URBEX - Allders in Croydon

[@DJCREDIT1]

I worked at this Store from 1991 until 2011, 1 year before it closed as Allders in 2012, i worked many jobs there but mainly in the sub basement as a forklift driver, lots of memories here good & bad.

[@dykodesigns]

Amazing that they’ve kept all those paper records just laying about. You’de think they’d be destroyed when the shop closed. Even more amazing is that they kept them on paper well into the mid 90’s. I mean those personell files from the late 80’s would probably have been stored on 5.25” floppies somewhere? The music that is playing in that building sounds a bit creepy indeed as it’s all abandoned.

[@AM-vz3ek]

I went there couple weeks ago and all the info is still there, even got some very private information noted.

[@TrulsZK]

The yellow card thing looks like an old analogue tine clock where staff “touch” in/out when arriving/leaving work. The card gets stamped with the date/time the person “touched” in/out, used to calculate salary, etc. Today we use an RFID card; where you just tap your card, or a barcode; where you scan your personal barcode + ok / in/out barcode.

[@martynpanting]

Close but not quite. Clock cards were bigger than that, beige I recall, a thicker card and also long gone by the time Allders closed, we had an electronic tap in and tap out with an oyster style card at the staff exit. The yellow cards you are talking about were a booking system, most probably for the carpet department. So each card represented a period of time and you had so many carpet fitters and would use it to plan the time for each one out for the week. So when trying to book a customer in to be fitted, a salesman could see fitter x had so many hours free on Tuesday and then would change the colour of the card and write the customers name on to book it out for them. The skill then came for Peter (office manager) to check the scheduling and tweak to make it more efficient, so instead of having a fitter travelling 20 miles between jobs, or having too many square metres to fit in a day, he would swap them around to ensure each fitter had the best compromise of volume of work (they were sub contracted) and travelling time. Keeping everyone happy was key!

[@Andrewjg_89]

Very interesting. Allders were like Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, BHS, Primark, H&M etc etc.

[@IndigoJo]

A bit like Debenham's, much more varied stock than M&S as it sold electricals and furniture, not just clothes (it didn't have a supermarket attached either). Primark and H&M are purely clothes shops.

[@littleflor2975]

This was great 😄 I love the narration

[@redd605]

The workmen have started to fix the Croydon alders , like the one fixed and opened in Clapham

[@GMW.artist]

The old courtyard building you saw from the roof is the Whitgift Almshouses. You pass the big gates to them in the street below...

[@pmajudge]

AMAZING !!! GOSH! FROM, U.K. (2024).

[@kevinlongman007]

I'm sure Allders were breaking the law in leaving all those files there unsecured.

[@kevinlongman007]

@@benolifts It contravenes data protection laws.

[@kevinlongman007]

@@MrThedwp All companies employee files are supposed to be securely locked away in filing cabinets, so to see this in a store which has closed down is quite disturbing.

[@booth2710]

unsecured easily accessible personal data.

[@MiCTURITIONHATEGAVz]

I unfortunately worked there for a bit...Bunch of 🤬 most of 'em. .A few good friendly people..My file's probably there,I was a cunt..😉👍🏼

[@andybaker2456]

My mum worked in Allders in the 80s, I wonder if her personnel file is still there. 🤔

[@IHadAPheo]

A well placed bloody mannequin in one of the walk in freezer would have been quite a good time capsule for the next explorer.

[@ogdziaka5677]

Keep UP the good work Beno 😊

[@levigaming-1]

I saw a abandoned pound land plus with the same alarm with the alarmed building that u explored

[@womblowbobble1139]

Banks Family where

[@rajnirvan3336]

Sad site of what was a beautiful shop😢

[@subwayexpress465]

Why is there the creepy music in the abandoned places

[@RediffusionMusic]

Because the building is still technically open. If the system isn't on separate zones, and is being driven by a single constant voltage amplifier like most of these department stores were/are, music will still play in the abandoned areas. The speakers are "daisy chained" together :)

[@subwayexpress465]

RediffusionMusic Thank you. It makes it very creepy in the dark corridors!

[@RediffusionMusic]

@@subwayexpress465 no worries mate. :)

[@booth2710]

@@RediffusionMusic I heard that many abandoned buildings such as large shopping complexes etc often have to be left with power or some level of power as fire alarms and fire detections and suppression systems have to remain operable' ... not sure if that is true though

[@RediffusionMusic]

@@booth2710 also, most of these systems are linked to the fire alarm and will play voice instructions when a call point gets smashed. Also, this chain link of speakers could end at a part of the building that is still in use, so disconnecting these will take out all the other speakers on the line.

[@Tozzywozzy01]

revisiting this as it would seen Croydon Council will have this great building soon demolished for the Westfield build. Because fuck history and decent architecture, it's all about profit and glass monstrosities. :(

[@anthonybradley3873]

This was uploaded on my Birthday

[@miahaskurti4539]

Hey Beno! Why Not Tell Kone To Replace The Lifts At The Glades Bromley With Ecodiscs

[@abdurahmanmohamed3378]

How’d u get jn

[@MiCTURITIONHATEGAVz]

Superb Stuff!Your videos are well good & grand..One of the best URBeX I've seen in a while👍🏼Used to work there in the late 90's,for a wee while,so it was interesting to see..Place was full of a bunch of dicks mostly, 'Jobs4LifeCompanyCliqueCockpieces' .. Anyway,big thanx, narration is the best..👍🏼🌟✊🏼😎®️✨

[@villagernumber77]

Mouldy coffee mouldy sugar

[@SamSitar]

big elevator motors are the best. what did Allders sell?

[@CharlieFlemingOriginal]

It was a department store that didn't move with he times resulting in administration n the early 2000s most stores were sold to Primark. Allders was at the lower end of the department store ratings but still respected untill it's last five years of trading.

[@GMW.artist]

@@CharlieFlemingOriginal Actually Allders was at the higher end of department stores. It had every single department you could think of, and a mall. This one (Croydon) was also the flag ship store.

[@levigaming-1]

And I explored it but I tripped the alarm :(

[@Kylehdez]

Can we still get inside Allders even tho it’s closed down?

[@levigaming-1]

I have 0 clue

[@liftsinireland]

I saw this back in 2016

[@TechNerdNolan]

He reuploaded that video

[@GenericLifts]

Arriva

[@MigoNL]

Keolis

[@Andrewjg_89]

First

[@GenericLifts]

Hey Austin this is guys

[@ReeceL101]

Once again, I know you are first.

[@blue.light.fazbear]

Once again, I know you are Metroline

[@coolman40545]

Once again, I know you are KMB.

[@max_dottie]

HELLO BENO

[@benolifts]

HELLO MAXI OMG ALFORD

[@max_dottie]

Lol

[@max_dottie]

Beno I have a suggestion for a lift tour next winchester there’s an ecodisc in primark

[@max_dottie]

And disgusting generic lift that jolt up the glass shaft Brooke’s car park

[@max_dottie]

Or do a new tour of the Basingstoke shopping centre please

[@J20249]

1st like

[@GenericLifts]

STAGECOACH like

[@ReeceL101]

Arriva like