Scarborough Coastal Stroll

Posted on by modernmoocher

This is one of many walks from South Bay Bathing Pool to South Bay Beach.

Today we begin at the Scarborough Library.

The Edward Bawden map was commissioned in 1931 by Tom Laughton, the hotelier of Pavilion Hotel in Scarborough.

I discovered Edward Bawden myself. I saw some illustrations of murals in the Illustrated London Newswhich had been carried out by Bawden at Morley College. The principal subject was a lodging house with a classical pediment and with the front walls taken out, so that the life in the house was shown from the basement to the attic. I found it delightful. I managed to find out where he lived, and I went to see him. I rang his bell; waiting on the steps I looked across the road and recognised the building that was the subject of the mural. At length a young and seemingly timid man came to the door; “There is your mural”, I said. He told me that I was the first person to spot his subject. He took me on a bus to see the paintings on the walls of Morley College.

The outcome was that he designed a wine list for the Pavilion Hotel, decorated a large ordnance map of Scarborough – (which when I left the hotel I gave to the children’s public library and also made an amusing perspective peepshow, which is still in my possession – Pavilions by the Sea was published in 1977.

The peepshow is on display on the first floor of Scarborough Art Gallery, where it still enchants children and adults alike.

Scarborough Museum and Galleries

The map is hand painted and based on the OS Map of 1926.

The map was fully restored and reframed in 2012 and now lives in Scarborough Library.

Bawden’s postcard for the Pavilion Hotel.

Tom Laughton was brother to Charles Laughton – the plaque is attached to their home the Victoria Hotel.

Enthused by Edward’s exquisite map I set off strolling along the seafront.

I always stop to pay my respects to these seriously neglected concrete beach chalets.

Thence to the former South Beach Bathing Pool designed by Scarborough’s former Borough Engineer, Harry W Smith.

Construction began shortly before the outbreak of WWI, and was taking place in December 1914, when Scarborough was bombarded by German ships. Workers were able to shelter, coincidentally, behind the new wall they had recently constructed for the pool.

Built in the Art Deco style, it measured 330ft long and 167 ft wide, and was filled naturally by fresh sea water, propelled into the pool by the tide each day – officially opened in 1915.

The pool closed in 1989.

Stories From Scarborough

Concrete Colonnade in the Post Modern manner.

Filey Brigg is barely visible through the mist.

The Scarborough Spa – boldly stands over the bay, beaches, and harbour, providing unrivalled views. With a lengthy and impressive past, it is a popular venue for touring performers and meetings, conferences, and training sessions.

The Spa dates back to the C18 when a mineral spring there became a place of fashionable resort. Originally there was just a timber embanked terrace to the shore. Later, in the early C19 a castellated building was raised. In 1858 Sir Joseph Paxton designed the new ashlar faced Spa pavilion raised on terrace with arcaded ground and first floor articulated by pilaster strips, seven bays, with projecting pilastered corner towers with balustraded parapets.

Grade II* Listed

Grand Hotel was chosen as one of Historic England’s seven wonders of the English seaside, as featured in the Daily Mail

Located in the town centre and built in 1863, the Grand Hotel Scarborough takes pride of place overlooking the town’s picturesque harbour and South Bay. This stunning Victorian building is an instantly recognisable landmark, and stands out amongst other hotels in Scarborough. 

We’ve stayed here a few times and we’ve never had a problem with our room. If you dont like lifts theres a lot of stairs but we like to keep fit anyway. Fridge was a bonus. Hairdryer, towels, three loo roll, towels, fan, iron, ironing board Good stock of tea and coffee, nice clean kettle. Paid for a room with a window and got unexpected sea view which was fab to wake up to. Gorgeous main area, singers on at nine, stayed in room thirteen no ghosts lol.

Will defo come again – thank you Grand Hotel.

Samantha K

Absolutely disgusting, the rooms was very dirty, full of dust, the room hasn’t been cleaned since the last person stayed as there body shape was still in the bed, bathroom had toothpaste all in the sink and the shower was absolutely filthy. Curtains are hanging off. Carpets are dirty. The food is very bad, cheap and under cooked. And most the food on the menu wasn’t even available. When speak to the staff I got verbal abuse from them and the chef told my partner to “f off”.. it’s just horrible experience. Do not wish this on anyone. You go outside to loads off homeless doing drugs and been drunk also. I actually ended having to leave and book an alternative accommodation.

Don’t stay here

Chloe S

Trip Advisor

Architect: Cuthbert Brodrick – 1863-67 an immense structure in red brick with tawny terracotta dressings, four storeys, basement, and storey at eaves cornice level, and two storey attic

Grade II* Listed

Olympia Leisure

This is the place to be, either to meet friends, make friends or just book a Party event for friends and family. With twelve lanes our Ten Pin Bowling Alley, with its modernised interior and updated scoring system is a fantastic place to relax.

We have fabulous balcony views of Scarborough’s Seafront and Bay and a Smoking Area. It’s the perfect venue for an office or workplace party, student celebration, holiday activity, or just a regular get together of friends.

Formerly the site of the Futurist Theatre

The Futurist Theatre was built to the design of Scarborough architect Frank Tugwell and opened on 27 June 1921 as a cine-variety theatre operated by William Catlin.

Originally it boasted a grandiose, ornate façade of robust, self-cleaning white glazed Carraraware tiles, the design of Henry Doulton.

This was later obscured during spring 1968 by a facelift of rectangular plain yellow cladding.

Demolition of the building began in June 2018 and was completed in August 2018.

The demolition and associated land works cost local taxpayers £3.91 million.

Wikipedia

Coney Island is a popular amusement centre located on Foreshore Road in Scarborough, offering a vibrant dose of classic seaside entertainment. It’s known for its unique architectural style and cool retro vibes that captivate visitors. This lively spot provides a welcoming atmosphere for all ages looking for fun by the coast.

Step inside Coney Island and discover a fantastic array of arcade games, ranging from exciting racing simulators where you can ‘drive’ sports cars and motorbikes, to a decent selection of both older and newer games. Beyond the flashing lights and sounds of the arcade, the centre also features a bowling alley, perfect for some friendly competition. Guests appreciate the ease of exchanging notes for coins at the desk, ensuring continuous play.

Yorkshire.com

I have been to t’other Coney Island – it looked like this.

Morecambe – West End

Posted on by modernmoocher

We are on a collision course on the coast.

The sky collides with the sea

The sea collides with the land

We wash up in Morecambe’s West End.

This is where the past meets an uncertain future, the best laid plans are eroded by the backwash of interminable economic decline.

The whole tale is best told here by East of the M60.

Britain from Above 1920

Postcard 1919

Postcard 1976

Busy bustling streets lined with large bed and breakfast establishments, rail and road links that led the holiday makers to town.

Supplanted by budget airlines, that took them far away.

The pier disappears along with subsequent short term attractions.

Social deprivation ensued, the shadow of Thatcher’s economic experiment looming large over the hollowed out streets.

2007

The café has been and gone no more Tasty Bites.

There were projects to support the rebuilding of the community, WEM closed in March 2026.

