Tales of the Urban Explorer: The Toxteth Grow House

Welcome back to Liverpool, and Toxteth.., the scene of the infamous riots of the 1980s and likely not far from where @raj808 lives.

I snitched this one off YouTube. A non-caring explorer had filmed himself and the street sign directly behind him. It was likely not intentional but he was hardly giving away a premium explore.

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Someone is looking after ‘The Toxteth Grow House’, but not very well. The original access point we found to be boarded up, but as we quickly found another around the back this was hardly going to hinder our progress.

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This was one not to do alone. I had seen the inside and it was hardly pretty. Like some other old Liverpool townhouses, they are now homes to addicts, the homeless, and asylum seekers, some of which have little command of the English language.

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You could say it was a ‘filler’ explore, a little like a shitty track on an otherwise decent album.

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Crawling through a dusty hole we emerged in derp paradise, and seemingly on the second floor. How that happened I could not explain.

Some serious burning had happened in the past and this one would probably be better labelled, 'Shit-Hole Tales of the Urban Explorer'. Does that have a ring to it?

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The plugs appear quite modern and new, but as in most of these old houses, there is little chance of finding out about their history.

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With plenty of daylight emerging through the large cracks in front of the old fireplace, it’s probably not a place to stand close to.

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Check out the upstairs or downstairs first, it was a tough call.

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Opting for the up I ended up in the room with no window that can be seen from the 'side of the house' external shot. Yet another fireplace; did it used to be flats or is Liverpool extremely cold?

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The newspaper is dated 2019 and possibly of Chinese origin, could @livinguktaiwan confirm this?

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What a fucking disgusting mess, never look in black bags. There have been attempts to stabilize the building with poles.

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More of those newspapers; could it be some Chinese destitute person attempting to create a home?

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I could think of much better places to sleep. What if someone trips over you in the night after taking a shit?

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Against my better judgement, I opened the fridge. Let me put it this way; I wouldn't want to sniff that again with your nose.

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The 'E' room. It contained many capital letter 'E's', and little else.

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Holes in the floor with a 12-foot drop require a little dainty footwork, you do get quite used to hopping about and landing like an overweight ballet-dancer.

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The staircase was in remarkably good condition. No holes and the banister did not come away in my hands when grabbed. Luxury exploring.

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The topmost room contained something quite familiar. That tubing is always used with Grows.

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I looked up, and then up again inspecting the ceiling.

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The plastic sheeting is another tell-tale sign. I think it is to provide insulation from the cold. Those plants need to keep warm.

We did not spot any fertilizer or old plants. It must have happened some time ago and the contents were mostly thrown out.

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…' the top-most smallest room that contained an equally small Grow once'…

We headed down the stairs again, careful not to trip over that badly placed mattress. I was not going to touch it..., yeuch.

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The ground floor held little of interest besides a barred room. So much for health and safety, you would die in here if the fire blocked your alternative exit.

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Climbing back up to the original floor we exited out of the hole that looked like it had been dug out by a giant rabbit. If I have found one aspect of Urban Exploring that's predictable, it's the unpredictability.

What a fucking mess. The owner appears to sealed up visible front-side access point and little else. He may have given up on this property and was forced to hang the front board due to visible anti-social behaviour.

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Who cares about the back? the locals will take longer to figure that out before complaining again to the local authorities.

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That one door looks like it was probably pretty impressive back in the day. Might still be able to restore it if they can get in there and save some of it before it gets burned again.

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It was already quite burnt. Did you notice it contained a lock. This is as well as the outside door!

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I guess I overlooked that.

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very nice characteristic building , shame it's in such decay, that door in picture nr 5 that woodwork looks like it could have been the house of a dentist

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I have no clue what this one used to be, little chance of finding out besides asking the locals.

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Looks like a death trap with those holes in the floor. Did it get raided by the 'busies'?

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They are so common here, and these are the ones that made the press!

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How many didn't.

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One there in Dorset :) It seems to happen everywhere. I expect there are organised gangs setting them up. Legalising it could put them out of business, but not sure our politicians want to be seen as 'soft on drugs'.

