That’s Not Where The Fuel Was Supposed To Be

Now this location here is something I’ve been longing to visit for a long time.

As you can see, parts of it have been demolished.

A petrol station last operated here some time around the early 2010’s. The building was already closed back then and there were just the pumps and the machines where you could pay cash or card. Back then there was also a larger wing behind the building, where the garages were located. That wing is now gone.

Because back in 2012 the inhabitants of the house next door started complaining about their tap water smelling like petrol. It turned out, that petrol had been leaking from the station for years both to the soil and nearby channel. They started digging open the petrol station lot to see how bad the contamination was. Well, it was bad. That’s when they demolished the garage wing. They couldn’t demolish the remaining part, because it was protected by the detail plan way back in the 1990’s.

The station closed for good. In 2021 some local businessmen bought the lot with the aim of demolishing the building and selling the lot. Demolition permits were denied, because the building is protected. They sued the town. The battle continues.

I didn’t think I could find a way in.

And I didn’t believe the sign warning about air quality.

The first breakthrough.

This was pretty much everything there was to be seen. The store was very small and in a very bad condition.

The stairs to the basement. The stairs upstairs had started in the now demolished part and were covered with the temporary wall.

The warnings were right. The soil below the building was so contaminated, that petrol fumes were rising from the basement. I soon noticed that I was getting intoxicated.

And as the upstairs was out of reach, there really was nothing more to see.

So back towards the light.

Payment options. I wonder, what the last one is.

The stairs up are somewhere back there.

The owners are still trying to get the building demolished. The case has been going on since early 2022.