Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Dover Lock Inn
I was surprised by the age of 'The Dover Lock Inn' after checking some history. Built around 1830, just at the start of Britain's Canal Age, this pub was likely built for those who shipped goods by the preferred method of transport of those times.
It is situated right next to the ancient Leeds/Liverpool Canal, also built around those times.
I do remember a little history from school, even though I acted like a dumbass see?
Source
Renamed from the White Lion to the Red Lion (is this in defiance of the War of the Roses perhaps?), in 1858 I found this very old image and a short but interesting article regarding the pubs' history.
In later years (2009) it was looking more familiar and the ‘To Let’ signs tell me things were not exactly going to plan.
There are plenty of barges still floating down the Leeds/Liverpool canal and the odd pub is close to some of them. Maybe the chef had poisoned someone, or the food tasted like ground dog shit mixed with a dash of salt and pepper, and word got around?
'The Dover Lock Inn' is out of the way, and in a rural area. Pubs need to offer great food, or they close down, get boarded up, get torched, and then the likes of ME come and see what’s left. It’s a common cycle that I see often.
The one was burnt a couple of times in 2021 and has been left to slowly dissolve since. We needed to get inside and discover what was left.
Having nowhere to park beside a car park around 150 yards further down the road, we opted for that. I didn't want to dump the car on the bridge close to 'The Dover Lock Inn'.
Ignoring some canal walkers who stopped and stared open-mouthed at us climbing a surrounding wall, and then balancing on an iron bar before jumping onto the grounds, we saw a lot of boards, most of them in new condition.
While a ‘leg-up’ and going headfirst through there may seem appealing, I kind of like my bonce and would prefer it not to crack open due to the 5-foot drop on the other side.
We found our way in through a troublesome small window on the first floor which had me struggling as usual due to lack of flexibility.
The room looked like a kitchen fitted with the latest stylish 'burnt-look'. Maybe this could catch on as some short-term fad if marketed correctly.
Exiting to a larger room which was perhaps the main area and bar, things were hardly improving, though the floor appeared to be quite stable.
A toaster that managed to get very toasted with a microwave made out of today's finest vintage rust.
This corridor ended abruptly and was on the narrow side. A walk down there would guarantee you emerged much blacker than when you entered.
The ex-Kitchen was teeming with items, all severely fire damaged but not outright burnt. The fire must have been close but this room semi-escaped the main blaze.
I can't say I have ever seen Tia Maria or Thousand Island dressing in that shade before.
The far side of this room looked a little like it could have been a bar and was easily circumvented by simply veering around the large holes.
The football machine even has some colour left, colour that is not black that is. Of course, there's plenty of rust, the rain and damp will ensure that.
Could this place be saved and fixed up? It hails from 1830, probably houses a few ghosts (who as usual didn't say hello to me) and could be protected. It's quite fucked, to be honest, and would take some insanely rich madman to recover it.
It's amazing what can survive a blaze in the form of paper and a notebook with scribbles. Titanic was also saved on this occasion; that is unique.
We did find several DVDs in 'The Dover Lock Inn', though, for the most part, it was entirely burnt beside the cellar.
Yes, I did gingerly climb over all this crap, as it was the only way to get over there and the 'other side'.
Today was continuing to be a 'Day of the Burnt'. Would we set foot in any place that had escaped the raving arsonists?
Against my better judgment, I trudged up the stairs knowing from the outside view it was going to be a futile idea.
I am quite daring at times, but waking on fire-damaged beams with huge holes in between seemed more like a suicidal idea.
It was back down the stairs, avoiding the fried banister which looked like it might fall off if you stared long enough at it.
Finding some lower stairs, we both assumed this was the cellar, was larger than anticipated and with much less fire and smoke damage.
This literally was 'The Cellar', with what was once a narrow tunnel with tables and chairs and a small stage at the end, presumably once housing a cheesy comedian with racist jokes.
Fresh flowers? Hardly..!
This one was even skinnier than its ‘burnt brother’ one storey above. I wasn’t going down there just for a few colourful baubles.
We exited ‘The Dover Lock Inn’ via the same awkward window and walked around the outside, only to find another dodgy hole leading downwards.
This looked like one of the restaurant areas, with a few mugs littered about.
Compared to the main section it had fared a lot better with usable chairs and tables.
Hmmm, now look at that sauce. Don't you want to rip those sachets open with your teeth and laden them thickly on to a bacon sandwich?
Fine Food? Not anymore and maybe the lack of it was the downfall of 'The Dover Lock Inn'. We may never know.
Avoiding this leg-breaking stairway we made our way to the exit point and started climbing the wall, with a little aid from the large supporting bar.
It was an explore, a history lesson, a suicide run if you want to explore the upper story, but otherwise just another fire-bombed pub.
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I wonder how the facade of this building looks good, but inside like in the wars.
The top part is a little dodgy, even from the outside view!
I saw satellite dishes though, that made it look a little modern!
And where it says food served daily? What are we supposed to think, they only cook on special occasions???
!PIZZA
Oh man I was doing just fine 'til you showed the foosball table! Out of all of the things that could easily have been rescued and continued on a long life of fun it was that!
Man the lower you go, the more claustrophobic I get 'til I see you start to climb stairs to iffy floors.
This one is great because of how even the signs is well preserved after abandonment and other stuff is so utterly destroyed.
Meet you at the Dover Lock Inn for a !BEER
I don't think the Dover Lock will be serving !BEER anytime soon somehow. The football table's legs were damaged and shuffling the levers would take some effort with the amount of rust on them. I was surprised it survived so well.
