Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory London Ontario | Urban Exploration

The Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory London Ontario

 

The Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory London Ontario is one of those abandoned locations that is a must-see for anyone new to Urban Exploration.  For many, this will be the first large industrial location that they will explore.

It’s size makes it a good long explore, it’s usually fairly easy to access and it has a small degree of danger and risk as there are often junkies inside doing drugs.  For the newer explorers, this makes it a great way to see if you have what it takes.

I first explored the Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory in 2012 when I was new to the Urban Exploration hobby and it was my first large location, I would visit twice in 2012 and again in 2013.  In 2018 I decided to start returning to some of these old abandoned locations that I first explored when I was new to the hobby.

The now abandoned site is about 5.3 hectares and was originally constructed in 1913, and operated as a candy and cookie factory under various corporations, it closed in 2008.

City seized the site after nearly $750,000 in taxes wasn’t paid. It was sold to Sierra Construction in 2014 for $1.

The plant is broken up into 5 floors above ground, and one below. For the most part each floor produced a different type of product. Each floor also smells slightly different like the product that were made there. Surprisingly there are very little traces of food and therefore almost no rodents.

As with most buildings the first floor is by far the largest, it is comprised of the administrative offices; the bakery including the 30m long conveyor belt fed ovens, the raw material silos and loading docks and warehouse space in between. Part of the warehouse space is taken up by equipment that hasn’t been auctioned off yet such as desks and file cabinets. Most of the actual equipment used to make the products (as with all of the rest of the factory) has already been sold and removed. Only the really large equipment is left. Interestingly the boiler room log books notes that they were run up until April 2009. This was probably done to prevent frost damage to the pipes and equipment.

The second floor was used to make crackers, which is cheerfully announced in the stairwell. The second floor also contains the factory laboratory which still has the original lab desks, however the contents have been removed. There are still a few odd things lying around here.

The third floor was used to make chocolates. The floor is covered in a layer of corn starch which crunches when stepped on like snow. This was used in the production of chocolate to prevent the product from sticking. When the large machines were removed the pipes carrying the corn starch were ruptured and covered everything in it. The third floor also contained the cafeteria. Unfortunately there is almost nothing left in it, but it does allow access to the first floor roof.

Here are photos from my first visits to the Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory in London Ontario

McCormicks London 2012

Abandoned Candy Factory London – 2013

Here are photos from my visit in 2018 to the Abandoned McCormicks Candy Factory