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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis was originally a lock keeper’s cottage, but it was later converted into a restaurant. I’d stopped off there for a drink a couple of times while walking the canal. But it was severely damaged by fire in 2013 and has been derelict ever since. I was reminded of it when I walked past a few months ago and was tempted to go inside then, but I was with my auntie and I didn’t think she’d be up for hanging around outside while I went exploring (though in her younger days she’d probably have come in with me). Then I saw someone else’s photos of the place online and decided it was time I paid it a proper visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the stone front facade still stands, the rest of the building is absolutely wrecked, especially the eastern end where the ground floor is buried under a deep pile of rubble that was once the upper floor. As I gingerly stepped under the concrete beams holding up what was left of the top storey, I noticed some worrying cracks and bends in them. Oh well, I thought, They’ve held up in this state for eleven years, they’ll probably manage a few more minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The western end and back of the building is slightly more intact. The kitchen was down a flight of stairs from the ground floor and was still identifiably a kitchen as cookers and other metal items in there had survived the fire, though the wall coverings weren’t so lucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were also toilets, walls still tiled, and with broken and soot-blackened plumbing fixtures lying around. It was no longer possible to identify what the other rooms used to be, and I wasn’t in there often enough to remember the old layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few years ago there were plans to demolish most of the building, retaining only the historic front wall, and replace it with a new restaurant, but nothing seemed to come of this. Whatever the future holds for the building, I hope the facade at least will survive, as there aren’t many lock keeper’s cottages left, and it’s an important part of the canal’s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (I get to add a new category to the blog for this, yay!). This wasn’t a huge building, but it was a significant one for me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s the only place I’ve ever explored that I’d previously been inside while it was still in use. And secondly, I’m a massive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leisure-and-hospitality","category-mini-explores","category-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1307,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions\/1307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcat.org.uk\/urbex\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"