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The cellar looks like it would be a pretty lit hangout lol either that or the star of some horror movie! The Wizard of Oz was a gem of a find!
Yeah, besides the small underground cafe, the cellar was the only area that survived the burning. There was a nice extension built on the front, probably for serving food. I couldn't even find it from the inside.
Love your 'seen one, seen them all' attitude! Just shows how many of these places you have explored now. I suspect you hold some sort of record! 🏆
Oh, I don't. Some of the guys have done 500+ and are in Europe now and beyond. I'm somewhere between 200-300, and have a spreadsheet that badly needs updating which has links to all the HIVE 'Tales'.
I had no idea that urban explorers kept track. Rather a competition then? Amazing achievements! I have an old high school friend whose goal is to travel to every country in the world. He ranks high on those lists.
Some do, but I keep my records so I can easily find them buy clicking a spreadsheet link. I always seem to remember where I have been fortunately.
I gave up on that goal long ago!
Me too. I made it to 20 countries before this damn MS ended my traveling days.
That is a shame, would have been great place to moor up and have a pint.
Well fucked though, and looks a bloody death trap, am glad you decided to not go everywhere!
Yeah, the second floor was beyond my abilities. I can judge them quite well usually, and don't want to kill myself.
Good thing, I have seen (through fingers over my eyes at time) what you walk on at times 🤣
So many interesting details
Another fine mess ! Fair play for working your way through that. It looked very dodgy in most places.
Reminds me of Laurel and Hardy, that phrase! Quite bad inside, though I have been in a few worse.
Too bad it survived 150 years only to end up in this state. Even in America these days 150 isn't that old, nor in Japan where for the longest time anything older than 20 years was ripped down, but still, I hate to see old buildings go neglected. I suppose it is hard to recover from fire. Oh well. So it goes, eh?
Another great exploration! Thanks for the photos and write-up!
It's a sign of the times. It lasted almost 200 years, but is now living on borrowed time. Many of my past explores are now gone, demolished. I have records and proof they once existed. It's a good feeling.
Fascinating first photo! And it's also fascinating that place, I was surprised how old it is... Something that doesn't stop surprise me, is how many people there burning everything!... Damn! Yes, there are crazy people everywhere (here we have groups of pyromaniacs who love to set forest fires in dry season)... Excellent article as always dear friend and excellent author @slobberchops!
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!PIZZA
!BBH
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You might well think that 2 out of 3 regular people here are Arsonists. They way I tell these stories, I couldn't judge you for believing such things. They generally use their 'abilites' on old clapped out places that have been left for a few years.
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Now I can only see the home decorating fads. Remodel your kitchen with a modern tinder look, or opt for the classic charcoal finish. We also have inferno in stock, and it's our hottest design for the season, I assure you!
That cellar might have been a nice venue. What sort of racism permeates British comedy?
The 'Live' Comedy clubs here were once famed for terrible language and racism. These days they have to temper their words, but once it was very much in your face. One comedian, 'Bernard Manning' found himself banned in Manchester due to it, so opened his own club.
He's dead now, but his club remains and is getting externally worse ever year. One day I could be exploring it. The wiki link tells all.
I have played gigs in cellars like that, not as a cheesy comedian I might add!
Looks like a cool place, you can never underestimate how much people can badly run a place into the ground
There wouldn't be a lot of space to walk down the middle if that corridor was lined with tables and chairs. It could have been used for live music, though the audience would have been small due to the size of it.
Yeah, its amazing what they can cram folk into!!
Ever ridden in a bug with a big family 🤣?
Lol, I dont think so!! :OD
Don't try it, you might not be able to get back out 🤣
Ohh! I saw Titanic. is it a cd?
V nice @slobberchops I think that the buildings in the picture need some modification and restoration
Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your visit to "The Dover Lock Inn." It was intriguing to hear about the pub's history and its link to the Leeds/Liverpool Canal. It's awful to hear of the pub's downfall and the fire damage it experienced. Your interior images and descriptions offer a vivid picture of the extent of the devastation.
While it may be difficult to envision someone investing the resources required to restore the pub to its former glory, I believe that historic structures such as this one are worth preserving.
Surprised to see so much furniture and pans lying around... would have thought the homeless would have raided it!
It's kind of out of the way, not in an urban area. It makes a difference.
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Those places are so fascinating to me. They give that kind of mistery, thinking about when they were inhabited and thinking about why they became abandoned in such a "frozen manner" like from one day to another, people simply leftover whatever there was inside.
I love it!
Why do most of these places you're exploring look like there has been a fire inside? Or why has there been set a fire in such a lot of places you're exploring?
That day it seemed everywhere we went was burnt. The next couple will also be burnt, it's just the way it goes sometimes.
I see... But I mean, are it the owners that set fire? And why? Or is it an act of vandalism? !LUV
Always vandals.
And what are the reasons people abandoning their houses in such a state (I mean with personal belongings still inside)? !BBH
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Hmmm, now look at that sauce. Don't you want to rip those sachets open with your teeth and laden them thickly on to a bacon sandwich? I bet Andy would!
Andy was an English rep when I met him in Bulgaria, many years ago. He taught me the concept of Brown Sauce. At least his concept, because he was literally eating it with EVERYTHING.
Acting like you knew a lot would only result in more work 🤣
They're much easier to maintain than fix... Maybe historical societies should offer such places grants before they get bad?
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It's really sad that these old places are just left to ruin and rot. How ironic to find a book about the Titanic..
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