| Greenford 'mystery' building 21:27 - Jan 26 with 34895 views | Marc |
Travelling through Greenford today I passed by this building:
I've passed it on many occasions but never really given it much thought. For as long as I can remember it has been abandoned, just sitting there. Anyone have any info or background on it? What it might have been used for and when it was built?
The same spot also got me thinking about what used to be where the housing complex with the Lidl shop now is (behind the mystery building in the picture). I had a quick google and found this pic:
I have no recollection of that building (for me, going back to the early 90's). Again, anyone know anything about it? |  | | |  |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 22:01 - Jan 27 with 4023 views | runnermo |
Long time lurker sticking his head above the parapet here just because I saw mention of Greenford... I walk past that mystery building every day on my way to work. My Nan used to live directly opposite and my old man assured me it was an old electricity sub-station.
And yeah the office building was Taylor Woodrow offices, used to have a sneaky 'urban exploration' when it was derelict when I was in sixth form with a few mates, to throw stones at windows and other such youthfully exuberant games... Good times.
Good thread to reminisce in, cheers all! |  | | |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 09:54 - Jan 28 with 3905 views | hovehoop |
Taylor Woodrow's site was vast. A subsidiary called Taywood Engineering worked at the rear. They had extensive test facilities for construction materials and components. This included a large concrete slab with full scale mock-ups of facades intended for office buildings in London and elsewhere. The place was like a film set and some samples rose six stories about the ground. These samples were subject to air and water testing and a prop aero engine was mounted in front of them. This pulsed air at the samples to simulate dynamic wind pressure. It made a racket. The testing could be quite sophisticated and Taywood could induce building movements and seismic conditions to see if the samples performed adequately before manufacture and inclusion on buildings. On a few occasions glass was blown out of samples during tests. They also did tests on enormous blades used for wind turbines. This involved fixing the blades one end and putting a counter weight the other end that bounced up and down to simulated wind loads. The site was earmarked for redevelopment and Taywood's moved to Leighton Buzzard and were later taken over by Vinci. Nowadays, the aero engine test is repeated the world over and test facilities show their patriotism by using aero engines originating from the test country. So, we would use British plane engines and the Germans would use theirs. |  | | |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 10:36 - Jan 28 with 3890 views | dontknowitall |
Having been born and bred in the 'religion'/cult now known as Plymouth Brethren until I ran away at the age of 17 I never thought that I would see it appear on this forum. If you think that their churches do not look inviting you are quite correct because all are most definitely are NOT welcome, in fact are to be discouraged in every possible way! They recently changed their name from Exclusive Brethren after an extensive investigation by the Charities Commission threatened to remove their charity status for being distinctly unchristian like! There also used to be one of their churches on Drayton Bridge Road, Hanwell, the other side of the railway to Copley Close which is the one I used to attend. It is now a Sikh temple. To a certain degree, apart from having to go to church every single day of the week and 5 times every Sunday, it was my love of all things football, especially Queens Park Rangers that led me to leave my entire family behind, (they are actually all still in it), and strike out on my own in this big bad world! In my early teens I used to cycle from Ealing to Loftus Road, (bicycles are allowed unlike tv, the radio, eating with anyone not in the religion, beards, the cinema, sex before marriage, voting and the Sun newspaper!) and stand outside listening to the roar from inside the stadium. The day I managed to get my first autograph, Rashid Harkouk, will live in my memory forever! |  | | |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 10:53 - Jan 28 with 3863 views | Hoop_Du_Jour |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 10:36 - Jan 28 by dontknowitall |
Having been born and bred in the 'religion'/cult now known as Plymouth Brethren until I ran away at the age of 17 I never thought that I would see it appear on this forum. If you think that their churches do not look inviting you are quite correct because all are most definitely are NOT welcome, in fact are to be discouraged in every possible way! They recently changed their name from Exclusive Brethren after an extensive investigation by the Charities Commission threatened to remove their charity status for being distinctly unchristian like! There also used to be one of their churches on Drayton Bridge Road, Hanwell, the other side of the railway to Copley Close which is the one I used to attend. It is now a Sikh temple. To a certain degree, apart from having to go to church every single day of the week and 5 times every Sunday, it was my love of all things football, especially Queens Park Rangers that led me to leave my entire family behind, (they are actually all still in it), and strike out on my own in this big bad world! In my early teens I used to cycle from Ealing to Loftus Road, (bicycles are allowed unlike tv, the radio, eating with anyone not in the religion, beards, the cinema, sex before marriage, voting and the Sun newspaper!) and stand outside listening to the roar from inside the stadium. The day I managed to get my first autograph, Rashid Harkouk, will live in my memory forever! |
Interesting insight, it all sounds a bit Amish, apart from the beards. There's a lot of their women come in shopping where I work and they're always quite pleasant. |  | | |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 11:52 - Jan 28 with 3830 views | Bushman |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 19:47 - Jan 27 by TearsOfaClown |
I remember the Oldfield in the 70's and the Disco Nights . . . trouble was it was very hard to get too from South Harrow without a car - no direct bus round and no tube - and not a nice walk home through Northolt . . . and who did taxi's in those days.
