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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
David McLean

Footage reveals decayed state of Glasgow's fire-damaged Campus nightclub

Footage has emerged showing the devastated interior of what was once one of Glasgow's most popular nightspots.

Campus bar and nightclub on Sauchiehall Street and the adjacent O2 ABC concert venue sustained extensive damage in the second Glasgow School of Art blaze back in June 2018.

Since then, the iconic haunt, which has reopened at a new location just along from the original site, has lain vacant and in a perilous state.

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Charred and waterlogged from the blaze five years ago, the old club remains fenced off from the public with the building too dangerous to enter - but none of this appears to have stopped risk-taking urban explorers from venturing into the site.

In a YouTube video by Exploring with Alec, which was uploaded on February 11, viewers are given a tour of the American frat-style bar's blackened remnants - and it's a real eye-opener of post apocalyptic proportions.

Keen to withhold precisely how they were able to enter the stricken building (it's illegal, folks), the YouTubers filmed a half-hour 'access all areas' video showing the nightclub's rotting dancefloors, bars, DJ booths and staff areas.

Right from the off, it's clear the building was vacated in a hurry. There are unfinished drinks on tables, jackets hanging in the cloakroom and DJ booths all set up with Pioneer decks at the ready to get the dancefloor jumping.

Bar stools are tipped over but intact, flat screens remain fixed to the walls, and the bars are well-stocked with all manner of beverages both alcoholic and soft (are those original recipe Irn-Bru cans??).

Disco balls and framed pictures are hanging up and the venue's iconic Statue of Liberty miniature still stands proudly. Decorative bunting, featuring national flags, remind us the 2018 World Cup was on at the time of the fire.

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From this description, you'd think Campus simply required a thorough spring clean to get it up and running again - but, make no mistake, this is one bar that's definitely called last orders.

For a start, water appears to be dripping out of every crack, electrical fixtures and cables hanging freely from the collapsed ceiling and every surface is coated in a layer of acrid soot. Parts of the debris-strewn floor, which our urban explorers describe as "spongey", look ready to collapse at any moment.

The video also takes us up and down Campus' many levels and weaves its way through its labyrinthine corridors and staff areas. There's not one bit of the complex that remains undamaged.

Our explorers note that the floor bears evidence of rat droppings and that there is a dreadful stench throughout the building.

The fascinating footage of the fire-damaged venue has attracted plenty of interest from the YouTube community.

PlutoPebble said: "How weirdly cool is it that the tech and TVs look unharmed with the rest of the club in fire damage. Great video."

Mage's Almanac wrote: "What an absolute labyrinth! It just kept going and going. I got lost just watching the vid. Very cool explore."

Daniel Gallagher commented: "I was in there the night it burnt down with my mate apart from staff me and him were the last 2 customers to leave mental to see what happened to it not long after we left."

rabcnesbitt0 added: "That’s a big club. What a mess, fully stocked bars still intact. As set of pioneer cdj1000’s what looks like many pa speakers on the walls."

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