Friars Walk shopping centre / Reading / 05/03/08

[Maverick]

Visited with Elderbro and Tart Man.

Closed in 2003, Friars Walk remains unchaved and very clean due to near impossible access. It's a walkway/mall surrounded by empty shop fronts in a once busy area of town.

Behind and below the shops are a labyrinth of tunnels and corridors. Below, in the belly of Friars Walk are storage rooms and more passageways all scattered with CCTV. The jewel in the crown is the security/CCTV room, monitoring the entire centre. There are roughly 30 cameras all relaying to the CCTV banks which are fully powered and operational. All the racks are powered on to record, but not actually recording anything. This security room is behind a digilock, but a bit of thinking gets you in.

Access was adrenalin fuelled to say the least!

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2314250017_d470b20d9d.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2315125474_2f67483006.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2314310401_05134a1eb3.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2314309135_aaa26a3094.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2314287477_4f5ddf76ec.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2314259101_47f7b6a077.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/mav/2315083916_e076155bda.jpg

Full set here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/richard-james/sets/72157604060251073/)

Thanks for looking!

[Elderbro]

Cracking little explore, been on my list for a long time so was good to finally get in. Big thanks to Tart Man for his help and jammyness! Here's my photo's:

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/The%20Mall.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/Lock.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/Monitors.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/Outside%20Shot.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/Abandoned%20Escalator.jpg

http://www.rjamesdesign.com/ue/Jungle%20Gym%20Organ.jpg

Cheers.

[Tart Man]

Visited this disused shopping centre recently with Maverick and Elderbro.

After weeks of recceing the place, it felt amazing to finally get inside. It's fair to say that we were absolutely buzzing for the whole time we were in there.

Anyway, onto my pics:

Friars Walk from the outside
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0196.jpg

Down the slippery slide, and into the Jungle Gym
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0163.jpg

Another view of the Jungle Gym
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0164.jpg

Time stands still
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0167.jpg

Behind Closed Doors....
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0170.jpg

...and behind locked doors
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0171.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0172.jpg

Deep inside the corridors
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0180.jpg

Looking out onto Friar Street
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0181.jpg

The Main Arcade
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0184.jpg

The Way Out???
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj153/rburbedge/Urbex/Friars%20Walk%20-%20Mar%202008/DSC_0185.jpg

Thanks for looking!