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Report - - Molson-Coors Brewery, Alton - August 2020 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Molson-Coors Brewery, Alton - August 2020

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Dragon_Urbex

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History:


The brewery was built in 1963 to make Harp Lager. In 1979, the brewery site was bought by Bass Maltings (the company that built Bass Maltings in Sleaford). In 2002, the brewing division of Bass was acquired by Coors in 2002 which thus made Alton Brewery a part of Coors. In 2005, Coors merged with the Canadian brewing company Molson to form Molson-Coors, thus renaming the brewery to Molson-Coors Alton. In the last years of production, the ageing Molson Coors’ Alton brewery had been reliant on brewing Heineken, which made up around 75 per cent of the total brewery production. In 2014, Heineken announced that it would not be renewing the contract at the Alton site and, as a result, Molson Coors Alton closed in May 2015 due to it becoming a loss-making venture, with 108 jobs being cut. The site was later sold to CALA Homes, who intend to demolish the entire brewery complex and redevelop it into housing. Demolition is to begin soon.



The Explore:


Access into the actual site itself was easy except for the fact I slipped and gashed my hand on some barbed wire. I wasn't banking on a foothold having a loose brick in it, which then slipped out under me, making me fall about 4 feet and gash my right hand badly – a spur of the wire caught my palm and dug about 5mm into it. I had some hand sanitiser in my bag, so I put that on the wound and then bound it with a spare face mask. But… Jesus H Christ it hurt like hell, especially when chemicals got dumped into the bleeding wound!

We then spent about half an hour looking around and scouting, with the first building we looked at being the boiler house. There were three massive boilers in there with auction lots posted on them. We didn't see anyone about at all which kind of lulled us into a false sense of security (pun not intended) as you will later read! Access to the actual brewhouse was an absolute mission, but nevertheless we got inside (with much difficulty I must add, involved a lot of caution because of my hand!) and mooched around for a good three hours. There was no electricity at all so we were reliant on torchlight. The interior was very reminiscent of a cave - dark, echoey, dank and musty. The highlights were the conical bases of the brewing vats. Sadly, we didn’t get to see the control room as it was in its heyday. It had been stripped out. But much of the machinery was still in situ within the actual brewhouse part so that made up for that loss. The tanks themselves were enormous. All of them had the hatches open so I stuck my head in one and made a few silly sounds to listen to the echoes. Pretty good place to record sound effects! The rest of the explore was nice and chilled until the following…:

We got back to the ground floor and looked out a window... a security guard had turned up with a big vicious looking German Shepherd. Panic. Hide. Ten minutes later we got to the area near to where we got in. My friend sees a different secca guard running past a door we were holed up behind through a small window on said door (I had just unlocked it to get out by unbolting the top and bottom bolts) to where a broken window was on the opposite side of the building. Joe goes and watches the other side of the building. A minute later I see secca running towards the door. I duck down and then instantly bolt the door at the bottom. A second... literally... later, secca pushes on the door to try and open it and peers in through the glass window. Joe nearly blunders into the view despite me hissing for him to stay back and shut up. Secca walks back to the area where the broken window is. A minute later, we hear him beginning to enter into the room next to us via the broken window: "SECURITY!! WE KNOW YOU ARE HERE!". How they knew we were there I don't know because we didn't see any internal sensors or cameras.

Time to run. I unbolt the door and we both make a break for freedom and miraculously get out unscathed, apart from my hand whose gash reopened. The months of little exercise due to the COVID pandemic was apparent. A short 100-meter run was an absolute killer! Enjoy the photos though.


The Boiler House:

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This pic came out blurred, but I like the effect of the gauge glass showing a clear reflection.

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Main Brewing Complex:

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This was the point we spotted the security so the photos are cut shorter than I'd want. But, thanks for readin'!
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Nicely covered. Hope your hand is recovering. That was a close brush lol. Hard to light places can draw attention if it was gloomy or dark, but I see the sky is crystal clear blue. Maybe they heard you. Who knows. Secca having to climb in through a window too pmsl. I always assumed they had keys or a decent way in.
 
