Tower Bridge Magistrates Court is a Grade II listed building dating back to 1906. The three storey building was designed by John Dixon Butler with a stone and brickwork exterior and an Edwardian Baroque style roof. The Court entrance is flanked by high socles supporting giant Ionic columns to the 1st and 2nd floors with the Royal coat of Arms above. There are 3 courtrooms, two formal dark wood panelled traditional courtrooms and one 1970's style courtroom (No.3). The court closed it's doors in June 2013 and is now in the process of being turned into a hotel.
I got in here randomly with @Gabe in 2014 and it was funny as fuck. We pressed the doorbell at 6am when we were both drunk and the security guard let us in thinking we were workers, so we strolled in like we owned the place, took a few photos and cracked open some beers in the cells downstairs before getting busted by another security guard. We barely saw half the place on that occasion however so I've been keeping tabs on it ever since and noticed recently that the demolition crew have been in. This means there are multiple new openings around the back of the site and there is no longer 24hr security living inside. Woop woop, time to have another look then! I took a drunken trip with @Maniac one night and what we found to begin with was pretty disappointing to say the least, everything appeared to be stripped bare. It seemed as though we were too late but then bingo, I opened a door which took us into the grand entrance hall and things were starting to look up. From there we found our way into Court 1 which is still in mint condition and then down to the holding cells. Turns out they've kept all the best bits for now but for how long I'm not sure. I revisited with @elliot5200 this week to see what else we could find, there's quite a lot of cool stuff as it happens. Anyway, onto the photos, everything was in pitch darkness so all my photos are torch lit.
I got in here randomly with @Gabe in 2014 and it was funny as fuck. We pressed the doorbell at 6am when we were both drunk and the security guard let us in thinking we were workers, so we strolled in like we owned the place, took a few photos and cracked open some beers in the cells downstairs before getting busted by another security guard. We barely saw half the place on that occasion however so I've been keeping tabs on it ever since and noticed recently that the demolition crew have been in. This means there are multiple new openings around the back of the site and there is no longer 24hr security living inside. Woop woop, time to have another look then! I took a drunken trip with @Maniac one night and what we found to begin with was pretty disappointing to say the least, everything appeared to be stripped bare. It seemed as though we were too late but then bingo, I opened a door which took us into the grand entrance hall and things were starting to look up. From there we found our way into Court 1 which is still in mint condition and then down to the holding cells. Turns out they've kept all the best bits for now but for how long I'm not sure. I revisited with @elliot5200 this week to see what else we could find, there's quite a lot of cool stuff as it happens. Anyway, onto the photos, everything was in pitch darkness so all my photos are torch lit.
1. Dodgy pano taken on my phone in 2014 before the hoarding went up.
2. Yes sir
3. Entrance lobby
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9. Front balcony
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11. Court No.1
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16. Some cool old ink bottles, still full.
17. This was the only carpeted area except for the courts.
18. Court 2
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21. Photo of Court 3 taken in 2014, this appears to have been completely stripped bare now.
22. Onto the holding cells, or ermmm custody suite?
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24. This door was almost as thick as a blast door.
25.
to be continued....
2. Yes sir
3. Entrance lobby
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Front balcony
10.
11. Court No.1
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. Some cool old ink bottles, still full.
17. This was the only carpeted area except for the courts.
18. Court 2
19.
20.
21. Photo of Court 3 taken in 2014, this appears to have been completely stripped bare now.
22. Onto the holding cells, or ermmm custody suite?
23.
24. This door was almost as thick as a blast door.
25.
to be continued....
