The Bass Maltings in Sleaford are a group of eight currently disused malt houses, originally owned by the Bass Brewery of Burton upon Trent, built between 1901 and 1907. Situated in the agricultural county of Lincolnshire, the Maltings made use of barley which was widely grown in Sleaford and the surrounding area, however by 1959 the development of more efficient techniques at Bass's other plants led to its closure.
In the meantime, it has had a number of other uses such as to keep chickens, however has never been fully occupied since it ceased its original use in 1959. Furthermore, a fire in 1976 caused severe damage in three of the malthouses, and it has laid derelict since the 1990s.
There have been plans to redevelop it (keeping many original features due to its Grade II listed status) into a mixed-use residential and enterprise 'quarter', however it was as early as 2004 that a regeneration scheme proposed redevelopment into a residential, retail and business space, with plans being submitted in 2009, but disagreements over a link road into the site and the withdrawal of Tesco's £20m supermarket investment meant that the plans have been effectively on hold since around 2012.
The various fires that the building has suffered (most recently in 2014) are evident in the condition of the buildings, most obviously in the roofs, however the parts we accessed seemed to be in serviceable condition.
Visiting with JX3MST and two non members, access to the site itself was relatively easy, however between each brewery is a set of gates, varying in difficulty to get round/over/through.
We started in one of the buildings to the edge of the site furthest from the main gate, simply by chance from seeing an ajar door, however upon further inspection of the floor inside we decided we should choose another building.
We decided to move onto the main event, being the water tower with the infamous spiral stairs leading up to it.
Apologies for the poor quality photo, although I wanted to show the next set of stairs, which were made of very precarious-feeling wood...
More photos of the inside of the water tower
And finally onto the roof!
It has become a theme to take a group photo wherever we go, and what better a place than the top of the water tower!
Unfortunately, at this point our visit was cut short as moments after the previous photo was taken we heard the main gate open, and saw a man in hi-vis walking towards us. We made our way down as quickly as possible (rather difficult with the set of ladders right at the top, and the wooden stairs that couldn't be trusted with the load of more than one person), and unfortunately didn't escape but were accosted at the top of the spiral staircase.
Fortunately the security guard was rather friendly in the end, after realising our only interest was photos and that we were somewhat sensible (he first threatened to call police and asked us to show how we got in) and we ended up having a nice chat, after which he let us out of the main gate. It's slightly annoying that we didn't get to look around more of the site, however the view was definitely worth the 2 hour drive!
Thanks to James for most of the photos, hope you enjoyed the report and any feedback is much appreciated!
In the meantime, it has had a number of other uses such as to keep chickens, however has never been fully occupied since it ceased its original use in 1959. Furthermore, a fire in 1976 caused severe damage in three of the malthouses, and it has laid derelict since the 1990s.
There have been plans to redevelop it (keeping many original features due to its Grade II listed status) into a mixed-use residential and enterprise 'quarter', however it was as early as 2004 that a regeneration scheme proposed redevelopment into a residential, retail and business space, with plans being submitted in 2009, but disagreements over a link road into the site and the withdrawal of Tesco's £20m supermarket investment meant that the plans have been effectively on hold since around 2012.
The various fires that the building has suffered (most recently in 2014) are evident in the condition of the buildings, most obviously in the roofs, however the parts we accessed seemed to be in serviceable condition.
Visiting with JX3MST and two non members, access to the site itself was relatively easy, however between each brewery is a set of gates, varying in difficulty to get round/over/through.
We started in one of the buildings to the edge of the site furthest from the main gate, simply by chance from seeing an ajar door, however upon further inspection of the floor inside we decided we should choose another building.
We decided to move onto the main event, being the water tower with the infamous spiral stairs leading up to it.
Apologies for the poor quality photo, although I wanted to show the next set of stairs, which were made of very precarious-feeling wood...
More photos of the inside of the water tower
And finally onto the roof!
It has become a theme to take a group photo wherever we go, and what better a place than the top of the water tower!
Unfortunately, at this point our visit was cut short as moments after the previous photo was taken we heard the main gate open, and saw a man in hi-vis walking towards us. We made our way down as quickly as possible (rather difficult with the set of ladders right at the top, and the wooden stairs that couldn't be trusted with the load of more than one person), and unfortunately didn't escape but were accosted at the top of the spiral staircase.
Fortunately the security guard was rather friendly in the end, after realising our only interest was photos and that we were somewhat sensible (he first threatened to call police and asked us to show how we got in) and we ended up having a nice chat, after which he let us out of the main gate. It's slightly annoying that we didn't get to look around more of the site, however the view was definitely worth the 2 hour drive!
Thanks to James for most of the photos, hope you enjoyed the report and any feedback is much appreciated!
