Inside abandoned UK shopping mall left to rot with creepy mannequins and crumbling walls

A shopping centre in the North West of England has lay desolate for more than three years, and remains an eerie relic of pre-pandemic life.

The Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre in Rochdale was once a bustling mall with five floors of shops.

It housed numerous household-name stores, including a New Look, Wilko, and Ryman.

But, several stores started to leave the mall from 2017, seeing as the public were spending more time ordering online, and less time browsing in actual shops.

The 2020 Covid lockdown was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, however.

Several stores started to leave the mall from 2017 (UK Urbex (Nicholas Martin Bignell))

The retail space closed its doors with the rest of the country in March 2020. But it was later revealed the mall wouldn't reopen; much to the disappointment of shoppers and business owners.

The site was put up for sale shortly after the announcement, and was sold in September 2022.

Commercial property consultant WT Gunson said: "The Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre provides a purpose built shopping centre constructed in 1991 totalling approximately 15,130sqm (162,862sqft) of accommodation, arranged over five levels.

The shopping centre was sold in September 2022, and was listed for almost £3million (UK Urbex (Nicholas Martin Bignell))

"The centre closed down during the pandemic and remains closed, being largely vacant.

"However, there are several tenanted units fronting Yorkshire Street including British Heart Foundation, H&T Pawn brokers, Craze and Greenwoods, which are income-producing."

A creepy doll's head was spotted on top of a traffic cone (UK Urbex (Nicholas Martin Bignell))

These days, the shopping centre remains empty and eerily quiet.

Mannequins were left behind in stores, and some have even spilled out onto the desolate concourse.

Graffiti artists clearly used the opportunity to spray paint inside the empty mall, while one jokester attached the head of a doll to a traffic cone, and left it in the middle of the floor.

Graffiti artists clearly used the opportunity to spray paint inside the empty mall (UK Urbex (Nicholas Martin Bignell))

The floor remains dirty, with rubbish littering the corridors. Planned building work also appeared to stop halfway through a project, leaving some walls and ceilings strewn across the floor.

Urban explorer Jake managed to make their way inside the mall last year, revealing the creepy remnants of a bygone era. He uploaded the video to his Facebook page, 'Exploring With Jake'.

The shopping centre didn't reopen its doors after the Covid lockdown (UK Urbex (Nicholas Martin Bignell))

Meanwhile, WT Gunson confirmed it had sold the site at the end of 2022, after being listed for almost £3million.

It's still managing the former Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre, and is open to enquiries.