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Are you a Scouser? If so I love you more than I already did. Scouse is my favourite kind of people and accent :).

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No, I have a northern accent but am quite far away from Scouse-land.

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You had a nice day for that explore - the blue skies in the pics are incredible - unlike the inside of the house !

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Yes, we did several in Liverpool, it was a nice day.., and I tend to write them up in order of visits.

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OMG, I can only imagine what might be growing on that mattress. Ewww.

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Outside looks impresive, but inside is too... how ruined it is. Keep up your surprising work. After I read your post, my house feels amazing😅

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They do tend to look OK on the outside, a recurring theme.

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crammed full of illegals at one point do doubt

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A very interesting post you've put to gather @slobberchops, buildings like this for me is a no go area, touring it I’ll just keep feeling something is there that will hunt me 😂

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You opened the fridge hahaha I can just imagine how bad that was.

How do they get the buildings so orange where you're from? Are they a particularly bright type of bricks or are the buildings painted too?

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It's the type of brick they dig up from the local quarries. The house is likely over 100 years old.

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The first image was very attractive but others are quite scary. It resembles with clips from some horror movie.

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Holes in the floor with a 12-foot drop require a little dainty footwork, you do get quite used to hopping about and landing like an overweight ballet-dancer.

Now that would be video worthy!!!

Do I want to know what was in the fridge, or how long it had been living in there???

Might not have been the most fascinating, but it was a fairly interesting place!

This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project

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The fridge was quite bare but stale and pungent. Not opening them is one of the 'UX rules', one that I break often.

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Wow, not much left. Easy access into it too.
Thanks for sharing @slobberchops great captures that still make it interesting to see. 😎👋🏻

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Imagine sleeping in there for a night! Haunted AF!

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(Edited)

With the amount of old sleeping bags I see, it happens often.

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The house looks good on the outside, but the inside is dilapidating.

careful not to trip over that badly placed mattress. I was not going to touch it..., yeuch.

What if you slip from the staircase and fall on it..😂😂😂

That won't be funny right?

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(Edited)

Hi M8

Yeah, that is down the road from me. I googled it and saw it is on Bentley Road, which is a road I know well, as a childhood friend lived on that road when we were kids.

Anyway, I thought I'd pop by and check out the awesome pictures, and walk through. I saw a notification pop up and on peakd for possibly the last time in a long time.

I'm leaving all things online to focus on a long work of fiction. Doing a serious Digital Detox (at least internet-wise). Anyway, I deep dive into why I'm ofskie in Five Years on Hive. I might be back in a year or two to promote the loner writing project I'm working on.

I hope you're doing well, and keep up the good urbex exploring 🙂👍

P.s. that interior does very much look like a smack den tbh 😂

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I always think to stop by and say hello, but we are on such a tight schedule there's no time for all that, one day!

That Welsh Church is next followed by a lot more Liverpool, we hammered the city over last summer. There's not a lot left now for us.

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Yup, that's a local chinese newspaper designed to brainwash you with commie thoughts, I'd advise against reading it 🙃

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What's the worst you have happened upon on these explorations? I can imagine encounters with heroin addicts and discarded needles and all sorts, you'd certainly have to be on your guard I'd imagine, but the photos you share are always a cool insight into these abandoned buildings.

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Did you every fully recover from the stench coming out the fridge. Grow house possibility, soft landings at bottom of stairwell.

Not a fixer upper, keep looking !LOLZ

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Did you every fully recover from the stench coming out the fridge.

I was blasted a full 10 feet backwards into a wall by the foul air. 'Don't ever open the fridge', it's a cardinal rule.

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I would be too scared to, might find body parts or some nefarious activity oddity fall out toward me....

Rules are meant to be broken.... sometimes!

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If body parts are found the UX community on Facebook will be the first to boast about it, before calling the Police. Fame is everything to some of these erm.... 'explorers'.

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I could well imagine, tough competition at the top....

!BEER to relax, still would never open an old fridge door!

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