Wednesday 16 November 2011

Tavistock Road - A386








Old petrol station. Now used as hand car wash. Perfect site for design project. Urban location.

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=5354





Abandoned Petrol Station, A38 near Derby
After taking a massive detour across open countryside including a building site for a new marina because of the most direct road being closed and being roasted by the hot weather I eventually arrived in Findern - this was only half the journey. I then had to traipse across more land to get to a rusty little petrol station.

I don't know much about this petrol station or its twin across the road, I do remember them being in use when I was a kid (early 1990s). They both closed in the mid 1990s, the Derby/Mansfield bound station has since been returned to use as part of a haulage depot, while this one for those bound towards Burton and the West Midlands has gradually declined to a rusting ruin. The site was briefly the encampment for some travellers a few years back however they moved on.

Its been vandalised to high heaven, the shop building is extensively trashed to the point where partitions have been ripped down, and a gaping hole has formed in the wall facing onto the A38 and the roof supports are dropping down. The canopy over the pumps is also falling apart, and is rusting quite heavily.

While not spectacular, it was certainly thought provoking - could this be what the bleak future beholds for car infrastructure? The car succeeded the railway, but what will succeed the car? Could urban explorers in the future be exploring the remains of abandoned motorways and service stations with rusting gantries and crumbling flyovers?

Perhaps i'm thinking too far ahead...