The area has been allocated £20m from the government’s Pride In Place fund.

Phased over 10 years, it aims to empower local people to tackle empty buildings and boost the local economy, public spaces and community amenities.

Lancaster Guardian

The former land of Frontierland may yet be saved as the cavalry, in the form of the Eden Project, comes down the line.

Photo: Dave Clark

It was a sunny day in August so I went to take a look around.

Come along to the Coffee Pot – 93 Marine Road

All day breakfast, burgers, panini, hot dogs and much more.

Outside seating on this lovely sunny day, come try us out.

Permanently closed.

Offering sea views, The Wellington Hotel & Holiday Flats is an accommodation set in Morecambe, the accommodation offers a 24-hour front desk and free WiFi is available throughout the property.

The aparthotel is fitted with one bedroom, a fully equipped kitchenette with a microwave and a fridge, and one bathroom with a shower and a hair dryer.

Photo: The Guardian

Best shop ever – Gabrielle Gibson

Olive Tree Ministries – serving the Polish Community.

Lancaster City Council’s ambitions to bring back to life the site of a former department store have moved one step closer thanks to the award of a government grant worth nearly £750,000.

Bought by the city council as part of the West End masterplan, the intention is to refurbish the building’s upper floors to provide affordable housing, retaining the Co-Op late shop that occupies one-half of the ground floor.

Lancaster Council

The Well Communities is a peer-led recovery organisation built on support, inclusion, and lived experience. For more than a decade, we’ve helped people across North Lancashire and Cumbria overcome drug and alcohol challenges, rebuild confidence, and move toward healthier, more hopeful lives.

Well Communities

Established in 2016 and winner of The Visitor “Business of the Year” award in our opening year.

The Exchange

This is by far the best, friendliest and cheapest pub I have been to in the fifteen years I have lived in Morecambe.

Initially they owned the Ranch House on the promenade but moved to the Exchange – then called the Imperial, some years ago.
Rob and Debbie completely turned the place around, barring all the undesirables and introducing live music every weekend.
Rob has kept the ale prices down which is reflected by the numbers of regulars and visitors it attracts.

Trip Advisor

Duffy’s Irish Bar on Springfield Street is officially opening its doors on Saturday June 6th from 12 midday.

A spokesman for Duffy’s Irish Bar said:

Expect great craic, ice-cold drinks, live entertainment, and the warm Irish welcome you’ve been waiting for.

Lancaster Guradian

We are a Morecambe based organisation & shop located ran by volunteers dedicated to helping local pets.

Crazy Cats

Loaded jackets, fresh smoothies and delicious panini.

Spud Runners

Morecambe, I love this place for treasures – Anna’s Charity

Four soup cups £2, 70’s piggy bank £1, 80’s and 90’s curtains £2

Louise Beagle

David Thurlwell, baker and proprietor – taken on the 26th of April 1991.

I remember the excellent meat and potato pies – George Smith.

Lancaster City Museum

More Music is a music and education charity based in the West End of Morecambe, with 30 years of experience delivering workshops, training, performances and festivals across the district, region and beyond. More Music seeks to build confidence and spirit in individuals and communities through the arts, especially music. More Music is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation.

More Music

Action is needed to tackle empty shops and rundown buildings in Morecambe’s West End, councillors have said.

Coun Whitaker “Do you agree that we need to stop the rot and the domino impact of more boarded up properties which residents are getting really fed up of? We need to prioritise getting boarded up properties back into use, as business or arts opportunities. Hopefully, we can make the West End a good arts hub when the Eden Project arrives?”

Coun Bottoms replied: “Yes, there are lots of ideas and lots of talk at these meetings. But there is no real vision or strategy. That’s what we need to move things forward. We need positive action, not just words.”

Lancaster Guardian

See how the other half live on my Morecambe Walk.

Wear Mill Stockport

Posted on by modernmoocher

1920

As a consequence of the geology, geography, and topography of the area Stockport became an industrialised town.

Coal, water cotton and hats coalesced into a viable local economy, with a viaduct to carry goods, services and people over the River Mersey.

Beneath the viaduct and alongside the river is Grade II Listed Wear Mill

The first record of a mill on this site was when John Collier, a cotton manufacturer built a mill on this site in 1790. It was water powered. The mill probably consisted of two multi-storey spinning mills and attached weaving sheds, one destroyed by fire in 1831 and the other rebuilt in 1884.

Thomas Fernley bought the mill in 1824, and in 1831 needed to replace one mill with a new one that was of fireproof construction. This mill was eleven bays long and six storeys tall. The floors were sprung on transverse brick arches supported on cast iron columns. It was driven by a beam engine in an internal engine house to the east of the mill. It was over this engine house that the Manchester and Birmingham Railway built the Stockport Viaduct in 1840, and again when it widened in 1880. The second mill was replaced in 1884, but not the original wheelhouse. It is a five-storey, 15-bay mill of fireproof construction with narrow longitudinal vaults springing from iron joints. The original weaving sheds have been replaced with two-storey structures, creating a complex site.

Wikipedia

Employees at Wear Mill c.1907

I have circumnavigated the site on a previous post concerning the viaduct.

Way, way back in the Twentieth Century Mr LS Lowry came to take a look around.

As did photographer John Davies.

However cotton and hats do not last forever and the mill became home to a variety of small business operations, its future seemed precarious.

Along comes Capital & Centric wearing their developers’ hats to transform the site into an oasis of modern living.

Hundreds of youthful stock photographic figure illustrations were ordered to fill the proposed dwellings and contemporary leisure outlets.

Work began the future began to take shape.

The Weir Mill project in Stockport is breathing new life into a historic site, transforming the former cotton mill into a vibrant mixed-use community.

BDP

Lo, it came to pass – opened to the public August 2026.

I went to take a look around.

Available to rent right now – one bed from £1250 two bed from £1600

Living here comes with a stack of resident perks too. On-site amenities include a fully kitted out gym and studio, co-working spaces, mini-cini, residents lounge, private dining for big get togethers, and a rooftop garden fitted with electric BBQs.

Ollo Living

Mecca Bingo Oldham

Posted on by modernmoocher

Once upon a time you were not a bingo hall.

You were a Shopping Giant – a Co-op superstore.

Pioneer co-op opened King Square superstore in 1974, changing to Shopping Giant, then eventually Discount Giant.

Oldham’s Past

Dominating Oldham for most part of the decade was Co-op’s Shopping Giant. It was a great place where you could stock up on your groceries and buy non-food items. It boasted its own Handybank, had a separate chemist opposite the main store and a fast food restaurant – qv Food and Drink section. Cars parked on the roof and at ground level with access via trolley-friendly escalators.

Other delights included Mario’s salon – on Manchester Street underneath the main store, and an ice cream stand by the entrance nearest the Bank Top Tavern.

Mancunian 1001

Nothing, like everything lasts forever – so you became the Mecca Bingo Hall.

Being something of a car park aficionado I couldn’t resist walking up the ramp to take a look around.

To the right is the tower of the Civic Centre, it was designed by Cecil Howitt & Partners, and the topping out ceremony was held on 18 June 1976.

