Abandoned sea life centre

In my abandoned restaurant post a couple of months ago I noted that it was the first abandoned building I’d ever explored that I’d previously been inside when it was still in use. Well, now it’s already been joined by another one.

This was actually the UK’s first sea life centre when it opened in 1979. I visited a few years later while staying nearby with my parents. I think I found a leaflet for it in the hotel lounge and pestered them to take me there, so we visited on a rainy Thursday towards the end of our holiday. I was only five at the time so I don’t remember many details, but I know I did enjoy it.

It’s changed a bit since then. Sadly, declining visitor numbers forced the attraction to close its doors in 2018, with the animals being transferred to other sea life centres, of which there are now several. This was my second attempt to explore it. The first time (about 3 years ago) I didn’t go in because it looked as if there was possibly some kind of work going on there, but having now been inside it looks very much as if it was just fenced up and left to rot after closure, so maybe there was no work after all.

There were three buildings (three that I found, at least) in the now-overgrown grounds, all built in a sort of timber chalet style. At the entrance was a small gatehouse where people paid to go in, the ticket desk still surviving mostly intact inside. This was as far as my friend went – not being as obsessed with abandoned buildings as me and not wearing suitable footwear for negotiating the treacherous ankle-deep pools of gloop that lay around the site, he sensibly opted to wait for me outside while I explored the rest.

It was evident that just about everything had been left behind when the centre closed for the last time. At least two fairly modern flat panel TVs lay on the ground. At the far end of the site was a medium sized building with a veranda that once overlooked the small otter pool. The now-uninhabited pool, collecting junk and still overlooked by the information posters about its former furry residents, made for a melancholy sight. As did the seal’s face staring forlornly up at me from a poster lying in one of the very trashed rooms inside the building.

Finally I turned my attention to the main event: the largest building, the one that had once contained the aquariums housing most of the sea creatures, and with a sizeable pool outside as well (now empty). As is my way, I made life difficult for myself by clambering in through the window of the former office, getting covered in plaster dust in the process… later discovering that I could have just walked in through the open exterior door further round. Ah well.

There was quite a lot to see in there. At one end was a large open space, while the other was divided into smaller rooms. There were many tanks, now all empty save for assorted debris, as well as various equipment and displays dating from when the centre was open. It was weird being able to wander through the areas that would have been restricted to staff only back then, including plant rooms and areas behind and above the tanks themselves.

There was one dark, low-ceilinged area with green walls moulded into interesting shapes, and numerous former aquarium tanks. This was still home to one furry inhabitant.