London – Wandsworth (Borough of) – Battersea Power Station

I wasn’t quite sure what was currently inside the former Battersea Power Station, but given that it was pouring down with rain it seemed a place to dry off if nothing else.

I certainly didn’t expect anything this decadent in the former turbine hall, part of a building which once produced a fifth of the city’s power. I also hadn’t realised that there were two turbine halls, each with two chimneys, with a connecting building in between them. Turbine Hall A was completed in 1935 and Turbine Hall B was completed in 1955, being decommissioned in 1975 and 1983 respectively. I must say that I was surprised and delighted with the whole arrangement.

This is the connecting building in the middle.

After the site was decommissioned it was left derelict for just over three decades with numerous different projects suggested and then rejected or left unfunded. It was granted Grade II listed status in 1980 and that was upgraded to Grade II* in 2007.

This is the second hall, with this impressive brick arrangement at one end looking out towards the River Thames.

And looking down the second hall. The food venues seem to mostly be quite high end, but there’s a Nando’s there to mix things up a bit. But no Greggs I note.

Control Room B looks rather decadent, it’s now an all-day bar and some of the historic equipment is located here from when the building was used to produce electricity. It’s not really a place for me though, they concentrate on wine, champagne and cocktails, with a dreary selection of bottled beers that looks like someone has popped to the Tesco Express down the road. Anyway, I digress.

I liked this mural of Britishness. There are some more photos of this mural as well as a few more from around the building at https://www.flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720307752196/. There’s also more information at the developer’s web-site at https://batterseapowerstation.co.uk/about/.