My exploring partner @ExplorerOnRoad managed to find this one whilst scanning google maps so we were really excited to check it out, we knew nothing about this place and what to expect so it was a complete mystery. When we arrived, whilst messaging an exploring friend, found out that he'd been here 2 weeks before and warned us about the scary security lady.
The History - The adult education centre was formally a boarding school then later became an education and training centre for adults. It closed in 2011 due to financial difficulties which resulted in the job loss of 41 people. In 2018, Earnley Concourse saw a massive fire breakout and in 2019 plans were made to replace it with 32 new homes. These plans have not yet gone ahead and doesn't look like they will be starting anytime soon as we visited in July this year and there were no signs of demolition.
Earnley Concourse holds multiple buildings, one being called 'Earnley Place' which is actually a grade ll listed building. There were 220 accommodation rooms, 11 classrooms/conference rooms, a theatre, bar, 2 pools and a games room.
The Explore - We had approached the building that we originally found on the maps, without knowing what this place was at the time, to us it just looked like a really overgrown house. It was absolutely pouring it down and we were struggling to find any entry to the building. We looked through the windows of the 'house' but there was just loads of massive bottles of water and a few hard hats so we were even more confused as to what we had found. After spending ages looking for an entry and getting soaked, we decided to drive around the corner to see if we had any luck with the rest of the buildings.
We immediately saw many sensors so we tried our best to dodge them as much as we could but some were just impossible. Eventually, we figured that we'd just climb onto the roof as we could see an entry point up there which didn't seem too bad to get to. As we got into the first room, we noticed all the asbestos hanging from the ceiling which is never ideal but the explore must go on. This floor included many accommodation rooms which we mistakingly thought was some sort of holiday park/hotel at first then the more bedrooms we entered, the more they began to look a little more lived in. We then came across certain rooms that made us think it was some sort of retirement home, and then we saw classrooms which honestly the more we explored this place, the more confused we got. Obviously upon doing research, everything started to make sense.
Due to the fire that went on in 2018, quite a bit of the building was burnt which is a real shame but luckily there was still a lot to it that didn't suffer from the fire. As much as most of it was trashed, I was surprised at how much was still left over.
Our friend had told us about there being a pool but that it was in another building which was across a bit of the land, however, we did spot the security car parked near it so we thought we might as well finish all the buildings that we were already at before risking getting caught.
We spent a good 2 and a half hours exploring before then being approached by the security lady as we came out from one of the buildings. She was not at all happy at first as she told us to get out in the bluntest way possible which is understandable as I guess she gets this quite a bit. She began escorting us back to the car but stopped half way through to lecture us on the dangers of asbestos, luckily Tom had a mask on but she wasn't happy with me as I didn't. She then continued to walk us back to the car and kept saying that she knows she a c**t and bla bla but in actual fact, she was pretty cool in the end. She was telling us about the fire and how she had to go through it and we ended up having decent conversation with her before we headed off.
Overall, you could spend at least 4 hours maybe more here exploring, theres so much to see but it seems anyone that tries it always has their journey cut short. It's a real shame we didn't get to see the pool or the games room (the best parts) but grateful for the time we did get to spend there and I hope to revisit again soon....maybe.
The History - The adult education centre was formally a boarding school then later became an education and training centre for adults. It closed in 2011 due to financial difficulties which resulted in the job loss of 41 people. In 2018, Earnley Concourse saw a massive fire breakout and in 2019 plans were made to replace it with 32 new homes. These plans have not yet gone ahead and doesn't look like they will be starting anytime soon as we visited in July this year and there were no signs of demolition.
Earnley Concourse holds multiple buildings, one being called 'Earnley Place' which is actually a grade ll listed building. There were 220 accommodation rooms, 11 classrooms/conference rooms, a theatre, bar, 2 pools and a games room.
The Explore - We had approached the building that we originally found on the maps, without knowing what this place was at the time, to us it just looked like a really overgrown house. It was absolutely pouring it down and we were struggling to find any entry to the building. We looked through the windows of the 'house' but there was just loads of massive bottles of water and a few hard hats so we were even more confused as to what we had found. After spending ages looking for an entry and getting soaked, we decided to drive around the corner to see if we had any luck with the rest of the buildings.
We immediately saw many sensors so we tried our best to dodge them as much as we could but some were just impossible. Eventually, we figured that we'd just climb onto the roof as we could see an entry point up there which didn't seem too bad to get to. As we got into the first room, we noticed all the asbestos hanging from the ceiling which is never ideal but the explore must go on. This floor included many accommodation rooms which we mistakingly thought was some sort of holiday park/hotel at first then the more bedrooms we entered, the more they began to look a little more lived in. We then came across certain rooms that made us think it was some sort of retirement home, and then we saw classrooms which honestly the more we explored this place, the more confused we got. Obviously upon doing research, everything started to make sense.
Due to the fire that went on in 2018, quite a bit of the building was burnt which is a real shame but luckily there was still a lot to it that didn't suffer from the fire. As much as most of it was trashed, I was surprised at how much was still left over.
Our friend had told us about there being a pool but that it was in another building which was across a bit of the land, however, we did spot the security car parked near it so we thought we might as well finish all the buildings that we were already at before risking getting caught.
We spent a good 2 and a half hours exploring before then being approached by the security lady as we came out from one of the buildings. She was not at all happy at first as she told us to get out in the bluntest way possible which is understandable as I guess she gets this quite a bit. She began escorting us back to the car but stopped half way through to lecture us on the dangers of asbestos, luckily Tom had a mask on but she wasn't happy with me as I didn't. She then continued to walk us back to the car and kept saying that she knows she a c**t and bla bla but in actual fact, she was pretty cool in the end. She was telling us about the fire and how she had to go through it and we ended up having decent conversation with her before we headed off.
Overall, you could spend at least 4 hours maybe more here exploring, theres so much to see but it seems anyone that tries it always has their journey cut short. It's a real shame we didn't get to see the pool or the games room (the best parts) but grateful for the time we did get to spend there and I hope to revisit again soon....maybe.
Stick the key fob in the 28dl photo thread 
