What is Whatevers Left?

Updated

Whatevers Left (whateversleft.co.uk) is a long-running British urban exploration website that documents abandoned, derelict and decaying places, mostly across the UK. It is a personal archive of explore reports rather than a forum, booking service or news site: you go there to browse photographs and write-ups of sites such as former asylums, hospitals, industrial buildings, underground shelters, cinemas and military installations. It suits anyone researching derelict heritage, planning their own visits, or looking for first-hand records of places that have since been demolished or redeveloped.

What the site covers

The homepage describes its subject as "Urban Exploration — Abandonment, Dereliction, Decay," and the content is organised around the types of places explored. The navigation lists these categories:

  • Asylums — the largest group, including Cane Hill, Cherry Knowle, Denbigh, Fairmile, Gartloch, Glenside, Graylingwell, Hartwood, Hellingly, High Royds, Lancaster Moor, Mid Wales, Pen-y-Fal, Rauceby, Runwell, Severalls, Springfield, St Cadocs, St Edwards, St Lawrences, St Marys, Stanley Royd, Stratheden, Sunnyside Royal, Tone Vale, West Park, Whitchurch and Whittingham.
  • Hospitals — e.g. Bristol Royal Infirmary (old building), Haslar Hospital in Gosport, Pool Parc Hospital in Ruthin.
  • Industrial — e.g. Robert Fletcher & Son Ltd in Greenfield, Oldham; Imperial Dock Grain Warehouse, Leith; "Shedload," Bristol.
  • Underground — e.g. Brislington War Room (Region 7, Bristol), a bomb-proof records room in Bristol, London Road Deep Shelter in Portsmouth, Clifton Rocks Railway.
  • Leisure — e.g. Plaza Cinema, Port Talbot.
  • Military — e.g. a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery at Portbury, Bristol.
  • Other — e.g. Bank of England House, Bristol.

Each entry is a dated explore report, so the site doubles as a rough timeline of when locations were visited and what condition they were in at the time.

How the content is organised

Beyond the category menu, the homepage surfaces explores in three ways:

Section What it shows
Recent Explores The latest reports, e.g. Bank of England House, Bristol (20 September 2022); Springfield Hospital, Tooting (12 February 2021); Brislington War Room (5 October 2020)
Popular Explores A selection of well-known sites, e.g. Cane Hill Asylum (2008), Cherry Knowle Asylum (2008), Stoke Damerel High School for Girls (2008), Tone Vale Hospital (2010), West Park Hospital (2008)
Random Explores A mixed sample, e.g. St Mary's Asylum, Stannington (2009); Pool Parc Hospital, Ruthin (2011); Haslar Hospital, Gosport (2015); Clifton Rocks Railway, Bristol (2009)

There is also a Most Viewed list, which gives a useful signal of which reports other visitors found most interesting:

  • Cane Hill Asylum, Coulsdon — 15,534 views
  • Cherry Knowle Asylum, Sunderland — 14,641 views
  • Sunnyside Royal Hospital, Montrose — 13,086 views
  • Harperbury Hospital, Radlett — 10,785 views
  • Deva, Countess of Chester Asylum, Chester — 9,587 views

If you are new to the site, the Most Viewed and Popular lists are the quickest way in; the Recent Explores list is better if you want to see what was still accessible in the 2020s.

Practical things to know

  • It is an archive, not a live resource. The most recent explore shown on the homepage is from September 2022, and many reports date from 2008–2018. Locations may have been demolished, redeveloped, secured or repurposed since the report was written, so treat access details as historical rather than current.
  • Coverage is UK-focused, with a strong concentration on England and a noticeable number of Welsh and Scottish sites (Whitchurch in Cardiff, Denbigh, Mid Wales, Gartloch, Sunnyside Royal in Montrose).
  • Asylums dominate. If your interest is former psychiatric hospitals, this is the site's core strength; other categories are thinner.
  • The site has been running since 2006 and states it was archived by the British Library in 2010, which makes it a reasonably stable reference for sites that have since disappeared.
  • Standard site pages — About, Contact, Links, Site Map and Privacy Policy — are linked from the navigation and footer if you want to know who runs it or get in touch.

Who it is useful for

  • Researchers and historians looking for photographic records of derelict asylums and hospitals before demolition.
  • Urban explorers wanting to see how a site looked on a given date, or to identify places worth investigating.
  • Local historians and former staff or residents searching for images of institutions such as Cane Hill, West Park or Tone Vale.

It is less useful if you need current access information, legal guidance on entering sites, or up-to-date news — the reports are personal accounts from the time of visiting, not a maintained database.