Chambers Wharf & Cold Stores Ltd
Photos - 10.
Where - London.
Visited - September 2007.
Posted - 2 October 2007.
Categories -
industry, warehouse.
- Contents
- Inside
- On the roof
- City Views
Chambers Wharf is one of the last remaining dockside warehouses in central London. Many larger similar buildings have been demolished or redeveloped - indeed the same fate awaits this building.
It was initially built in the 1930s as a warehouse/cold store for imported meat and other food, and was used for this purpose up until the 1980s. A During the war, the military briefly used it; and there are rumours of bomb shelters underneath going under the Thames.
After closure, it was used as a gold bullion store & document store. Two episodes of The Professionals were also filmed there.
Inside
Only had a quick look around on one floor inside - apparently all 8 floors are like this - that's over 500,000 sq ft of space!
On the roof
Not much on the roof - just fire escapes and a flag pole.
City Views
The roof provided some great views of most of the key London sights. The City. The Docklands. Tower Bridge. Almost the Wheel. Everything! Awesome.
Your Comments
Posted 29 July 2008, 18:10 From trevor grant
I worked for a short period at Chambers Wharf in 1967 laying floors.
The floors had a latex ingredient which were mixed with cement.
We stayed at a doss house in Tooley St called Tooley's.
I had to return in the early hours of the morning to give a final finish to the floor before it set hard. When I switched the (very dim) lights on to travel down a passageway, the floor was heaving with about 200 rats which were running every whichway.
As you may imagine, I was very unsettled at this.
To cut a long story short,I managed to kill one with the stick that I stirred my finish slurry. I stood on the lower balcony and threw the rat into the river, which settled my feelings. At last I felt in control of the situation. It was hard luck for the rat but it made an intolerable situation slightly better for me.
What, with the mixture of doss houses and rats, it seems a very Orwellian tale.
Just two days ago, I travelled past Chambers Wharf on a boat to the O2 Arena. This is the first time I have seen it in over 40 years. Unlike the rest of the area, it hasn't changed one bit.
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