Plans are underway at the Civic Centre, the largest site in the regeneration project, to create a vibrant community providing 838 homes rising up to 15-storeys with mixed-use commercial spaces on the ground floor. This development will integrate seamlessly with the surrounding neighbourhood, particularly the nearby Former Magistrates’ Court site.

The Civic Tower at the edge of the site will be retained and redeveloped as a hotel in a later phase.

Team Civic

Images have revealed how the site of Oldham’s Mecca Bingo was envisioned to be transformed into a new state-of-the-art ‘commercial quarter’.

However the council says that while the site is still potentially earmarked for redevelopment – it is not likely to come forward any time soon.

MEN 2023

Telephone House Preston

Posted on by modernmoocher

A visit to Preston on our Modernist Walks would not be complete without a visit to Telephone House.

Local enthusiast George Sharples, a chemist by trade who was familiar with telegraph engineering, also had ambitions in this field and successfully applied for a licence to operate from his premises at 7 Fishergate.

His Preston Telephonic Exchange opened a few weeks later, having recruited local businesses who at first were reluctant to move away from the highly efficient telegraph message services and embrace the new technology.

Things progressed quite rapidly after that and by 1886 Sharples had sold his business to the county operators, who in turn were taken over by the National Telephone Company in 1889. Within a year the £9 subscription rate offered by Sharples had increased to £12 – a familiar tale. Within three more years this organisation had set up its telephone exchange in Guildhall Street and a decade later moved operations to the old Preston Gas Company offices in Glover Street, where the multi-storey Avenham car park now stands.

Despite the NTC being taken over in 1912 by the Post Office, the Preston Telephone Exchange remained at the Glover Street premises until 1931, when an automatic telephone system was installed in the General Post Office building in the Market Place. Subscribers now had the freedom to dial most calls themselves. At the official launch of the new system it was stated that 15,000 calls were handled daily in Preston.

From the mid-1940s the increase in telephones was dramatic, with modern technology and underground cables leading to greater efficiency. A reflection of this progress was seen locally in June 1964 when the main Preston telephone exchange was moved to the purpose-built structure on Moor Lane. The era of trunk dialling had arrived and by 1980 two out of three homes within the Preston Telephone Area had a telephone installed.

Images and further information Lancashire Post.

Image – Norwyn Photographics

Twixt Walker Street and Moor Lane the mighty BT Building – Telephone House by Building Design Partnership, 1960-64.

A decent office block with rough patterned concrete end walls. 

Pevsner

The front elevation was re-clad in 1992 the back is intact

BDP’s founder Professor Sir George Grenfell Baines, known affectionately as GG, was born in 1908 and set up in practice as an architect in Preston in 1937.

Four years later he teamed up with two other Preston practices and the Grenfell Baines Group was born. Expansion in various locations in the UK continued throughout the 1940s and 1950s and in 1951 GG was the only northern architect appointed to design a building for the Festival of Britain in London.

In 1961, his long cherished ambition of establishing the world’s first interdisciplinary practice was realised and Building Design Partnership was founded.  It was a successful formula and on the occasion of his retirement in 1974 GG’s advice was

“keep going, getting better.”

BDP

Cheetwood Road Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

1900

1920

1960

2026

I often wander these streets and write about the area’s history, or record the current state of affairs, then returning with 35mm film to photograph a black and white world.

On this occasion I am concerned with the tight little rectangle formed by Cheetwood Road, Broughton, Alison and Sherborne Streets.

Cheetwood Road is a postwar construction, a straight route replacing the meandering Cheetwood Lane. The road is lined with low level functionalist brick, steel and concrete industrial units.

Having fallen into disrepair they are now being renovated and reused.

In the early Twentieth Century the area was a mix of semi-derelict Victorian housing and industry.

Corner of Sherborne Street 1905

Cheetwood Lane 1917

The huge Holt’s Cheetwood Hotel has since been demolished, lasting until c1990.

Cheetwood Lane 1920

Images: Thomas Baddeley

Progress House 1969 – Domtar Howard Smith Ltd Paper Manufacturers.

Norweb Electricity

Images: Louis H Price Manchester Local Image Collection.

So here we are on Friday 7th August, taking yet another look.

The whole area and beyond is now the centre of a plan for regeneration.

Salford City Council and Manchester City Council have developed a joint Strategic Regeneration Framework to transform the Strangeways and Cambridge areas.

This plan addresses long-standing challenges such as counterfeit crime, poor-quality buildings, and flood risk, while creating opportunities for new homes, businesses, and green spaces.

Salford Gov

The Strangeways and Cambridge strategic regeneration framework sets out a vision to deliver around 7,000 homes in buildings up to 30 storeys and 3.1m sq ft of new or improved commercial space across 320 acres spanning both Manchester and Salford.

HMP Manchester & Jury Street: A catalytic neighbourhood at the heart of the SRF. Home of the existing HMP Manchester with potential for long term change subject to the relocation of the prison.

Derby Street: An intensified business district, supported to ensure the long-term preservation and evolution of the business base in the area.

Copper Park: A regional destination, multi-functional open space delivered to create positive amenity and biodiversity in response to future flood risk.

Overbridge: Gateway to Copper Park from the city centre, an area of significant residential potential – up to 2,000 homes – but with important economic assets and heritage.

Cheetham Park: A new urban-suburban residential neighbourhood of up to 1,000 homes, building on the heritage of the Victorian Cheetham Park and the nascent residential community around it.

Dutton Street: The Dutton Street area is a natural extension of the city centre. Subject to the existing Great Ducie Street SRF, it is identified as residential-led mixed use area – up to 4,000 homes – where significant development and investment is already evident. This part of the SRF could accommodate 1.75m sq ft of new commercial space

Lord Street: A transitional neighbourhood, connecting the residential-led change in Dutton Street with the economic focus of Derby Street to the north, and with Red Bank and Victoria North to the east.

Place Northwest

St Catherine’s Wood – Manchester

Posted on by modernmoocher

1807

1821

1860

1908

1960

Manchester Historical Maps

Collyhurst Rd Manchester M40 7TW

Image 1939 – Britain from the Air

Situated at the western end of the Irk Valley – there’s a brand new urban woodland park.

We worked together with Copenhagen practice, Schulze + Grassov on the Red Bank Masterplan in Manchester for Far East Consortium. It combines the wilderness of the riverside park setting and the metropolitan urbanity of Central Manchester.

Set within this wilderness, social, community and commercial infrastructure will support a thriving residential neighbourhood to foster an equitable, active, local, and resilient urban dwelling.

It is one of the first seven neighbourhoods being  regenerated  as part of the £4 billion Victoria North project, which is one of the largest in the UK and expected to build 15,000 new houses over the next decade.

MACCREANOR LAVINGTON

2022 plan – here’s one we made earlier.

The 2.7 acre St Catherine’s Wood, part of the emerging 5,000-home Red Bank neighbourhood within Victoria North, welcomed its first visitors on Friday.

