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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Shannine O'Neill & Sara Odeen-Isbister

Inside the abandoned UK leisure centre left to rot - with water still in swimming pools

Eerie images show an abandoned leisure centre set to be demolished but left to rot with swimming pools and diving boards still intact.

The former Cascades Leisure Centre in Portadown, Northern Ireland still has functioning electricity and water remains in some of the pools - albeit green and murky.

The stands and diving boards at the centre, meanwhile, are still in perfect condition.

Cascades, once hugely popular, has been abandoned since August 2020 after the new £30million South Lake Leisure Complex opened close by.

It was scheduled to be demolished five months after its closure, yet it still stands abandoned.

A metal barrier lies in an empty pool at the centre (mediadrumimages/Lost.Ireland)

The photos were taken by 24-year-old Jordan L from London, who was keen to capture the building before it's gone forever.

She said: "It was the main leisure centre for Portadown and the surrounding area that offered a gym, swimming pool and hot tub facilities, a steam room and more.

"Cascades closed in August 2020 as it was considered surplus to requirements after the opening of the new £30m South Lake leisure complex.

"It was one of three leisure centres closed and scheduled for demolition after five months, but for some reason this still hasn't happened as of 2023."

The diving boards remain intact (mediadrumimages/Lost.Ireland)

Jordan spent about two hours at the centre and said she found the experience fascinating.

"It was a very fun explore due to how bright and airy it was and how large the site was," she added.

"The pools were very interesting and it even had working electricity. I loved how huge the pool was.

The stands sit empty (mediadrumimages/Lost.Ireland)

"The diving boards were cool too and I had to get an obligatory photo standing on them. The only 'scary' thing about the place was almost falling off the top diving board when posing for a picture."

Meanwhile, an urban explorer found a ghost town in Illinois in the US, and nearby residents don't even know who lived there.

Wadsworth covered 22 acres of now-abandoned land and was home to seven properties.

Photographer Jordan spent around two hours exploring the centre (mediadrumimages/Lost.Ireland)

There are four additional buildings on site with rusting, old old farm equipment, vintage dirt bikes and even a random typewriter left behind.

Kaizer Glick accidentally found the abandoned neighbourhood while exploring the area, coming across what looked like buildings hidden behind some trees.

The trees were eventually removed with the strange properties suddenly exposed to the world after years of going unnoticed.

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