I used to go to Richmond instead - had a brilliant time in the bierkellar which was by a right fright of a place called Cheeky Petes.
The last time I went there I was mistaken for somebody else - and after a few strangers calling me by the wrong name and the barman saying "I'm surprised to see you back in here" I left before you could say "Earth Wind and Fire". |
Downstairs "Brollys" imaginatively named coz there were a few Skol parosols someone put in there,upstairs Cheeky Petes.
Always good fun-highlight of the evening getting the last tube home and watching it being vandalised whilst people were chased all over the tracks at each stop as well as other high spirited shannanigans.
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| I know almost nothing about the Premier League even though I try to catch the big games every now and then at the end of the season. But I will say this, Queens Park Rangers is just a fukking sick ass team name. Just sounds so cool. |
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| Greenford 'mystery' building on 12:18 - Jan 28 with 3817 views | MrSheen |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 10:36 - Jan 28 by dontknowitall |
Having been born and bred in the 'religion'/cult now known as Plymouth Brethren until I ran away at the age of 17 I never thought that I would see it appear on this forum. If you think that their churches do not look inviting you are quite correct because all are most definitely are NOT welcome, in fact are to be discouraged in every possible way! They recently changed their name from Exclusive Brethren after an extensive investigation by the Charities Commission threatened to remove their charity status for being distinctly unchristian like! There also used to be one of their churches on Drayton Bridge Road, Hanwell, the other side of the railway to Copley Close which is the one I used to attend. It is now a Sikh temple. To a certain degree, apart from having to go to church every single day of the week and 5 times every Sunday, it was my love of all things football, especially Queens Park Rangers that led me to leave my entire family behind, (they are actually all still in it), and strike out on my own in this big bad world! In my early teens I used to cycle from Ealing to Loftus Road, (bicycles are allowed unlike tv, the radio, eating with anyone not in the religion, beards, the cinema, sex before marriage, voting and the Sun newspaper!) and stand outside listening to the roar from inside the stadium. The day I managed to get my first autograph, Rashid Harkouk, will live in my memory forever! |
Very interesting. "I left my family for Rachid Harkouk". Do they tithe their members? Just wondered how they paid for their bunker in Harrow.
On the subject of mysterious buildings and obscure religion, does anyone know anything about the Zoroastrian Centre in Rayners Lane? I've read about it being a dwindling religion as so many young people are marrying out, so is it a busy place? Presumably they're not allowed to chop up their dead on the roof for vultures to take to heaven so what do they do with them? Might liven the place up if you ran the risk of having a bird drop a granny's head through your windscreen as you wait at the lights on Imperial Drive. [Post edited 28 Jan 2015 12:24]
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| Greenford 'mystery' building on 13:39 - Jan 28 with 3779 views | TacticalR |
| Greenford 'mystery' building on 10:36 - Jan 28 by dontknowitall |
Having been born and bred in the 'religion'/cult now known as Plymouth Brethren until I ran away at the age of 17 I never thought that I would see it appear on this forum. If you think that their churches do not look inviting you are quite correct because all are most definitely are NOT welcome, in fact are to be discouraged in every possible way! They recently changed their name from Exclusive Brethren after an extensive investigation by the Charities Commission threatened to remove their charity status for being distinctly unchristian like! There also used to be one of their churches on Drayton Bridge Road, Hanwell, the other side of the railway to Copley Close which is the one I used to attend. It is now a Sikh temple. To a certain degree, apart from having to go to church every single day of the week and 5 times every Sunday, it was my love of all things football, especially Queens Park Rangers that led me to leave my entire family behind, (they are actually all still in it), and strike out on my own in this big bad world! In my early teens I used to cycle from Ealing to Loftus Road, (bicycles are allowed unlike tv, the radio, eating with anyone not in the religion, beards, the cinema, sex before marriage, voting and the Sun newspaper!) and stand outside listening to the roar from inside the stadium. The day I managed to get my first autograph, Rashid Harkouk, will live in my memory forever! |
Your story bears out what I think is an interesting point, that young people brought up in a cult, who you might have expected to be most influenced by the cult are actually quite capable of breaking away from the cult.
By chance last year I read Jenna Miscavige Hill's 'Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape'. She had spent her whole childhood in Scientology (away from her parents who were high up organisers in the cult), but that didn't stop her rejecting the cult. A complicating factor was that her uncle, David Miscavige, is the leader of the cult.
To me the fascinating thing is that such organisations (religious or political) that appear to reject (or transcend) society actually reproduce the structures of that society. [Post edited 28 Jan 2015 13:41]
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| Greenford 'mystery' building on 13:57 - Jan 28 with 3757 views | bigstevec |
Going back to Greenford, is the 'Golden Pancake' still there? Used to have lunch there as treat after shopping in Tesco's, the only big supermarket nearby. |  | | |
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