Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Masons Arms
Just about everyone on the local scene had been to ‘The Masons Arms’ before I got there which included my buddy @anidiotexplores.
You could say this was on the local TourBus but there could be potential complaints about the lack of quality from the unsuspecting passengers disembarking.
It was not going to be a stellar A+ explore I knew, but it was our first stop and very probably not a fail especially having been given the heads up.
Finding even a smidge of history about ‘The Masons Arms’ was not easy though I found this archive image reputed to have been taken in 1928.
There are also plans to build an apartment block which would mean the demolition of yet another part of England’s history. After my explore I was no longer sure that was going to happen.
The junction of the old pub was extremely busy and I knew I would have to dice with death standing in the middle of the road to get some of the externals.
We quickly got inside by another means and surveyed the scene. Was it being renovated or were the support poles there to stop the roof caving in?
I have been in much worse and had no doubts we would get out very much alive, even stomping around upstairs.
‘Wound Management’ is a new one for me. Is that a technical term for project managers in the health industry?
Things had been stacked up in some kind of order with quite a lot left behind. The pictures likely adorned the pub walls once.
A very dusty VHS player; one day these will be valuable again, just give it 30 years or so.
It was stripped down to the brickwork. I am not fond of exploring renovated properties but as we were already here I found it hard to walk away.
There were things to be seen, and the upstairs had yet to be viewed.
It is popular here to go out on Christmas day and let the pub do all the cooking. They charge exorbitant prices and you have to book well in advance.
Brand new Indian Tonic water, sadly expired if you believe all that expired bullshit on food products.
The second storey, or what we call ‘upstairs’ was more interesting.
Planks had been torn off with upturned nails ready to penetrate the bottoms of your feet if not careful.
This would have been the living quarters for the last proprietor who was named Mr. S. Birt.
This stack of letters was not beside the front door but in a large pile upstairs. He was well aware of them and chose to leave them unopened.
Being the nosey bastard that I am, I could not resist checking one that was delivered from HMRC (Her Majesties Revenue & Customs), aka the Tax People or IRS to you Americans.
Jeez, £20500 and you must pay now! Mr. Birt must have been in some kind of hurry to GTFO (Get The Fuck Out). This was around four years ago.
Yes we get the picture, you need some wine in the kitchen. Why write it in a diary?
It's refreshing to see someone do maths the old-fashioned way. No calculators at ‘The Masons Arms’.
Getting around in the upstairs rooms was not so easy and required you to climb over white goods that were strategically placed to get in the way.
Guinness mats and even a Guinness cup. Is that for coffee or… Guinness?
We descended and I looked out of the front window. Many cars at that damn junction. How do they expect me to get great photographs when they are all perched at the traffic lights?
Fortunately, we visited at the weekend when the builders are at home. During the week it may have been off-limits.
There was plenty of unopened mail behind the old front door.
Refurbishment or demolition? It did look like the former which would be preferable. I did enjoy our tromp through ‘The Masons Arms’.
Some security and locks might be wise if work is going to continue without unwanted vandalism hampering the progress.
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'Tales of the Urban Explorer'
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I had that exact TV cabinet that was upstairs up until not so long ago!
That phone box painting was in pretty good nick wasn't it?
There was an even a TV in there to place on it. Add the VHS player and root around for some dodgy video's to watch while exploring. Now why didn't I think of that at the time?
You could have got settled in for the evening with all the white goods!!
Guinness and Tonic water, how does that mix?
I dread to think. Maybe the tonic would sit on top of it like some weird cocktail. Eeurgh
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Those are already very valuable to many people. Just like vinyl disc players/phonographs.
I had a VHS player and VHS casettes in my childhood, but no vinyl disc player/phonographs.
I have seen those only on videos/movies so far. It would be interesting to hear their sounds in real life.
They are currently at the stage of being classed as junk here. It will need a few more years for the mindset to change.
