Quite a busy first day of Urbexing! Earlier in the day I’d been to Couldsen Shelters, Epsom Social Club and St Peters Mortuary with assimilate and sentinel. In the evening I took on Streatham Megabowl with The_Raw and again a few days later with sentinel and The_Raw. This place was excellent and good fun to explore, occupying quite a bit of time each visit.
History: Streatham MegaBowl was formerly the Gaumont Palace cinema and opened in March 1932. Gaumont was a chain of cinemas which never really made it and was bought by Odeon. In July 1944 it was damaged by a German V1 rocket. In 1961 it closed as a cinema and the interior was reconstructed into bowling alleys over two levels, opening as the largest in Europe in January 1962. As a cinema it was not missed. There were others close by and the interior was described as having acoustic problems and echoes. A Lazer Quest was added at an upper level in later years before the whole place closed in early 2008. Since then there have been talks of redevelopment, but little has been confirmed.
The place today: Condition inside is typical decay with varying levels of vandalism. There is graffiti and in some places lots of litter (mostly beer cans). The bowling machinery is gone and some woodwork removed from the lanes. Large sections of ceiling tiles have fallen and rotted on the carpets. The Lazer Quest appears almost unaltered. Upper levels have office litter and bird muck. Half of the roof is flat with a surrounding wall a few feet high. The loft area, not surprisingly, has plenty of bird muck but is worth a look. Being a place of few windows there is little damp or draft inside the building, but as a result it can be pretty dusty.
Also a flickr set here Streatham Megabowl - a set on Flickr
History: Streatham MegaBowl was formerly the Gaumont Palace cinema and opened in March 1932. Gaumont was a chain of cinemas which never really made it and was bought by Odeon. In July 1944 it was damaged by a German V1 rocket. In 1961 it closed as a cinema and the interior was reconstructed into bowling alleys over two levels, opening as the largest in Europe in January 1962. As a cinema it was not missed. There were others close by and the interior was described as having acoustic problems and echoes. A Lazer Quest was added at an upper level in later years before the whole place closed in early 2008. Since then there have been talks of redevelopment, but little has been confirmed.
The place today: Condition inside is typical decay with varying levels of vandalism. There is graffiti and in some places lots of litter (mostly beer cans). The bowling machinery is gone and some woodwork removed from the lanes. Large sections of ceiling tiles have fallen and rotted on the carpets. The Lazer Quest appears almost unaltered. Upper levels have office litter and bird muck. Half of the roof is flat with a surrounding wall a few feet high. The loft area, not surprisingly, has plenty of bird muck but is worth a look. Being a place of few windows there is little damp or draft inside the building, but as a result it can be pretty dusty.
Also a flickr set here Streatham Megabowl - a set on Flickr
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