Great Western Railway Workers Club, Oxford - November 2022

[Landie_Man]

I try to keep on top of all local explores; but this one seemed to slip me by for the almost 13 years it has been closed! Not much about it, except that it had been closed since 2009 (actually 2010 going by the final parties it had in the early part of that year) and is up for development by the local Cherwell College; who want to turn it into tuition rooms.

It has a lot of weird odds and ends inside it from the construction of the Halls of Residence and also random antiques, which I can only assume were stored here. As I say, its been sitting for so long untouched, and the elements haven't got to it in those years as much as I thought they would considering its construction materials; but it does seem to be slowly "going".

There were lots of tell tale signs of squatters living here as late as 2017, with notices of intent! The well stocked bar contained drinks from 2010!

Thanks to @mookster for the tip off. Visited solo back in November.

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It makes me very old to think "Luke"; whose birthday party was probably one of the last events here; is nearly 23!!!

 

[HistoryBuff]

Good stuff! Nice work. Luke must have kids by now.

 

[Hayman]

When I lived in west London - 1980-2011 - there was still a sign on a lamp post to the GWRSC - Great Western Railway Sports Club. Not only that, but there was a standard GWR Warning to Trespassers cast iron sign by the entrance, smashed in two. The 1900s sports ground club house was being refurbished when a careless
workman with a gas blowtorch started a fire that burnt it down. The present building is a replica of the original, and the fire happened when the whole site had been taken over by a modern health and keep-fit business with new buildings constructed in the grounds. At some time the GWRSC sign was removed from the lamp post - I hope by a railwayana collector.

Also to do with the GWR, when I delivered bundles of the weekly Ealing paper, one of
the drop-offs was W H Smith's at Ealing Broadway Station. This was in the mid 1970s, when dot matrix printers were standard for many jobs - and the addresses of the newsagents were printed on the wrappers for the bundles of newspapers. The address for Smith's at the station was still: W H Smith, GWR Ealing Broadway Station.

 

[Landie_Man]

When I lived in west London - 1980-2011 - there was still a sign on a lamp post to the GWRSC - Great Western Railway Sports Club. Not only that, but there was a standard GWR Warning to Trespassers cast iron sign by the entrance, smashed in two. The 1900s sports ground club house was being refurbished when a careless
workman with a gas blowtorch started a fire that burnt it down. The present building is a replica of the original, and the fire happened when the whole site had been taken over by a modern health and keep-fit business with new buildings constructed in the grounds. At some time the GWRSC sign was removed from the lamp post - I hope by a railwayana collector.

Also to do with the GWR, when I delivered bundles of the weekly Ealing paper, one of
the drop-offs was W H Smith's at Ealing Broadway Station. This was in the mid 1970s, when dot matrix printers were standard for many jobs - and the addresses of the newsagents were printed on the wrappers for the bundles of newspapers. The address for Smith's at the station was still: W H Smith, GWR Ealing Broadway Station.

What a story! Shame about the place being burnt down

 

[night crawler]

I must have passed the place every day when I went on the train to work in Osney Mead

 

[Hayman]

What a story! Shame about the place being burnt down

At least it was accidental.

 

[Landie_Man]

At least it was accidental.

Yeah, that's the main thing!