Manchester City Council and Victoria North development partner FEC unveiled the city’s newest park at an event last week that gathered local stakeholders to the previously forgotten patch of woodland next to the River Irk.

Accessed via a pre-existing bridge off Collyhurst Road, the site has been transformed using part of a £51.6m Housing Infrastructure Fund grant from Homes England and £7m from the GMCA.

Place North West

This is the first phase of wider plans for Red Bank.

Red Bank forms the first phase of Victoria North that will see the regeneration of Manchester’s neighbourhoods running north of the city centre along the River Irk.

Red Bank forms the first phase of Victoria North that will see the regeneration of Manchester’s neighbourhoods running north of the city centre along the River Irk. The fast-flowing river is nested at the bottom of a valley, with its dramatic topography providing a respite from the general flatness of the central Manchester. The surrounding area was formerly at the centre of Manchester’s industrial might. Red Bank itself had held gasworks, a railway depot, mills, small factories and workers’ housing. Infamously, it was this neighbourhood that Engels used to describe the appalling quality of urban living in the “Conditions of the Working Class in England”.

NLA

The park is named for long gone St Catherine’s Church on Collyhurst Road.

Architects – Speakman and Charlesworth, built by, Messrs A Cochrane and Company, Manchester

On 5th November 1859, St Catherine’s Church Collyhurst was consecrated, with the service from the Book of Common Prayer, which gave thanks for the delivery of Parliament from the Gunpowder Plot and for the landing of William of Orange at Torbay in 1688. The church was named after a daughter of Lord Derby.

The rector of St Catherine’s in 1959 was Rev Robert C Tootel a Deputy Grand Chaplain of the Loyal Orange Institution of England. Due to dry-rot and a declining population the church had to close and the building was demolished in the 1960’s.

Manchester Orange

Image 1968 Lawrence Kaye Manchester Local Image Collection.

Collyhurst Road 1968 Manchester Local Image collection.

So the industry is all but gone, the older houses and their occupants displaced, the church and its congregation demolished and dispersed. A new world awaits the incoming population, a demographic and architectural leap into a high rise high rent future.

In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.

Friedrich Engels – The Communist Manifesto

Let’s take a walk in the park.

Collectively, we developed the idea of – Wild Urbanism, uniting the wilderness of the re-naturalised post-industrial landscape with the urbanity of the metropolitan world directly adjoining it. Merging nature and city life, it will offer the naturalised River Irk, the extended existing St Catherine’s Wood and a myriad of other interconnected green spaces to Mancunians. Cafes, restaurants, shops, community spaces and homes will be set among the nature to bring a dose of urbanity to the wilderness.

MACCREANOR LAVINGTON

When is a wilderness not a wilderness?

When it’s Wild Urbanism.

For further context see previous posts Dalton Street, Eastford Square, Sandhills and Collyhurst Circular.

This wilderness was and is home to a significant community of people with a sense of their history.

Collyhurst Voices.

Post Industrial Ancoats

Posted on by modernmoocher

This is a story of streets which almost existed in 1836, an area enclosed by Gould Street, Bromley Street and Rochdale Road.

Further developing my Collyhurst Cheetham Circular.

By 1870 there are a number of streets which now no longer exist, along with the homes and industry, they have been subsumed by car parks.

In 1960 the Rochdale Road Gas Works built in 1824, is then still extant.

The expansive site spanned over nine acres, including four retort houses, with a capacity of producing 8,500,000 cubic feet of gas daily. Since the end of the 18th century, the site was home to a locomotive/goods shed outside of the main works tramline infrastructure which was used for coal transportation for off-site refining. In the early 1940s, reorganisation and reconstruction ledto alterations and clearance of existing above-ground structures.

Image – Britain from the Air

Image 1907 J Jackson Manchester Local Image Collection.

Image 1958 Lawrence Kaye Manchester Local Image Collection.

Bromley Street.

Image 1964 Lawrence Kaye Manchester Local Image Collection.

Image 1966 Thomas Brooks Manchester Local Image Collection.

It’s 2026 and almost everything has been erased.

This is the only remnant of the former gasworks, preserved on Gould Street car park.

The raggle-taggle gaggle of businesses cling on to the Bromley Street arches beneath the railway.

The other side of the tracks.

Bilbrook Street just about hanging in there.

Burstock Street.

Here we are at the former home of Isomax Construction Company Ltd.

Manufacturing and execution of liquid waterproofing systems since 1990. All products are unique development, protected by patents and trademarks. All products are water-based and thus are 100% ecological. More than 1,200,000 sqm of executed projects with ten years warranty, since 1990.

Export to Serbia, Poland, Spain, Montenegro, France,

Latterly the former industrial premises have become temporary home to a Warehouse House Party – under the banner of We Are Nowhere.

In 2024 the are was becoming Victoria North – with the incipient intrusion of gargantuan residential blocks.

A far cry from the workers’ homes of Sudell Street.

The redevelopment project will create better-connected public spaces, new and improved transport links, and more homes, parks and retail spaces for the city’s growing population. Victoria Riverside is at the forefront of the new, distinct residential neighbourhood at Red Bank and New Town, benefitting from its location within Manchester City Centre, but offering something new to its community.

Victoria Riverside

St John’s College Oxford – RIBA pix

Posted on by modernmoocher

St John’s College was founded as a men’s college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979. Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to provide a source of educated Roman Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary.

St John’s is the wealthiest college in Oxford, with assets worth over £790 million as of 2022, largely due to nineteenth-century suburban development of land in the city of Oxford of which it is the ground landlord.

Wikipedia

The Beehive North Quad: the entrance elevation.

Architects 1960 Co-Partnership

Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey 1960

The Beehive North Quad: seen from the archway on the western side.

Bill Toomey 1960

The Garden Quadrangle.

Architect 1994 MacCormac Jamieson Prichard – MJP.

Detail of spiral stair.

The entrance courtyard.

A study bedroom at topmost level.

The lecture theatre.

Charles Martin 1994

Sir Thomas White Building.

Architects 1972-75 Philip Dowson of Arup Associates.

The pavilion looking through to the dining room.

A study bedroom.

The roof scape and service tower.

John Donat 1975

See also: St Catherine’s College, Materials Science, Worcester College, Keble College and The Florey Building

Keble College Halls of Residence 2026

Posted on by modernmoocher

The original buildings of the College were designed by William Butterfield 1814-1900. Although the darling of the Tractarian movement, Butterfield was a controversial choice, as his style – a form of High Victorian Gothic had long provoked argument in Oxford. The original Gothic revival of the 1840s was purely imitative, seeking to blend new buildings with the pre-existing architecture of the city. However, this did not satisfy Butterfield, who “sought a new form of Gothic which would both convey eternal truths and would express the spirit of the age”.

The College was lucky in that the ambitious vision of its founders allowed it to house the majority of its students for decades. However, by 1967, it had become clear to the College that there was a need to expand on a large scale. With the £500,000 cost funded via the Centenary Appeal, the project remained challenging – the site available was wedge-shaped, construction had to be phased, as funds became available, and the buildings had to stand next to Butterfield’s imposing work. To meet this challenge, the College chose an up-and-coming firm of architects, Ahrends, Burton and Koralek ABK.

