Whittingham Asylum, Preston

Sometimes you just kinda feel late to the party. That's how you feel in Urbex. There's always them that have been doing it years longer and got to see all the long-demolished cool stuff. With Whittingham we were late but not too late.....
This had been on the radar for a while so we set a date. Unfortunately this coincided with a good friends birthday bash round Leeds so for me, this meant a heavy drinking session and a 4 am wake up call. Cue some hurling on the way to Preston the following morning!
We were exploring blind with this one, with no idea where to go or any access details, we arrived before the sun expecting a quiet Sunday site but were instead met with a hive of activity. The demolition squads were on site and there were people milling around all over. Not really what we needed. Luckily the gate was open and the guard away from his hut so that was the first hurdle over. We walked up the long driveway to the first set of temporary site offices, noticed folk in them so it was off the beaten track from there, across the fields and round the back. The place was a mess and an absolute death-trap. Not that I noticed in my drunken stupor, but every step I took I managed to stand on the wrong thing and the cracks and crunches of broken glass under my feet was enough to wake the dead! A few floors gave way too before we encountered the first worker. Fortunately he didn't see us as he walked past the window with his hi-vis on but it was to be short lived. As we made our escape and scrambled over a wall we heard an "Oi!". Busted. "Alright, fair cop, we're going" I said. "Lads, lads" said the scouse voice. There were two of them, youngish lads from the demo team, overalls on. "Listen boys, this site is f***ked! I don't wanna be phoning your missus' up saying you've gone through the floor and you've broke your back." It was a sobering statement and we nodded in agreement at the sense he made. So we said we'd go but then he took a u-turn and said he'd show us round the site and pointed out where his boss was residing and to keep away from that direction. Did we listen? Nope. A half hour later we wandered into that area only to be nicked by the gaffer who was far less understanding! We left the site with him watching, walked out of sight and re-entered further down the road for another hour of cat and mouse. Although a wreck, the place was so full of character and it was sad to see it being torn down.
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE