History
Built from Abingdon Abbey's old cornmill. ( The original wheel still sits in place today incorporated inside the old restaurant )
Opened in January 1971 by Mrs Claire Spurgin , Mrs Spurgin used the same pair of scissors that her sister had used in 1929 at the official opening of the reconstruction work on Abingdon Bridge.
The hotel is situated virtually on an island on the river Thames and offers 31 rooms.
It is part of the old Abingdon Abbey which was built in the 10th Century, there are still ruins there to see today.
In 2015, the current leaseholder Contemporary Hotels Ltd closed the hotel citing a ‘prolonged period of losses’.
The Explore
Ive been trying to get inside the Upper Reaches for a few years now but every time i checked it was always sealed with extremely thick boards.
Must have been last year sometime when i last checked it looked as if someone had been working on a way in.
Fast forward to this year i decided it was time for another look.
Problem with this place is uve Iver gotta go really late at night or very early in the morning as uve got 2 pubs and a row of houses looking on to the site.
With a week off work i finally got my arse up there late-ish 1 night last week to check whether any progress had been made to the potential way in, sure enough someone (quite possibly a group of kids ) had made a lovely little entry point.
So a couple of days later me and the gf got there early 1 morning and finally explored inside...
Now i have to say after all this time wondering what it was like inside and only seeing a few pics on here i wasn't overly impressed actually, the only redeeming feature was of course the huge water wheel inside the old restaurant.
Other than that it was all a bit bland, The reception and bar area looked more suited for an old night club. And the rooms were bland and samey and painted in the most bizarre colours ranging from green, purple and blue.
Its hardly surprising this place closed,
Built from Abingdon Abbey's old cornmill. ( The original wheel still sits in place today incorporated inside the old restaurant )
Opened in January 1971 by Mrs Claire Spurgin , Mrs Spurgin used the same pair of scissors that her sister had used in 1929 at the official opening of the reconstruction work on Abingdon Bridge.
The hotel is situated virtually on an island on the river Thames and offers 31 rooms.
It is part of the old Abingdon Abbey which was built in the 10th Century, there are still ruins there to see today.
In 2015, the current leaseholder Contemporary Hotels Ltd closed the hotel citing a ‘prolonged period of losses’.
The Explore
Ive been trying to get inside the Upper Reaches for a few years now but every time i checked it was always sealed with extremely thick boards.
Must have been last year sometime when i last checked it looked as if someone had been working on a way in.
Fast forward to this year i decided it was time for another look.
Problem with this place is uve Iver gotta go really late at night or very early in the morning as uve got 2 pubs and a row of houses looking on to the site.
With a week off work i finally got my arse up there late-ish 1 night last week to check whether any progress had been made to the potential way in, sure enough someone (quite possibly a group of kids ) had made a lovely little entry point.
So a couple of days later me and the gf got there early 1 morning and finally explored inside...
Now i have to say after all this time wondering what it was like inside and only seeing a few pics on here i wasn't overly impressed actually, the only redeeming feature was of course the huge water wheel inside the old restaurant.
Other than that it was all a bit bland, The reception and bar area looked more suited for an old night club. And the rooms were bland and samey and painted in the most bizarre colours ranging from green, purple and blue.
Its hardly surprising this place closed,