Heritage Keble

We have previously taken a look at the Halls through the RIBA pix archive.

Paul Ahrends, architect, with a model of the ABK buildings, explaining them to HRH Princess Margaret, the Chancellor and the Warden.

Here are the photographs which I took on my flying visit of July 2nd 2026.

Worcester College Oxford

Posted on by modernmoocher

I was walking from the railway station, a map of Oxford folded in my back pocket.

Having no real notion of anything really, I simply followed my intuition and ended up here.

Worcester College was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet 1648–1701 of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was adopted by the college. Its predecessor, Gloucester College, had been an institution of learning on the same site since the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.

Founded as a men’s college, Worcester has been coeducational since 1979.

Wikipedia

This Mediaeval terrace is thought to be the oldest surviving domestic building in the city, known as the cottages – forming one side of the Quad.

This is the Casson Building – undergraduate accommodation.

The Linbury Building is a dedicated conferencing and private dining venue enjoying a beautiful natural setting among mature trees and landscaped lawns.

Accommodating up to one hundred guests for receptions or forty eight on a fully-catered basis, the Linbury Building offers the perfect venue for your mid-sized event. Set among the College’s award-winning gardens, the Linbury allows you to enjoy our unique natural setting thanks to floor-to-ceiling glazing which can be retracted to create an al fresco space in the summer.

With its own bespoke furniture made from English oak and College-crested leather chairs, the main conferencing space can be adapted into a wide variety of configurations, from seminar, cabaret or theatre to private dining and drinks receptions. The adjacent foyer area is a perfect space for delegate registration, break-out coffee and pastries or buffet lunch service. 

Worcester College

John Davan Sainsbury – Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover 1927 – 2022 was a British businessman and politician. He served as the President of Sainsbury’s, and sat in the House of Lords as a life peer and member of the Conservative Party

Robert Alfred Maguire 1931–2019 was an influential British modernist architect and leading thinker in the British liturgical architectural movement of the Church of England. Maguire and Keith Murray formed an architectural practice in 1959.

Nazrin Shah ascended the throne of Perak in 2014. As Sultan of Perak, he has been a strong advocate for education, Islamic moderation, and national unity. He has served as deputy king under Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, and Sultan Ibrahim of Johor.

The Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre is a new building of 2017 housing a large lecture theatre, a student learning space, seminar rooms and a dance studio. The project is not simply the provision of new facilities, but also the development and enhancement of the setting of this significant part of the College site. Whilst the relationship between the new buildings and the listed parkland is important, it is only one part of a complex arrangement.

Níall McLaughlin Architects

Elizabeth Frink’s sculpture Seated Man II – on loan from Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in accordance with the wishes of the artist’s late son, Lin Jammet, 2020.

He overlooks The Sainsbury Building student accommodation – 1983 Architect: Richard MacCormac

View from the loggia to the upper terrace.

Archive images 1983 – Charles Martin RIBA pix

The common room.

The central lobby.

A study bedroom.

The College Chapel was built in the 18th century. George Clarke, Henry Keene, and James Wyatt were responsible for different stages of its lengthy construction 1720–1791, owing to a shortage of funds. The interior columns and pilasters, the dome, and the delicate foliage plastering are all Wyatt’s work. His classical interior was insufficiently emphatic for the tastes of militant Victorian churchmen, and between 1864 and 1866 the chapel was redecorated by William Burges.

It is highly unusual and decorative; being predominantly pink, the pews are decorated with carved animals, including kangaroos and whales, and the walls are riotously colourful, and include frescoes of dodos and peacocks. Its stained glass windows were to have been designed by John Everett Millais, but Burges rejected his designs and entrusted the work to Henry Holiday.

Wikipedia

My first visit to Oxford and the centuries wide cornucopia of architectural styles and fashion.

See also: St Catherine’s College, Materials Science, and The Florey Building.

St Catherine’s College Oxford

Posted on by modernmoocher

I visited St Catz on a student open day, and wandered amiably around the accessible areas – restricted by the refurbishment work being undertaken.

To better illustrate the beauty of Arne Jacobsen’s 1961- 68 Grade I Listed buildings I searched the RIBA pix archive.

In 1956, with University considering plans for expansion, Alan Bullock obtained approval to transform St Catherine’s Society into a fully residential college – the search for a site and funding began.

An ambitious fundraising campaign began, focusing on the national shortage of scientists and on Bullock’s proposal of an increased number of science students at St Catherine’s than was usual for an Oxford college. In 1960 almost eight acres of Holywell Great Meadow was acquired from Merton College and the College’s chosen architect, Arne Jacobsen of Denmark, began to implement his design. His modernist masterpiece was to become the most important 20th-century collegiate buildings in Oxford, and is now Grade I listed.

In 1962 St Catherine’s College opened its doors – while still under construction, with Alan Bullock as its Master. The first undergraduates were admitted, and were quickly dubbed the ‘Dirty Thirty’ owing to the lack of running hot water. 1964 saw the ceremonial opening of the College by the then Chancellor of the University, Harold Macmillan, and ten years later in 1974, staying true to its forward-looking ethos, it became one of the first colleges to admit women.

Catz History

This is what I saw:

As a footnote – it’s possibly not a great idea to rush around an unfamiliar city trying to snap as much as possible on a very hot day time limited by budget train bookings largely underfed and thirsty.

St Catherine’s College Oxford – RIBA pix

Posted on by modernmoocher

St Catherine’s College: 1961-66. Arne Jacobsen – Grade I Listed

Podium and all buildings upon it. GV I College buildings, raised on a podium, including dining hall, common room blocks; two residential blocks; library; Bernard Sunley Lecture Theatre; bell tower; piers and covering to walkways to east and west of library and east and west of hall; bridge adjoining west side of podium; brick walls enclosing canal and patio areas on western edge of podium; brick walls to patio areas to eastern edge of podium; twenty five short stretches of garden wall all running east-west, some incorporating seats; paving to podium surface and steps to east and south sides.

Historic England

The dining hall seen from the east 1970 – Roy Herman Kantorowic

The dining hall 1963 – Edwin Smith

The Fellows’ dining table with ‘Oxford’ chairs designed by Arne Jacobsen at the south end of the dining hall 1964 – Eric de Mare.

The cruciform-section columns which carry the precast beams of the dining hall 1964 – Bill Toomey.

The south elevation of the Master’s house 1964 – Bill Toomey

The music room located in the south-west corner of the campus 1964 – Bill Toomey.

Close-up of the fenestration of a residential block overlooking the quadrangle 1964 – Bill Toomey.

A student room with fitted bookcase 1964 – Eric de Mare.

The bell tower and library block seen from the north-west 1964 – Gilbert Davies.

Library block 1963 – Eric de Mare

The library seen from the gallery 1964 – Eric de Mare.

The library 1964 – Colin Westwood.

The bicycle store 1964 – Colin Westwood.

The small lecture room in the auditorium block furnished with ‘Pot’ chairs designed by Arne Jacobsen 1971 – Johnathan Moor.