If vinyl can make such a big comeback, so can VHS (I preferred Betamax tbh)
I'm sure it will, these things go in cycles from being junk and unwanted to being cool and retro again. I see many on my UX travels, sometimes Betamax.
image source
If you find a TRS-80, cough, 😉 🤣
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80_Model_4
There was a time when I scoured the Sunday junk markets for gems like this. It was around 2001 and you could pick up all kinds of 80's home computers for peanuts. As time went on there were less and eventually you would not think computers ever existed. I miss those days.
There's a TRS-80 on ebay in a shabby condition, untested, going for $1500.00! Back in 2008 Cray Supercomputers released the CX1 a personal computer. At the time they were just under a grand in the UK and I could have got one through/for, definitely for work (VAT cough) for probably £800 odd? The price of those, if you can find one, is insane.
Not the worst you've done by far. There's hope it will be done up and find some use again. Were those blocks of stone in one room? You really don't want to owe the taxman lots of money though.
Watch out for those nails!
!BEER
There was definitely some refurbishment going on. Better to try and seal the place up if that is the case. I have seen some demands in other pubs (it seems quite normal), but not of that scale! !BEER
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In truth, this is the first, in your blog, that I'm seeing these places!
Oh there's many more to come, it takes time to write just one of these.
I look forward to it, @slobberchops 😆😜
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Still some good stuff to see, wound management, thats a new one!
It's tough up north, we don't get cuts, we get fucking wounds.
Plenty of stuff yet, though Manchester is getting a little stale these days. We keep meaning to veto the city and yet last Friday I found myself there again in a midst of fails.
Oh dear!!!
I'ts awhile since I have visited, i do tend to go more rural, when I am out and about.
It's good that they are at least trying to fix it up. I hate seeing nice old buildings like that go to waste. I agree, they need to get it under lock before more red "wanker" like graffiti ends up on the other windows and walls.
Old establishments with awesome history, except owning taxman an arm and a leg, no wonder they do a run....
Impressive old entry with wall lighting street side, legally able to photograph without a care in the world!
Nice run through @slobberchops have a great new week!
It's not the first pub I have been in and seen these tax demands!
No wonder they are all shutting down, tax on alcohol in establishments are like highway robbers running rampant everywhere.
😍
I love finding old pages and remember what the calculations and notes were about. Sometimes its been too long and I like starting to guess. I do this also with digital notes but somehow its not the same. The mess on paper has something in it.
I do look for handwritten scribbles, there are stories to be read sometimes.
Scribbles :) thats the word ;)
For a place that only been abandoned for 3-4yrs, there's a lot of destruction gone on in there...
And so much cool stuff left behind and some of it was in such good nic still...
So if My Birt owed 20k Pds, then I wonder if poor Shannon got paid...
Good question, did any of them get paid?
Well if they didn't in $$$, then I saw plenty of other stuff left there that could've been well recvd at a pawn shop...🤣
Well I suppose the £20500 owed to HRMC might possibly have something to do with the building being abandoned and in such disarray.
Yes, they legged it probably. Better to change identity as well.
Yes, I'm sure that by now Mr. S Birt is Mrs. B Sirt.
Yes! You wouldn't want to let anyone in there who didn't belong! Kidding. If everyone were like you guys, they would leave the doors open.
I agree with you, it will be a renovation job, too much care and trouble put into keeping it all nice to give it the axe. As much as I didn't think it would be interesting, I liked the brickwork with the fireplace and the old pictures.
They had some really nice pieces of history there. Thanks for the tour! You are the best!
The UK is full of history and it surprises me how Americans react when here. We take it all for granted as it's on our doorstop. It is disappearing a little at a time, especially the old mills.
I worked in one briefly when I was young and it was terrible, even worse than Kwiksave.
I have been reading you not so long ago, so this post turned out to be the most exciting for me (don't tell me that I can read the rest at any time... maybe when we start being friends as families). Probably this place turned out to be the most interesting for me, because it is not completely abandoned, there are a lot of objects and details that can be considered.
And I can understand why Mr. Birt owes so much taxes... Adding up in a column is not his strong suit
961981Hahaha didn't know that there's so much you could find in such a place :)