POLICE have warned ‘urban explorers’ not to enter condemned buildings, after footage emerged online of a man breaking into the town's abandoned former police headquarters.

A YouTube video posted anonymously shows the offender sneaking into the police station in Irwell Street and exploring offices, cells, and the roof.

The video was uploaded on March 27 to the Bury Urbex Crew channel, and you can watch it below.

Demolition work at the Irwell Street headquarters started earlier this year and is due to be completed by mid-June.

The building has been empty since 2010, when the police force left Irwell Street for a new £16 million base in Castlecroft Street.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “We recommend that the public do not enter condemned buildings and adhere to safety signs that are on these buildings.

“We will arrest and detain anyone who is caught breaking and entering.”

The break-in was also detailed in a post on urban exploration forum 28 Days Later, dated February 23 and written under the name ‘Bolts’, in which the explorer brags of narrowly avoiding being caught by police after setting off an alarm.

The post stated: “After a quick wander around various supply cupboards and electrics rooms, I headed through admin storage to the ground floor offices of the "front" building, the larger of the two.

“Unfortunately the only alarm in the building was located in the storage bay, and guess where I ended up?

“So I legged it out of there and waited a good 20 minutes whilst watching the police and security teams check the building from a nearby subway. Then it was straight back in.”

The report also detailed a second close encounter with police while on the roof, before promising to return to the site to explore the rest of the building.

It adds: “What a view - I could see right over Bury.

“And the best thing was when I was up there an officer came strolling along the street right next to the building, stopped and looked up at it, then carried on, oblivious to the explorer on the roof.

“However I had places to be at this time, and had to leave the second building for another time.”