Tales of the Urban Explorer: Aladdin's Cave

I had a look on Google to find something about ‘Aladdin's Cave'. The search revealed a big nothing. Historical facts about an old bric-a-brac junk shops are not retained it seems, and nobody gives a shit.

The sign told me, 'Fridges, Freezers, TVs, etc…', oh and house clearances. The last part is more akin to a 'junk shop'. @anidiotexplores had already done 'Aladdin's Cave’ and not recently. We could not rely on his intelligence on how to get in.

From my perspective, it looked like several houses glued together and made into a business. It was not close to anything in particular and looked like it had suffered an arson attack.

I wasn't expecting priceless artifacts from India or full-sized illegal ivory tusks from African Elephants, it was probably yet another dilapidated ruin with perhaps some photography opportunities.

Climbing a wall and balancing precariously with my arms outstretched, I reached for what looked like a solid shelf landing area and pulled myself onto the second floor.

It was looking a little bleak and smoke-damaged.

@lpff had joined us for this and several forthcoming explores in the area and I distinctly remember him saying, 'don't tell me you are going down there?'.

Why of course I was; I wanted to see what was on that far shelf which was no surprise.., a load of pottery. We were in the land of pots, after all. Going any closer than this would mean stepping on much-broken pottery with maybe not much else underneath.

Halfway down the 'pot room' I noticed this sitting around. It's an item from a house clearance no doubt. I see vans arriving at car boot sales during the summer months trying to sell all this type of unwanted junk.

‘Aladdin's Cave' was a ridiculously dangerous place if you wanted to progress with your exploration. The safety-conscious would stop at this room as the only way forward was to stand on those doors, complete with gaping holes underneath.

Had they been placed as a helpful way to get over there, or maybe a trap to main and disable the naïve and gullible?

They did bend a little and creaked slightly, but all of us made it to this side. @lpff seemed a little more safety conscious than us and was balking a little. I think he has had several past close calls and that can do it for you.

Passing a window, we noticed nobody around or waving to us.

Beyond were more blackened rooms and some stairs. They seemed a little dodgy but if you ignore the big hole, and take it easy they were manageable.

In fact, there were two ways down. This is the alternative one. It was a case of the lesser of two evils. Either of them could have proven fatal.

Things were now getting a little easier with the next flight a lot more stable. We descended onto the ground floor of 'Aladdin's Cave’ in search of eastern promise.

More like Eastern Junk. The room was full of old machinery, parts of TVs, gas canisters, and traffic cones.., I mean where do the cones come from?

'Ceramics International'…, that way says the sign. Were the businesses interconnected? We would soon find out.

Now this is just confusing. It’s supposed to be a junk shop, not a restaurant.

Mixed in with the traffic cones were cat boxes, lots of them and many being incomplete and doused with an unhealthy spillage of pigeon shit.

There were easier routes out rather than trying to climb through this window.

‘Aladdin's Cave' seemingly specialised in the grotty parts of mobile phones. They were everywhere and all unsalvageable.

This was one way into the next stage of this exploration, that was... 'Ceramics International'. We were to find an easier route rather than climbing over those fifty sofas to get there.

I do like to use the local amenities if possible. Taking a piss while taking in nature, I mean what more can you ask?

This room was so junk-crammed we didn’t bother. There could well have been treasures of the crushed type far down there underneath.

A working TV? Likely not!

The old entrance is not particularly inviting to customers these days.

We walked around the areas which could have once been jammed with freezers that don't freeze very well and TVs you have to clout every five minutes for them to behave.

Inspector Morse was sitting in the corner, or rather half of the complete collection. I was not a fan and preferred John Thaw in The Sweeney.

The Bachelors, urk.., that’s dad music.

Heading further into ‘Aladdin's Cave’ we passed the boundary and entered ‘Ceramics International’….

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