Urban Explorers are people who enter abandoned buildings and take a look around. These places include bunkers, hospitals, factories and other derelict locations of general interest. They are driven by curiosity and often historical interest. Their ethos is to do no damage and take away only images.
Thanks to the quirks of UK law, what they do is not a criminal offence. I explain the reasons why in detail after the break, because I would not want to associate myself with any illegal activity.
The group we will meet in a moment actually publish video of their explorations on a YouTube channel.
Without doing any damage (that’s critical in law) urban explorers have gained entry to the Royal Fleet Club. This is the building that was bought by the Church of Scientology in 2010 to be renovated and become an ‘Ideal Org’ (Scientology facilities are called ‘orgs’ by members, which is short for ‘organisation’).
After the break you can view the video they shot inside the place. This shows just how run-down the interior now is and a few details of interest to Scientology watchers.
After 11 years, a project the long-promised renovation ofthe building seemed to be under way. The Church of Scientology had controversially obtained planning permission and commenced essential work. Of course, the pandemic intervened, and now the project looks to have been abandoned. Again.
I hope that critics of Scientology will learn something about UK urban explorers from this post – and urban explorers will learn something about Scientology from the point of view of the community which speaks out against Scientology’s abuses. Continue reading