Tales of the Urban Explorer: Lakeside Restaurant
“Jeez.. I wish they would just fuck off”, I muttered to @anidiotexplorers with a frown.
A family with two small kids aged around seven to nine were milling around the perimeter of 'Lakeside Restaurant', a former Bengali eatery just outside Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
...'what could they possibly desire from this wretched place: a stale insect ridden Jalfrezi, or a Vindaloo covered in the finest green mold?'...
Fucking people, they don't half get in our way when it comes to exploring.
We breezed past the astonished looking family looking for a way in, regardless of the odd looks we are now accustomed to and short of scaling the rickety 'herras' fencing came to a blank.
'Lakeside Restaurant' has been visited by everyone, even small babies fresh and crinkly from the womb solo it, so there was no way we were giving up so easily.
Said family, intent on watching us for entertainment, appeared disappointed when we fell back with our tails between our legs..
...'the show was over, they had given up'...
Ha.. but that's an advanced tactic to make nosey bastards piss off more quickly, and piss off they did.
Lakeside Restaurant offered a buffet-style dining and takeaway service until its closure in early 2011. The reasons for its closure are not documented. It has sat unused since them, decaying more with each passing year.
Approaching from the rear, it was still an awkward entrance for such a derpy looking shithole, but we got in without any scrapes or bruises via an upper doorway and up a ropey-looking stairway.
Entering a large room, overlooking the lake (which looked to me more like a dirty swamp), and with fabulous views of the local crocodiles, we gaped aghast.
The windows are now non-existent, but may have been closed permanently when 'Lakeside Restaurant' was open and doing business.
Unless you want to share your tasty Madras with a swarm of biting, buzzing insects, that is?
£7.95 for all you can eat; it takes me back to when food was affordable and eating out was a more regular occurrence. Now it's more like £50+ for a decent meal for two unless you eat at those cheap-arse Hungry Horse outlets.
A handy business card, should I have taken one in case I wanted a take-out? So tempting.., that flavoursome Korma could be delivered right to my door.
Why do twats have to spoil the view with terrible cock scrawls, and never mind the remnants of an illegal ganja farm?
No doubt some of the old cannabis plants were here once, some in the loft perhaps, with the looks of this.
'Lakeside Restaurant' does not open until 5.30 pm on Sundays. That explains the lack of staff taking orders. It was starting to make sense.
£13.55 for the most expensive item on the menu, and considering 'Lakeside Restaurant' went bust in 2011, that does seem rather cheap.
'High Class', it claims. Who am I to dispute that?
Having entered via the aforementioned stairs, this time it was a descent to see what was on offer below.
Yes, more wankers…, we have seen it all before.
Can I take your order, sir?
Coca-Cola Enterprises is affiliated with Coca-Cola. I wanted to check as they are using the official logo brand.
Best quality rustic ingredients, don't they look just yum?
Did the ex-shoe owner lose it because he ate too much? I do wonder.
A poor attempt at prohibiting access. While it may be a little awkward, even fatty me can bypass this with relative ease.
Very nice, but maybe a little unfinished. I recognise the style and it's not 'Trench'.
With the looks of things, the entrance to ‘Lakeside Restaurant’. When your seating is ready, the main section is likely up the stairs so you can gaze over the swam.., er lake.
Even if I wanted to get close to the front door, the sheer amount of broken tiles was making such an aspiration a little difficult.
The remains of 'Lakeside Restaurant's furniture? We had to climb over all this shit just to see if anything was interesting on the far side.
More of the bloody stuff was all we found. The chairs and tables were smashed to pieces.
Now, why would you have something like this in a Bengali restaurant? For mixing the ingredients with drilled pieces of human brain matter? I should stop watching ‘Driller Killer’.
The flavoursome aromas that came from these grills once would have been overwhelming. For the record, most Brits love Indian food, and there's little doubt 'Lakeside Restaurant' would have been popular once.
If you ask me if it smelt like a dead decaying sheep’s arse, I would respond with, ‘I don’t remember’ and I do tend to remember when it’s particularly pungent.
Entering derelict kitchens can be a major health hazard, but any such deadly aromas had long since vacated.
Having found no better escape route, we had to backtrack to the upper areas and try our luck with the partially collapsing stairs once more.
Fortune was with us again, and off we went to the next terrible explore.
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Cool travel at Lakeside Restaurant sounds like a story of adventure mixed with laid-back dining vibes 🌊🍴 Exploring urban edges by the lake must be pretty epic.
I can't remember much about the lake, other than it was less than appealing visually.
No matter how much fun you always give us with your photos of your exploration of abandoned places, there is always one thing in common: the immoral writings on the walls, doors and windows left by idiots.
This one is well-trodden and I was expecting nothing less. Still, there's a nice drawing of a curvy lady. It's not always bad!
Sounds like a scenic spot when bugs not in season, banged up now it's a mess. Perhaps food was enticing once upon a time at a reasonable price. Another a gonna place ticked off on your books.
!BEER
I'm struggling to remember the details. This was August 2023, 2 years ago. Such is the backlog, and that's due to me not posting much these days.
Time flies and we start forgetting events as they happened, also busy trying to get through not posting much of late. Good to see you around, take care.
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"EAT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE" gave me Twilight Zone vibes!
They are not popular those 'eat all' places now. I rarely see them in todays world.
Well that makes sense.. 200 pound people are the average.
It looks quite spacious, the restaurant must have been exceptional at the time. In your country, they have some obsession with penises very similar to my students, it is the favorite figure To draw on walls or wherever they can think of.
Maybe the family with children was there to take photos and upload them to Facebook. Regards.