The quadrangle seen from the junior common room with the gable of a residential block on the left and the dining hall on the right 1964 – Bill Toomey.

The east elevation of the Master’s house 1964 – Eric de Mare.

The living room with connecting dining room in the Master’s house 1964 – Eric de Mare.

Close-up of the covered way to the dining hall from the west residential block 1964 – Bill Toomey.

Tthe junior common room furnished with ‘Swan’ armchairs by Arne Jacobsen 1964 – Bill Toomey.

The main auditorium of the lecture-room block with raked seating of swivel ‘Series 7’ chairs by Arne Jacobsen 1964 – Bill Toomey.

All images from RIBA pix.

Chorley Walk – 2026

Posted on by modernmoocher

Once upon a time it was 2022 and I was in Chorley.

Then all of a sudden it wasn’t and I was elsewhere – fast forward to yesterday and I was in Chorley again.

Arriving at the Railway Station.

White Coppice

The current railway station is a modern version from the 1980s that was built on top of the original station – it is entirely functional, but more than somewhat undistinguished.

Crossing over the road to Market Walk.

Whether it’s fashion, gifts, everyday essentials or an entertaining day out that you’re after, Market Walk has it all. With over thirty shops along an outdoor parade, plus entertainment and hospitality venues, there’s something for everyone.

AEW Architects were appointed by Chorley Council in 2015 as Architects for the Market Walk Scheme.

The Council’s aspiration was to breathe life back into the town centre by enhancing Chorley’s retail and leisure offer and refocusing Chorley’s centre as a destination for local residents and surrounding towns. The development needed to entice new, and retain existing, businesses in the town. Aesthetically, the development also needed to be a landmark for, and create a modern gateway into, the town – driving footfall towards Chorley’s commercial centre.

Next door is the Bus Station, opened in February 2003 replacing the previous structure.

Opening of the previous Bus Station – Ribble the area’s operators, before the Stagecoach arrived.

Red Rose Collections.

The Post Office – with its later extension.

Though dated 1935 the architect  Charles Wilkinson died in 1927 – posthumous construction following his earlier plans?

Former Fine Fare finds a new occupant the Big Bargain Store.

The NatWest Bank is still a NatWest Bank.

Next the Royal Bank of Scotland presenting and passing as a Post Office.

My good friend Mainstream Modern informs me that the architects were Cruickshank & Seward.

The distinctive white tiles of 2020 having become a living wall.

Long gone – this swish interior with its alarmingly charming calendar.

Let’s have a look around the back.

Next door this sinister functionalist brick structure.

Next to the Chorley Theatre, formerly the Empire Electric Theatre and currently the Empire Cinema.

Opened on on 3rd September 1910, one of the nation’s longest continuously running cinemas.

I spent some time chatting to the chatty guardian of the booking office, I learnt that the recently installed blue plaque commemorates the areas links to esteemed Beano artist Leo Baxendale.

Leo attended St Mary’s School which was sited opposite the theatre, he had a miserable time there, an experience which formed the basis for the famed Bash Street Kids.

He may well now chuckle to himself in comic book heaven, knowing that the school was demolished in 1982.

Red Rose Collections

It’s only right that the town boasts a Leo Baxendale Trail.

Furthermore, I was ever so excited to hear that the really surreal Leonora Carrington, was a local lass and that the theatre were screening her biopic Leonora in the Morning Light.

Back down to earth with a bang and just around the bend – here’s a former Social Services building, very much in the post-war manner.

Next thing you know we are at the Police Station.

County Architect’s Report: 1963-64.

The design team was Roger Booth, Lancashire County Architect; CA Spivey, Assistant County Architect; DB Stephenson, Design Architect; and DG Edwards, AG Gass, responsible for the detailed design and construction. The seven-storey in-situ concrete framed main block was the last bespoke police station to be built in Lancashire, following this the department developed a systemised concrete construction method which was deployed across the county. The dramatic cantilevers gave the new building a stature and presence that signalled authority. The lower levels were accessed by ramps and provided space for police vehicles. To enter the police station one ascended a set of external stairs across a pool that once contained koi carp – fittingly, one boy described the new building as a ‘fishtank’ upon its completion. The magistrates’ court was finished externally in a grey brick and carried the signature pyramid rooflights that were synonymous with the Department.

Many thanks to Richard at Mainstream Modern

Next door its partner in crime the Magistrates Courts.

Opened in 1968.

The courts are up for sale – offers in the region of £800,000 – the property has planning permission for an eleven storey apartment building with fifty two flats, three ground floor retail units and roof terrace.

The disused court building was last sold in 2022 for £300,000, according to the Land Registry.

Designs for the scheme were drawn up by FWP Group.

Next door is a pub no longer a pub.

Once upon a time a Vaux Brewery house the White Hart – implausibly renamed the Snooty Fox for a brief period.

Photo Alan Winfield 1988 – The Never Ending Pub Crawl

This was a really big looking pub.

The pub was decent enough inside with a large room which was empty on our Friday dinner visit, the pub was a Vaux tied house so we were well pleased as we had not done many of them.


We had a drink of Vaux bitter which went down well.

Interior from Red Rose Collections.

Currently the Ukraine Unit Donation Centre.

Our group was created in February 2022 to try and help raise awareness of the crisis in Ukraine and to help organise and coordinate local efforts to send support from across the Borough of Chorley in Lancashire. We have since grown into a major hub for donations.

Across Chorley & District multiple educational facilities, community groups and organisations reacted and began to spread awareness and collect donations. In order to sift and sort a lot of local donations, a unit has been loaned by Chorley Council. A large percentage of the region’s aid has come into this unit and we are regularly packaging aid and supplies in preparation for the next leg of the journey to Ukraine, whether it’s transported there by us or other charitable organisations.

Our philosophy is that if we can all do a little bit, together we can make a big difference.

Bouncing back to what was and never shall be no more Barclays Bank.

Almost finally we find ourselves at the Council Offices 1982.

You will be delighted to hear that Chorley Council has a Masterplan

Self Architects generated a high level Masterplan for this prominent site. The scheme proposes a boutique hotel, offices, restaurants/bars, along with apartments, aiming to transform the town centre by intervention to enhance the overall vision by:

  • Establish a series of formal/informal public spaces
  • Diagonally link public spaces
  • Greening pedestrian streets
  • Reducing dominance of cars
  • Improving evening economy

Having a moment or two on my hands I ventured to the land beyond beyond – the land of the concrete bench, bin and planter combo.

They are on Hollinshead Street.

Google Streetview 2022.

Eglwys Sant Brynach Nanhyfer – St Brynachs Church Nevern

Posted on by modernmoocher

Nevern is a rural village in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

The surrounding land is devoted largely to agriculture.

The church was founded by St Brynach in 540AD and the present building dates from around 1400.

Tim Rushton and I were cycling from Fishguard to Aberteifi on the Route 82 Lôn Teifi, which passes through Nevern.

So we stopped to have a look around.

1955

The most probable reason Brynach chose Nevern was the protection afforded it by its obscurity and the Castle above the village which had been a fortified stronghold since Iron-age times. He was a kinsman of the Goedelic Tribal Chieftains who occupied it.

