Built in 1770; the Wheatsheaf in an old building, but that’s hardly new. England is full of these, many of them crumbling away or in a state of disrepair.
…’it’s just that the ones close to where I live have all been visited aready’…
The Wheatsheaf and me have some history. This was my second attempt at getting in, the first one in 2022 came to be a failure due to the anti-climbing fencing being a little too secure.
This flimsy stuff generally does not bother @anidiotexplores or me, but when the property is situated on a prominent road with endless cars passing by.., climbing this annoying fencing must be done quickly and I don’t do ‘quick’ anymore.
One year later and we were back doing some other sites in the area, so a re-try was scheduled in. This time the fencing a more lenient about being pulled away, but not without a struggle.
Source
...'The Wheatsheaf, circa 1900. The George and Dragon was also built at this time. England had an alcohol problem then, little has changed in this respect'...
As always I gained some strange looks, which I now choose to completely ignore, before squeezing through the gap and vanishing under the entrance archway.
Where was @anidiotexplores?
There was an almighty hole in the wall that someone had very kindly un-boarded, and I wasted no time leaping through the gap to join the dust, dirt and cobwebs of ‘the Wheatsheaf.
Still I was alone. Had a crack addict attacked him, and at this very moment was holding him down injecting hard drugs into his veins?
I yelled, I shouted and got a muffled reply from another downstairs room.
Sweating and cursing, @anidiotexplores appeared from a small room and stared with disbelief.
“How the fuck did you get in?”
“Through the massive hole in the wall, did you try an alternative entrance?”, I motioned a little smugly.
Walking into the entrance room I looked at the broken window, complete with brambles and broken glass.
“Practicing climbing again, are we?”
In his haste to enter, @anidiotexplores had walked right past the gaping hole and entered via the back entrance.
It was not the first visit by my comrade and his recollections of access were not via the front entrance. Talk about blinkered thoughts!
Inside was gloomy, dirty and bare. This was not going to be a Pub Time Capsule with lots of trinkets, but it was also stable and the bar would not be falling on us if we breathed too heavily.
What bar, there wasn’t one?
The ‘Super Upper Room’ would come later, but not much given the fact that down here was made up of stripped down rooms with support beams.
Maybe it would collapse and fall down if we did a ‘Bruce Lee’ on one of these?
Not such a bright idea methinks. While @anidiotexplores looks like he’s taking a piss, he probably is not.
Would you like your Xmas party here? I can guarantee it would be a different experience than anywhere else.
Not kegs of beer, but some funky wallpaper, now peeling off and dishevelled.
The kitchen lurks through there. This one was not over the top in terms of pungency and we breathed easy while passing.
Which one would you choose to sit on and dump your load?
It was as empty as it comes, and no noticeable coldness or ghosts either... damn.
Surely up there must be more interesting. There is a festering carpet on the stairs after all?
Well not really. Even the crap graffiti is gone, as the panelling had been ripped off the walls.
A very public toilet, designed exclusively for voyeurs.
When traversing upstairs corridors and happening on loose looking boards such as these, one needs to take special care. They could have been meaningfully placed as a trap to remove your legs.
Was this the ‘Super Upper Room’? A nice view, and now you can see the problems we have with unwanted Karens watching our every move.
If it would have been a sunny day there would have been a crowd of pissheads taking note from the nearby ‘George and Dragon’ beer garden. You can always count on the English weather to rain, a lot.
What a bore, nothing at all in here.
If you think that is a white coffin through that hole with a sleeping vampire within, think again. It was an old fridge or some other white goods, long broken and discarded.
Not even a clove of garlic, holy water or a wooden stake.
This cellar was equally bare, damp and cold.
@anidiotexplores pokes around looking for zoned-out crack-heads, but to no avail. When out of their heads, they tend to panic, I have only been in this situation once. It's better to walk away nice and slowly.
I had to take a look at the alternative entrance before leaving.
Talk about making it hard for yourself. To whoever uncovered the massive hole, a big thanks to you.
I will take the easy route every time.
FOOTNOTE: The Wheatsheaf as of 2024 appears to be in a state of renovation. While the property is not grade listed, the plan is to convert it into housing.
That’s if the building contractors don’t run out money.
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