San Domenican Hotel/Resturant, Cobham. August 2021 *24 pics*

Haven’t had a chance to do an explore for SO long so I’m glad I managed to get the time to do this one.

I saw this place over a year ago while travelling down the A3 for work and just HAD to do it at some point! My wife has been talking about us visiting somewhere recently but didn’t want to travel too far, this seemed like the perfect fit (we’re roughly 45mins or so drive away in Croydon, S.E London).

we arrived, parked up and went and bought a coffee before going in. I ended up going into this location alone, my FIRST solo explore, as my wife didn’t feel comfortable enough to make her way in. I must say, on a
Small side note, that in the interest of getting into the location without detection (a Starbucks is VERY present lol) I managed to vault the red and white highway barrier/wall but also managed to completely miss steadying myself with my hands and promptly landed on my side causing a large scratch on my leg, a smaller one on my are and a rather painful internal bruising to my back and side lmao!

Once inside I realised that it was a lot larger inside than it had looked on the outside. Met by a large, bright foyer, complete with what would have been a
Lovely fireplace and a nice looking staircase. Above the door is a sign that read “Bar” that would have been lit up during the night although it seemed to “feel” more like a large house than a bar (also no sign of a bar area anywhere inside the building).
Once I found my way upstairs, the main hallway lead off into several different rooms (some small, some large) and at some point I think somebody would have been squatting in there as there were fairly recent food tins, drinks cans and some older bedding material. Many of the rooms seemed to feel like large bedrooms, the only toilet being towards the back of the lower floor section.

At the top of the main staircase was another smaller one…..that lead to a rather dark attic! A dark attic I wasn’t completely comfortable with going into on my own….but alas, I climbed the stairs, took some pictures and made a hasty retreat back down lol.

After making my way back down I noticed another door….more darkness, another staircase…..another place I didn’t really want to go to on my own….and this time I didn’t. I heard some rustling down there that ACTUALLY sound more like rats then anything else but one can never be too careful in these positions. I made my way back to my point of entry, clambered back over the barrier (WITHOUT hurting myself this time) and made my way back down to the M25 and home.

Some History now:


Formally The Mayflower Hotel, the site became The San Domenico in 1976. The main building housed the restaurant with letting rooms and staff accommodation above, while the coach house provided more rooms. The business closed down in the early part of 1990 and had been abandoned ever since. An application to turn the 2 buildings back into a hotel fell through in 2000 and In January 2015 Elmbridge Borough Council gave permission for the coach house to be developed into a drive-through cafe along with parking and vehicular access. Apparently Costa Coffee were looking into using the site but it’s now occupied by a Starbucks. It’s reported that at least 200 people attended an illegal rave at the property in 2006 with some allegedly staying on as s Work was completed on the acceleration and deceleration lanes in 2011 to make sure access to the site was safe to and from the A3.

the site also has some rumours attached to it, apparently….

1)
Many people have suggested the site is used to secure either shady government aides or mafia-style henchman.
There have been alleged sightings of helicopters accessing the grounds, men in dark glasses patrolling the estate, and a solitary light bulb that illuminates the top floor of the main building at night...
2) the gentleman’s club Spearmint Rhino apparently had interest in the site at one point
3) BMW also looked into having a showroom on the site (my company deliver to a variety of car showrooms including Lexus, Toyota, Ford, Honda and BMW/Cooper and can say with confidence that this would be an IDEAL site for a car show room)