Though the Peregrinatio had learned their theology and scholarship by travelling to monasteries on the Continent under the rule of Rome, the Celtic Church was very different. The ‘churches’ were in essence small monasteries or ‘clas’ peopled by monks. They had a leader or Abbot such as Brynach but were centres of learning and small-scale industry as much as for worship.

Evangelising by monks took place from the ‘mother churches’, so when a church is said to have been founded by a certain saint it was probably named after the leader of the ‘clas’. The life of the ‘clas’ and its form of worship, essentially different to that of Rome, changed very little from its formation in the 6thC into the century after the Norman Conquest, except that in the C8th repeated persuasion by the Continental conquerors of middle Britain converted the Celtic Church to Catholicism, henceforth adopting its dates and some of its rites.

The Vikings sacked St. David’s in 878, killing the bishop, and were a constant scourge along the coast for the next three hundred years. This is where the Castle played its most important role in the life of the church. They built a tower stronghold on a spit of land separated from the main castle where they would ‘sit out’ the Viking raids literally burning their bridge behind them. Fortunately for them the Vikings had a short attention span and were loath to lay siege preferring to push on to other targets, so, apart from having to occasionally rebuild their church, the Christians at Nevern were left relatively unharmed.

Having landed in the country in 1066 the Normans arrived at Nevern in the latter years of the 11th Century. They usurped the local chieftains from the Castle – though their descendants still live in the parish to this day and rebuilt the Castle in their usual Motte and Bailey manner. They evidently intended to make Nevern their manor in this area, which accounts for an unusually large church in a small village, but changed their minds moving to Newport, building a much larger castle, and populating the town with their loyal English supporters.

The church as it presently stands was built in this period, the oldest part being the Tower dating from about 1380 and the nave and Chancel following 1420-1450, built in the ‘Late Perpendicular’ style learned from the Normans. indeed, quite possibly supervised by French overseers. The church obviously held some status before this, because in 1291 Archbishop Baldwin and Giraldus Cambrensis came through raising money for Pope Nicholas IV’s 3rd Crusade, Nevern’s annual value was £16, more than double any other church in the Deanery.

Nevern Church

The church as it stands today has a Norman tower and Tudor nave, but it was rigorously restored in 1864.

Legends abound here: one of the yew trees is called the Bleeding Yew, and has dark blood like sap that oozes year round. And the first cuckoo of Spring is supposed to sing from Nevern Cross on 7 April, St Brynach’s Day.

National Church Trust

Manordeifi Old Church – St Davids

Posted on by modernmoocher

Tim Rushton and m’self were cycling from Fishguard to Aberystwyth, as we have in previous years, taking the train from Stockport and setting off on our way through Pembrokeshire and beyond. Modern pilgrims crossing the ancient pilgrim’s route.

This was the second day of our tour, from Aberteifi to Lllandysul.

At the end of a long lane that follows the Afon Teifi we saw this low stone church, tucked beneath the rising landscape to the right.

We both share a love of architecture and vernacular churches in particular – Tim, illustrated below, has produced a book on Welsh Chapels.

So we stopped to take a look around.

Old St David’s lies on the pilgrimage route to the cathedral of the same dedication and next to the Teifi River. Frequent flooding led to a new church being built on the other side of the river in the 19th century. It also explains why the church has its own coracle, which once ferried worshippers to and fro during a flood. Unfortunately, the church is still prone to flooding, most recently in September 2021.

This is a reproduction as the original was stolen.

The church you see today is a 13th-century building, remodelled in 1847 to the elegant Georgian Gothick interior. This style was already out of fashion in more urban parts and by 1899, the church had fallen out of regular use.

The nave walls are lined with a set of 18th-century box-pews; some have fluted columns, drawers with brass handles, and some even have their own fireplaces.

The square font, which you’ll find right inside the west porch, dates to the 13th century and is the only survivor from the early church. Its underside is fluted and its sides are carved with quatrefoils.

Don’t miss the memorial to Capt. Charles Colby, who was stationed to Rawalpindi – now in Pakistan in about 1850. On a day off, he went hunting on an elephant, and was unfortunately mauled by a tiger. His plaque bears an urn with the inscription ‘Rawil Pinde’ and a carved palm tree.

Friends of Friendless Churches

Many thanks to the Friends of Friendless churches for ensuring that the church remains open and maintained.

As a postscript – the appreciation of these wonderful Welsh churches must be due in part to John Piper.

Jerwood Foundation was recently alerted to a renewed recognition of John Piper’s painting The churchyard, in Jerwood Collection, after it appeared as an illustration accompanying an online article. The image was immediately recognised by a reader as depicting St Baglan’s Church, near Caernarfon, viewed from a familiar angle.

John Piper, a founding member of Friends of Friendless Churches in the 1950s, painted many historic churches across the UK. Although St Baglan’s has been under the charity’s care since the 1970s, this rediscovery offers a valuable insight into Piper’s early engagement with sites that would later become key rescue projects. The recognition helps to piece together the history of how some of the charity’s earliest churches were identified, recorded and preserved.

Jerwood

University of York – RIBA pix

Posted on by modernmoocher

Following my previous visits to the University of York, recording the history and the Fred Millett Reliefs, I have searched the RIBA pix archives to find further images.

They mainly illustrate the Derwent and Langwith Colleges – both built using the CLASP system of construction.

The University of York was founded in 1963 and work on its campus facilities in the grounds of Heslington Hall was begun in 1964. The first two colleges, Langwith and Derwent, accepted residential students for the autumn term of 1965. The original buildings were designed by Sir Andrew Derbyshire of Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall & Partners, and assembled using the CLASP system of prefabricated construction.

RIBA

Derwent College: one of the two covered walkways linking the college buildings with sculptural relief by Fred Millett at the far end.

Photographs 1965 – Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey.

Derwent College: a concrete panel sculptured by Fred Millett.

Derwent College.

Photographs 1965 Keith Gibson.

JB Morrell Library.

Derwent College: a covered walkway over the lake.

Central Hall.

Photograph 1972 Bill Toomey.

Vanbrugh College: stepped roof to the covered way leading down to the lake.

Photograph 1972 Peter Bairstow.

Derwent College and Heslington Hall.

Photographs 1965 – Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey.

Langwith College, seen from the lake.

Langwith College.

Photographs 1965 Bill Toomey.

David Brown Laboratories: the flue stack.

David Brown laboratories: the water tower.

Photographs 1965 – Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey.

Derwent College.

Derwent College.

Langwith College: close-up of the oriel windows.

Photographs 1965 Bill Toomey.

Derwent College: a concrete sculptured screen flanking a covered way.

Derwent College: a concrete sculptured screen flanking a covered way.

One of several concrete link bridges.

Another of the several concrete link bridges.

Photographs 1965 – Reginald Hugo de Burgh Galwey.

David Brown laboratories: seen from one of the link bridges.

David Brown Laboratories: the flue stack and water tower rising above the laboratory blocks.

