Daniel Sims, 33, from Huddersfield, and his friend Steve Ruddy exlored the hotel just north of Gynn Square last week, and discovered a huge hoard of hand sanitizer bottles from early in the Covid-19 pandemic.
1. Abandoned hotel
The New Hacketts Hotel has been derelict since 2018, when the company which owned it went into liquidation. In December 2020, a fire ripped through the upper part of the building, sparking a huge response from Blackpool, South Shore, Bispham, Fleetwood, St Annes, Lytham and Preesall stations. Photo: Daniel Sims
2. Mystery mannequins found in piles
Daniel and Steve found hundredds of bottles of hand sanitizer and broken mannequins stacked in the bar area. Photo: Daniel Sims
3. Pandemic stash
Daniel, who documents his urban explorations on YouTube under the name Bearded Reality, said: "When we got down to the lower floors, the place had been vandalised and trashed, but we saw somebody had hoarded thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer from the start of the pandemic. It looks like someone had amassed a small shop there. There were mannequins stacked up behind the bar and all over the place." Photo: Daniel Sims
4. Urban exploration - is it legal?
Urban exploration, or 'urbex', is the act of traversing the remains of abandoned man-made structures, often accompanied by photography and film. The hobby involves trespassing, a civil matter between the explorer and landowner. But people who use force to get into buildings may be arrested under breaking and entering laws. Photo: Daniel Sims
5. Creating your own adventure
Daniel, who has been involved in urbex since 2019, said: "In some ways, it's creating your own adventure. It's making your own journey through history, seeing things that you've never seen before, sharing what's there before these places are knocked down or turned into housing." Photo: Daniel Sims
6. The mannequin graveyard
"I take the view of, it's like an extreme sport. I take responsibility for my own actions and I understand the risks. It's not something I would recommend to people, especially not children." Photo: Daniel Sims