Photos show inside derelict Hartlepool RAFA Club after fire

Back then, firefighters spent hours tackling flames that had taken hold of the old club’s structure, with crews using jets and breathing apparatus to bring the blaze under control and stop it spreading to neighbouring properties.

Today, its windows and doors are boarded up, but new images from urban explorer Alex Miller show in stark detail what became of the interior once the fire service left and nature, time and vandals took over.

(Image: Alex Miller/@amurbex)

Reports at the time described a “major fire” at the derelict RAFA Club, with three crews sent to Stockton Road.

Flames and smoke were visible from outside as firefighters worked from the road and the rear of the property, while police closed parts of the street and urged people to stay away from the scene.

Witnesses recalled the eerie sight of an already‑abandoned social club lit up by orange glow, with the blaze tearing through roof timbers and upper rooms that had once hosted ex‑RAF personnel, families and friends.

(Image: Alex Miller/@amurbex)

By the time the fire was out, the building was structurally damaged, open to the weather and effectively written off.

New pictures show the state of the building eight years on.

In one image, the remains of a bar area sit beneath a sagging, fire‑blackened ceiling, bottles and fixtures long gone but the layout still just about recognisable.

(Image: Alex Miller/@amurbex)

His close‑ups focus on details: scorched notice boards, collapsed ceiling tiles, and fragments of RAF memorabilia lying half‑buried in dust, all hinting at the building’s former life as a hub for the local air force community.

Long before the fire, Hartlepool’s RAFA Club had served as a social home for veterans, serving personnel and their families, part of a wider network of clubs and branches linked to the Royal Air Forces Association.

The Stockton Road building is now disconnected from that role, with the former clubhouse standing as a physical reminder of how easily heritage spaces can slip into neglect and disaster.

The 2018 blaze came just a day after another significant fire in the town, at the Longscar Centre on The Front, compounding local concerns about derelict buildings and fire risks.

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