, so probably the late 1800's at a guess. I have been in worse flooded basements, some so bad that it's quite deep. This one wasn't so bad, but I did get wet.
Well I'm sure the trek was worth the adventure!
Thank you so much for sharing! :)
How cool! It was an aquarium at one time!! I love when they are in the basements of old buildings. They are dark anyway, just like the aquariums. There were many aquariums in the lower levels here in the cities in the US... The Washington DC’s National Aquarium might appeal. It’s in the basement of the Department of Commerce Building, where it’s been since the height of the Great Depression when the building was completed in 1932; the space was purpose-built at the time. Before that, the National Aquarium was a few hundred yards away and consisted of some ponds at the base of the Washington Monument. :)) President Reagan tried to close it, but, wasn't able to, but, it finally closed in 2013. I loved that place! (to be fair, Although the National Aquarium claims a Constitution Avenue address, the main entrance is actually on 14th Street NW between Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue. A little bit snobbish is my thoughts)
Back to business here. That place was not at all what I expected. Oh, yes, the oriental massages... yes. I did expect that and more. If there was more. Shhhh. It will be your little secret. What was on those little tapes? I didn't see much interest. I was expecting some titillating details somewhere. I love the old brick buildings! If they could have sold it right away, they might have been able to save a lot of the details of it.
The ladies ' rooms looked like there was a divider on each stall and one on the end for a handicapped person. Great find and I am glad that you finally got in it!
It was one of those, 'lets have a look but don't expect much hope places'. That day has been particularly bad with fail after fail so getting in that easily was a surprise. You should visit the UK if you like things like these, there is no shortage!
I lived in Europe for quite a while and spent my time visiting historical digs and anything to do with architecture... i was the best tourist. Now? I will have to go back and look for fun stuff like some of these. I still want to go back to the Manor House where that little old lady came out of the house and waved at you. I still think you guys should have gone in there a spot of tea. I am sure that we'd see you again. Maybe.
That little old lady I fear may have gone round the twist. Most of the time we dealt anger when caught trespassing. It's only natural, and so we were suspicious of her and fled!
This might be a really simple question but how do you make sure you don't get a rusty nail in to foot when exploring like this? I love your posts and there are a ton of beautiful old places to explore out here but that is my main worry: Injury.
That worry is the main thing keeping me away from this kind of hobby.
I get injured quite often, but not badly. Scrapes on my arms and body sometimes from climbing. I have had a nail in the foot once, but only the end got through and it didn't cut my skin. It's usually nettle stings and the occasional barbed wire cut if I am not careful.
I haven't fallen through a dodgy floor yet. You get a feel of how far you can take things. I have done almost 200 of these and am still here!
Hey! Sometimes that is the trick: Accepting that shit will happen!
Keep up the amazing work and keep posting it all! I love the content you make. Be careful with those dodgy floors, we gotta keep you around. Maybe a GoPro to video the entire exploration? I've seen people make great money showing that on twitch.
I tried doing videos some time back but gave up quickly. It was taking far too much time to do the editing and who watches 30 minute videos anyway?
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Thanks @choogirl 😃
dark dismal danky. lovely, strange place to find a shed load of video/dvd
I do wonder why they were there? My hypothesis is that the basement was a shag pad for the owners who neglected their club, indulged in group sex, got high and watched videos from that large stash.
happy days!!!
No wonder it failed as a nightclub- they were too busy showing boring movies...🤣 (I didn't see any porn in the titles either...😂)
Plus it just too hard to climb up and down stairs when you're pissed...(For the Americans that means drunk/smashed/spastic/paro or if you want to be a bit more diplomatic about it...crissed as a picket... not angry. When we're angry over here (Australia) we're pissed OFF and it's actually great stomping up n down stairs when you're pissed OFF...🤣..just thought I'd clarify that a bit...😅
Love the open plan ladies....🤣
So any idea when the building was built? Such a shame, cause it's got a pretty cool and old looking facade...
And I've got to say, I think that you're my absolute favourite story teller here too!
I LOVE your sense of humour...🤣😁😆
Hehe, I aim to make these light.., all the ones on the UX sites are all so stodgy and factual. We sat pissed off here, I'm in the UK.
How old.., I'm not sure. I looked for some history and found very little. The building is probably about 100 years old. It's quite central to the town.
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Yeah well keep the comedy coming please!
And there's nothing worse than people thinking that you're stomping up n down dodgy stairs angry when you're actually pissed is there! 🤣
Now that was not what I expected when I first saw the outside. What a nasty ass place. You are going to need several tetanus shots, hepatitis shots, and whiskey shots after being in there.
It's usually the case, the exterior looks decent and this inside like a horror set! You get used to it.
Yeah, I was expecting some good architecture at least. Like a fireplace or something. Hell, not even a stripper pole or good nudies.
I need a witness to say that here was a night club. It is intetesting to see some Amiga disks and video tapes. There could be a hidden section where some movies were played 🙄
The downstairs area was like a tunnel. It just ended. We some some light passing through a grate and heard the teens coming in. At the point it was time to leave.
great post, amazing photographies
It's all the speculations and assumptions of what exactly was going on here for me. I think that is what I enjoy most about your explorations, the mystery.
Lol. I really hope does poor lads were not too disappointed.