J. B. Morrell Library: the central staircase and lift tower.

Photographs 1965 Keith Gibson.

Central Hall.

JB Morrell Library, University of York, seen from the south side of Heslington Road with linking pedestrian bridge and ramp in foreground and cast aluminium sculpture by Austin Wright

JB Morrell Library: the covered pedestrian bridge linking the library to the southern side of the campus.

JB Morrell Library.

JB Morrell Library: the main entrance and terrace.

JB Morrell Library: the issue counter seen from the second floor.

JB Morrell Library: viewpoint from the fourth floor.

The covered pedestrian bridge linking the southern side of the campus to the JB Morrell Library on the north side.

Langwith and Derwent Colleges.

Derwent College and Heslington Hall.

Photograph 1965 Henk Snoek.

Wigan Civic Centre 2026

Posted on by modernmoocher

Over ten years ago I visited Wigan Civic Centre.

It looked a lot like this:

The current Pevsner Guide remarks:

1971 built of a pre-cast concrete panel system, dour, on an awkwardly sloping site.

I beg to differ – what’s the opposite of dour?

So says the online Thesaurus – and I heartily concur, for the whole building has had a makeover and a half.

Civic is a super energy-efficient workspace in the centre of Wigan town centre. The BREEAM Excellent building has space for business of all sizes, from desks for solo start-ups, all the way to big open plan offices with their own front door.

The brutalist beast has been lovingly restored by Capital&Centric to celebrate its architecture, with original waffle ceilings, corduroy concrete and stunning feature windows that flood the space with light.

Capital&Centric

The redevelopment was supported by cash from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund – UKSPF.

Dave Molyneux, the leader of Wigan Council, said:

I had an office in here for quite a while and it had that 1970s retro, concrete building style but this is something special. 

For businesses, we’re probably the best located local authority in Greater Manchester because of the West Coast Main Line and the M6 motorway.

BBC

It was great to visit and tour Wigan Civic Centre on Millgate, to see the inspiring work being done to create sustainable workspaces and amenities in the centre of our town. This development, alongside others taking place and planned across the North West, will help to revitalise our public spaces

Lisa Nandy MP

The refit was handled by shedkm.

With students, start-ups and professionals situating themselves elsewhere in Greater Manchester, Wigan town had been missing out on the economic and cultural vitality that high quality workspace brings. Civic’s transformation represents not just the overhaul of a tired concrete building, but a wider renewal of place and opportunity for Wigan.

Main interior contractors were Workspace Design & Build.

Working with Wigan Council and Capital & Centric, we completed the refurbishment of the 50,000 sq ft building that is Wigan Civic Centre. Delivering aspirational office accommodation to stimulate economic growth with the goal to create a lasting social impact in Wigan. In addition to exemplar market-leading workspace, amenities include a rooftop terrace, mini cinema, gym studio and co-working/coffee shop space.

Here’s the exterior.

Many thanks to the Cotton Café Bar for kindly allowing us in after hours.

Diners image Canning O’Neill – spaces to let.

Ultimately, civic stands as a symbol of optimism for Wigan, proving that intelligent commercial design can catalyse economic renewal, secure a sustainable future, and truly lift a town’s spirits, without erasing its history. It is a gold standard for the adaptive reuse of 20th-century landmarks.

Judge, BCO Awards 2026

Open for business bob along pronto.

Shore Road Poole

Posted on by modernmoocher

I was wandering lonely from Bournemouth to Poole, one sunny day in May, when all at once I came upon a road – Shore Road.

Shore Road is adjacent to Sandbanks.

Sandbanks is an affluent neighbourhood of Poole, situated on a narrow spit extending into the mouth of Poole Harbour.

It is known for its high property prices and for its award-winning beach.

 In 2005, Sandbanks was reported to have the fourth highest land value by area in the world.

Wikipedia

Zoopla

Shore Road is by comparison a poor relation.

House prices in Shore Road have an overall average of £1,150,000 over the last year.

Overall, the historical sold prices in Shore Road over the last year were 35% up on the previous year and 44% down on the 2019 peak of £2,055,238.

Right Move

So much for the cost, but what about the value?

To begin at the middle, the middle of the Twentieth Century, houses may have looked like this:

Or possibly these:

These Shore Road survivors have resisted the charm of redevelopment, the demolition and new build, or the uPVC over cladding, relentless render or reglaze.

So what happened to houses that look like houses?

This upwardly mobile trend, fuelled by the rakish progress on the so called property ladder, fanned by 80’s Thatcherite tax cuts, and the ever so irresistible allure of conspicuous consumption.

Architectural historian Virginia Savage McAlester, coined the term Millennium Mansion, though these houses are also referred to as a McMansion, Persian Palace, Garage Mahal, Starter Castle, and Hummer House.

Marketing parlance often uses the term tract mansions or executive homes.

Let’s take a closer look at the look of luxury, is it playful and witty pastiche or Post Modern mumbo jumbo – un repas de chien.

If you liked this, then you may like this North Foreland Estate.

Y’all come back now!

Barclays House – Poole

Posted on by modernmoocher

Barclays House 1 Wimborne Road 

Photo 2012 – Peter Holmes

Barclays House was constructed by Barclays bank from 1972 to 1975 as part of a move to decentralise its offices from London.

The structure, was designed in the Brutalist style by architects Wilson, Mason and Partners. It consists of three main wings, each octagonal in plan, and dominates the town centre skyline.

Barclays first occupied the office in January 1976. The building’s basement is below sea level and is often flooded or damp, which prevented its use by the bank for storage. The structure has also sunk over time due to its significant mass

Barclays left the site in January 2022 and put the structure up for sale by sealed bid auction. The highest bidder was Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council but they withdrew from the purchase in September 2022.

BCP offered £17 million, almost three times more than the next highest bidder, thought to be Fortitudo at £6.5 million, who wanted to demolish the structure and build three apartment towers.

In February 2023, boarding was put up around the building and the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported that a new buyer had been found. In November 2023, proposals for redevelopment to residential use were announced, 362 flats are proposed for the building.

Wikipedia

The main reception 28th January 1976.

Historic England

Photos 26th March 2025 – AD Coastalmedia

Town hall planner Gareth Ball has given the go-ahead for VCRE Four Poole Limited to convert the historic building into a 362-bedroom apartment block. 

No parking spaces will be available for the future residents, as noted by BCP case officer Mr Ball as being in accordance with the council’s rules. Instead, the development will come with 488 cycle spaces – or one space for every resident. The scheme will feature a gym, communal workspace, squash courts, a games room with table tennis, pool, video games, surfboard storage and a rooftop garden.

Barclays House was bought last year for £5.3 million, according to documents. 

Bournemouth Echo

Here are the photographs I took in May 2026 – incorporating the multi storey car park.

But what of the future?

This recent ARC project involves transforming the former Barclays building in Poole into 362 modern residential flats while preserving the existing building’s façade. This project focuses on revitalising a heritage landmark by repurposing it with innovative designs that offer easy access to public transport, exceed space standards for comfort and practicality, and create a strong sense of community through shared internal and external amenities.