Colindale Hospital, LON, March 2009

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Colindale Asylum was opened at the turn of the century but by 1996 closure had began being completed by 2004. Renamed as Colindale Hospital after the formation of the NHS hospital in 1948, originally it was used to care for victims of TB but was latterly used for the care of older people. Most of the hospital had been stripped out of anything interesting but a few artefacts remain, such as the x-ray equipment. Down in the basement is another story. A treasure trove of old hospital equipment and one room full of all of the accoutrements required for a later day fun fair. There is even a small recording/radio studio. Truly fascinating stuff to look at, like a trip in a time machine.

Unfortunately we ended up going on a weekday, which in retrospect, probably wasn't the best idea, as the site was full of workmen. Straight after we got in we narrowly missed the security guard only because he was walking away from us with his back turned. We made it around the rest of the hospital OK but on the way out we had to hide from the workmen as one of them heard us. How they didn't find us I don't know as they past within feet of us. We had to slip down what must have been an old chute of some kind to get back to the basement. From there we went to our access point only to find a lorry had parked opposite it. We went back inside an eventually found an open window to slip out of and then "Houdini" style through the fencing.

The site is now demolished.