LOL... it seems so. They are easier to draw than female genitalia I suppose!
Most of our all you can eat buffet places were already on the decline before Covid and then that came and totally trashed them. The few exceptions are Golden Corral and the majority of Chinese places that are still around. They might have had better luck if they had shifted to growing weed!
Ah.. so you still have some 'all you can eat' places? There was one in my local town years ago, but if you left some, they would have a go at you! That one didn't stuck around too long hehe..
In California, we have several Korean BBQ restaurants that are all you can eat. They bring raw meat to your table and you cook it right there. It's delicious and fun.
You can cook your own steaks here at one place I know. The quality varies from one visit to another.
Oh really? Was it just a schtick or did they really get mad? That's pretty weird. Casinos still have all you can eat buffets too.
I think it was restaurant owner naivety if that's such a thing.
Lakeside restaurant, was there really a lake right next to it? The prices do seem really cheap. We spend around $100 when we go to our local Indian restaurant and it is just a small local family place with no pretense of being by the lake or "High Class" :)
Yes, there was a lake, if you can call it that. I saw lots of green reeds and little water. Food was a lot cheaper then, and it makes me ache to see these prices.
📸🌿 ¡Qué maravilla de fotos y relato! Entre ruinas y curry imaginario, esta exploración tiene magia decadente y humor afilado. 🕰️🍛 Gracias por compartir esta joya urbana. 🚧✨
The lake looking like a dirty swamp might have hastened it's demise 🤣
Bet they used that skanky mixer for the nans!
Is it a mixer? I guessed at a drill for opening up the skulls of the locals, such is my twisted mind.
It might have doubled as both 😀😀
So you've given us the real estate blurb - what are you selling it for?
As far as I know it's still sitting there. The address is plain to see, so make some enquiries.
You should get a commission for any sales :D
Your writing always feels like part documentary, part dark comedy—and that’s what makes these explores so damn enjoyable to follow. There’s this mix of decay, nostalgia, and utter absurdity (like that lone business card or the shoe mystery) that you narrate with sharp wit and just enough self-awareness. Even when you’re wading through trash and graffiti, there’s still something oddly cinematic about it all.
As you are not a native English speaker, this looks suspiciously like AI. You should know its frowned upon here. I would rather you respond in worse English, but it be real.
The difference between what 'Lakeside Restaurant' was and what it is now is really noticeable. It definitely makes you think about how fast things can shift.
In this instance, I struggled to find an 'open' image of it despite being closed only in 2013.
What a place full of scenes full of elements to build your always excellent photos... And I piss myself with laughter reading some of your funny barbarities written in this post! 🤣👍... As always, a very good work ton enjoy @slobberchops friend!!!!...
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Wow, this looks so much better than that banana stuck with ducktape and a wooden palette that I saw recently sold as art! 😕
The style is like one of the Sheffield artists. I know some of them (not personally), but by their distinctive drawing types.
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Wow! You scored a sordid mess this time :)
Most of them are as such!
Such is life!
What a dreadful place. When you visit these places, there is always something new to discover; tell me about the rude writings and drawings on the walls.
Urban exploration, is perhaps unintentionally a catalogue of the various styles of phallic graffiti.
If you were a PHD candidate for anthropology, you would have the makings for a dissertation.
I’ve never done urbex but reading your post low-key made me want to try it—minus the bugs and creepy smells haha. Kinda feels like playing real-life horror game with a side of mystery.
Haha patented cock scrawls and arseholery! I was thinking the menu didn't look half bad and now all I can think of is "decaying sheep’s arse" which doesn't help the appetite.
Yes, probably not appetising. There was more menus in there than anything else, if you don't count the battered furniture.
After seeing those photos, all I want to order in this messy restaurant is a throw up bag !LOLZ
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Looks like a cozy lakeside dining adventure—urban exploring meets peaceful waterside vibes!
A little bit dangerous because as I see that place was abandoned. Just take care.
Love it how wherever there is graffiti, there is a high chance there is a phallic drawing near it. It's like we can't help it!
Shame about it being left to ruin though
OMG. My dream is to buy a property like this and turn it into something beautiful again. Maybe one day the earnings from posting on here will help me get there ;-)
https://www.reddit.com/r/urbanexploration/comments/1ml9bfb/lakeside_restaurant_a_former_bengali_eatery_just/
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In a couple of the photos I see a fire extinguisher. Would be interesting when it was last inspected and charged, or if some vandals had used it just for fun.
More so interesting would be who actually owns the property and pays taxes on it! Where I lived in Canada, and now in Austria, there are tax penalties to pay for unused properties, particularly unsightly premises. Example: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
In Vienna, where I live now, this is a answer I received from Microsoft Copilot:
"Vacancy Penalties: Vienna has explored and implemented penalties for long-term vacant or derelict buildings, especially when they contribute to urban decay or housing shortages. These penalties can take the form of: Increased property tax rates, Administrative fines for failing to maintain the property,
Potential legal action if the property poses safety or health risks"
I had seen quite a few news reports where the city expropriated properties in certain areas after lenghty legal battles.
Its the same here, finding the owners could be a challenge if that bill is too high.
There’s something haunting yet fascinating about places like this. Your photos really capture the silent stories hidden in the peeling walls and broken windows. It’s as if the building still holds whispers of laughter, conversations, and life that once filled it.
It’s sad to think how many places like this are left to decay, slowly being vandalized and stripped away piece by piece, instead of being given a second life. With a bit of care and vision, they could be transformed into something beautiful again, preserving their history while creating new memories. Your post really made me reflect on that. 🏚📸✨
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It's very crowded, I hope there are very old things, interesting
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