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Dragon_Urbex

Guest
Guest
Nicely covered. Hope your hand is recovering. That was a close brush lol. Hard to light places can draw attention if it was gloomy or dark, but I see the sky is crystal clear blue. Maybe they heard you. Who knows. Secca having to climb in through a window too pmsl. I always assumed they had keys or a decent way in.
Thank you. It is scarred over now but is quite uncomfortable. I think the wire sliced through a muscle because whenever I move my hand, the scar tissue sort of tightens and feels weird. It's not too long, but it went DEEP and bled loads. Must take a first aid kit next time. As for secca, there must have been interal sensors or something and health and safety must have not allowed them entry otherwise. I can't think of any other explanation.

Posted a pic of the newly acquired scar on my hand as well. Barbed wire and razor wire are now my sworn enemies!
Ouch.jpg
 

jxck.urbex

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Very nice report, little chase sequence had me sweating just reading it! Good idea on the first aid kit too, barbed wire may aswell have been the bane of me recently.
 
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Dragon_Urbex

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Very nice report, little chase sequence had me sweating just reading it! Good idea on the first aid kit too, barbed wire may aswell have been the bane of me recently.
Thank you. It was a scary one for definite. The guards were like Terminators! I think they're Code9 Security from Basingstoke. Not people you want to be caught by whatsoever!
 

Calamity Jane

i see beauty in the unloved, places & things
Regular User
Thank you. It is scarred over now but is quite uncomfortable. I think the wire sliced through a muscle because whenever I move my hand, the scar tissue sort of tightens and feels weird. It's not too long, but it went DEEP and bled loads. Must take a first aid kit next time. As for secca, there must have been interal sensors or something and health and safety must have not allowed them entry otherwise. I can't think of any other explanation.

Posted a pic of the newly acquired scar on my hand as well. Barbed wire and razor wire are now my sworn enemies!
Ouch.jpg
ooo close to your wrist too. Looks quite wide, yes I bet that smarted.
 

derelictth92

Has a weak spot for staircases
28DL Full Member
Think I was the last one to post it just before lock down secca where hot then I've since found out there are battery operated pirs linked to their hut on the front that's how they knew I was there and probably how they knew you where there
 
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Dragon_Urbex

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Guest
Think I was the last one to post it just before lock down secca where hot then I've since found out there are battery operated pirs linked to their hut on the front that's how they knew I was there and probably how they knew you where there
Ohhh fair fair. The white things on the outside? Those looked dead as anything. Covered in muck and crap, with some of them being in pieces. Makes sense actually.
 

Rachyt

Beauty isn’t always perfection
28DL Full Member
Fantastically written report, I like this a lot! Cracking pics too, I had a nose here a few weeks back but saw the dogs outside the van so decided to give it a miss til another day.
Glad your hand has healed now, I did similar with razor wire around my wrist, not nice at all bled for hours!
 
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Dragon_Urbex

Guest
Guest
Fantastically written report, I like this a lot! Cracking pics too, I had a nose here a few weeks back but saw the dogs outside the van so decided to give it a miss til another day.
Glad your hand has healed now, I did similar with razor wire around my wrist, not nice at all bled for hours!
Thank you! I'm glad you do.

Oh really? Was it Code9 Security at all? I've heard from various people they look after the site. Had I known that previously, I wouldn't have attempted the brewery because Code9 are known to be Terminators and absolute meatheads...!
 

Benyy

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Great write up! Had me on the edge of my seat! Haha I amazed people are still going to this place and the fact it’s still even accessible. So good effort for getting in. The secuirty are a good chase there that’s for sure! I actually broke a rib running away from the “50” there many years ago.

love a good chase! Top work
 

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
Now being demolished according to a friend who lives in Alton. About half gone already.
 

Jack430T

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
The bottling plant and loading bays were completely demolished a few weeks ago. The demolition has now made its way through roughly half of the main building. Walk past regularly, sad to see it go..
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