Car Park 5: Farewell to a Bracknell Landmark

Have you ever gone straight past a significant object without ever realising it? Or looked at something and then forgotten about it moments later?

Don’t worry, it’s not uncommon – it’s called inattentional blindness and it occurs when the eyes see something that the brain forgets to register.

I’m sure this applies for many of us to the sight of Bracknell’s Skimped Hill Car Park, or “Car Park 5” to use its proper name. It is a building that many residents of Bracknell could recognise in a heartbeat, yet not one that anyone seems to pay attention to on their way past.

Though I wasn’t able to find the exact date of Car Park 5’s creation, it seems to have been developed throughout the 1970s. It was intended to provide relief to the growing number of commuters working at Winchester House (the 3M Building) and Fitzwilliam House. Car Park 5 has been closed off for many years now. Until recently, its lower floors were used as an overflow area for Fitzwilliam House. But in June of this year its doors were finally locked once-and-for-all. Car Park 5 is now owned by Comer Homes, who are in charge of Bracknell’s redevelopment. The car park now stands waiting for its inevitable demolition.

Over the last few years Car Park 5 had, isolated and unmaintained, become littered with the kind of detritus you might expect to find on a horror movie set. Aside from the drug-related paraphernalia, Car Park 5 is now ridden with graffiti, fly-tipped home appliances and decaying bits of structure. A historical catalogue of drinks bottles and crisp packets are left around the building and the tarmac and brick has been mostly replaced with pigeon droppings.

Before Car Park 5 is finally brought crashing to its knees, I was brave (or perhaps stupid) enough to take one last look around its interior. For former regulars of Car Park 5, or for those who were not lucky enough to explore it during its glory years, I hope these photographs will provide a useful retrospective.

Pictures from inside Car Park 5. The lights are still on inside the building, despite the fact that the building is now completely deserted. The concrete walls and ceiling have been almost completely consumed with mould and graffiti.

At the bottom of the centre spiral, Car Park 5 has been used as a fly tipping zone.

Having been closed for many years, Car Park 5 has become littered with a buffet of detritus. Shopping trolleys, broken television sets, garden waste and more can all be found in the basin of the spiral ramp. Tags and broken bits-and-bobs are the only decoration in the interior. In its one remaining stairwell, antique crisp packets and beer cans can be seen strewn all around.

The stairwell on the top floor of Car Park 5 houses the lift motor room.

The extent of the neglect is nowhere more evident than on the roof of Car Park 5. Here, the lift motor room has been overrun with rodents, partially trashed by vandals and coated in graffiti. If you are interested in seeing more of the summit of Car Park 5, I recommend checking out mrmattandmrchay on YouTube. Self-proclaimed elevator enthusiast Matt was courageous enough to climb into the lift motor room to capture some very rare footage.

Ironically, the views from atop Car Park 5 are quite magnificent. To the north, the heights of Bracknell Town Centre can still be seen. To the east, there is the Peel Centre, and looking west one will be able to look over Binfield Road.

Looking north from the roof of Car Park 5 towards Bracknell Town Centre.

Looking west from Car Park 5 over Binfield Road.

The design of Car Park 5 is difficult to describe. Its main aesthetic feature is the vertical “blinds” that run down the sides of the building. Each one is a single, solid unit measuring more than 30ft high and around 2.5ft wide. There is no pattern to the layout of the blinds; they are tacked on in random combinations of thick and thin.

A view of the outside of Car Park 5, from the roundabout on the A329. The basement of this spiral was once a Gentleman’s Nightclub.

Looking up from outside Car Park 5. The metal blinds are a unique and brilliant feature of Car Park 5. Notice how some are tacked on with the wide face forward, whilst others have the thin face forwards.

The spiral ramp on the flank of Car Park 5 was boarded up when I visited it. Luckily, a large portion of the wooden panelling put up to close it off had been broken down. Walking up the spiral rank, one follows a trail of destruction. The barriers and all the electronic items – such as floodlights – have been destroyed and left in pieces.

Having said that, there are some rather beautiful photo opportunities. The centre spiral in particular is a fantastic example of car park architecture in its bare-bones glory – before the days of the huge concrete barriers compliant with modern health and safety standards.

What are your memories of Car Park 5? Let me know with a comment or a tweet.

I reached out to Comer Homes and Bracknell Town Borough Council for further information about Car Park 5, including the expected date of its demolition. So far, I have received no news. I will update this post if and when I have been made aware of these dates.