JHA Pulmannwere commissioned via network rail to deliver an extension to, and the re-cladding of an existing 1970’s concrete frame carpark, outside of Manchester Piccadilly station.
The carpark is fine but as a lone female arriving off the train in the early hours of the morning, I felt quite vulnerable getting back there. It’s in a very quiet dark place accessed by going through a tunnel going under a bridge.
Easy to find, plenty of spaces and only a short walk to Piccadilly station – great!
The pedestrian in a car park ventures beyond the train station, across a bridge and through a portal to another dimension.
Where once the dank dark grey mists descended, we now see only light.
Illustrating a wide range of building types in and around Sheffield sheltering beneath the broad umbrella of Modernism.
By way of context the photographs are all Topographic in nature – in which a landscape subject is photographed, devoid of people, framed orthogonally and lacking artifice or effect.
Practiced most famously by the 1970s New Topographics photographers, including Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Nicholas Nixon, and Bernd and Hilla Becher.
A shocking paroxysm of a building, an explosion in reinforced concrete, a bunker built with an aesthete’s attention to detail, a building which is genuinely Brutalist in both senses of the term.
With a hyper parabolic roof a doubly-curved surface that resembles the shape of a saddle, that is, it has a convex form along one axis, and a concave form on along the other.
Featured in the video for the Arctic Monkeys’ 2006 number one hit – When the Sun Goes Down at 1.21.
5 Park Hill – 1957 and 1961 Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith under the supervision of JL Womersley,
Grace Owen Nursery – with two Wicksteed climbing frames
The Play Ground should not be put in a corner behind railings, but in a conspicuous and beautiful part of a Park, free to all, where people can enjoy the play and charming scenery at the same time; where mothers can sit, while they are looking on and caring for their children.
The Sheffield Blitz in December 1940 killed almost 700 and damaged some 82,000 homes, over half the city’s housing stock. As the city looked to rebuilding, its 1952 Development Plan estimated the need to replace 20,000 unfit homes and build a further 15,000 to cater for the natural increase of population.
Supreme, but often overlooked, achievement … is the Gleadless Valley Estate which combined urban housing types and the natural landscape so effectively that it still looks stunning, especially on a bright winter’s day.
7 Hallam Tower Hotel 1965 Nelson Foley of Trust House Architectural Department
It opened officially on 24th March 1965 and was the first luxury hotel to be built in the north of England since the Second World War. The exterior was designed to complement Sheffield’s post-war modernist developments; the interior by Colefax and Fowler of Mayfair offered warm, gay colours to contrast with the black and grey tones of the city.
The plant started its first full year of production in 1929
The plant was located at Hope, because it is at the edge of where carboniferous limestone of the Monsal Dale Group, meets Edale Shale, the two main components of finished cement.
Since 1951, when the Peak District National Park was created, most of the outbound traffic from the plant has been exported by rail.
Colleagues in the team included Bill Varley, Ron Bridle, Sri Sriskandan and FA Joe Sims. The team was responsible for the introduction of a great deal of new computing technology into bridge design, as well as for some of the most imaginative bridge engineering going on anywhere in the country. Their design efforts were supported by close involvement in research and testing work, for example, on half-joints and concrete hinges. All the above named engineers went on to considerable seniority, some in the Department of Transport, and Sims and Bridle in particular have published various papers and contributed to books on the history of Britain’s motorway development.
Here we are again and the local community are hard at work funding the pool’s transformation.
We’re the Friends of Tynemouth Outdoor Pool and we’re aiming to transform the incredible eyesore that sits at the end of one of the country’s favourite beaches into a brand new outdoor pool that’s modern, safe and, most importantly, heated.
At the Southern end of Tynemouth Longsands beach, on the North East coast, lies the decaying remains of Tynemouth Outdoor Swimming Pool. A concrete, rectangular, salt water tidal pool, built in the 1920s. Popular with locals and holiday makers alike for over 50 years. It began to lose favour in the late 70s with the introduction of cheap package holidays abroad, just as other British coastal holiday destinations lost out.
The pool fell into disrepair, and in the mid 90s the Local Authority demolished the ancillary buildings and bulldozed the rubble into the pool, at a cost of £200,000, before filling with concrete and imported boulders to form an artificial ‘rock pool’.
The anticipated marine life they introduced never flourished and the pool remains an eyesore to this day.
Tyne Mill is one of a trio of mills designed by Oscar Faber for Spillers Ltd – the others are in Cardiff and Avonmouth and led to subsequent commissions from the company. Spillers began with a single mill in Bridgwater in around 1833, and during the 20th centruy had mills all over Britain.
Spillers operations were flour milling and manufacturing animal feeds, and they came to Newcastle in 1896. Grinding grain to flour produces both heat and fine dust a combination guaranteed to be a fire hazard. The fire retardant properties of reinforced concrete, and its relative cost effectiveness, made it a popular choice for mills and other industrial buildings.
Construction took place during the winter and a warming plant heated the concrete constituents before and after mixing, to control the setting time which governs how soon the slip-form shuttering can be moved to the next lift. The concrete was usually kept at 15.6 deg C, though this could be varied to speed or delay setting times.
The mill building has the actual mill above a warehouse area. Its footprint is 88.4m by 27.4m with 12 storeys and a maximum height of 51.2m. It has reinforced concrete columns and beams, but timber floors of 100mm thick Columbian pine with a 25mm thick maple strip finish. The walls are of 280mm thick brickwork with flashing on each floor to drain the cavity.
When completed, Spillers Tyne Mill was the largest flour mill in Europe and apparently the tallest milling building in the world. It could process 254,000 tonnes of grain annually, brought to the mill by ship via Spillers Quay or by rail on the track extension along Quayside.
A goods line down to the Newcastle quayside from Manors Station was agreed in 1845, but not authorized until 28th June 1863 and opened on 1st June 1870.
The Quayside Branch Line closed on 16 June 1969. The railway was in use for ninety-nine years and its eventual demise reflects the changes in the Quayside and Ouseburn themselves from shipping and industrial use to one now of housing and leisure facilities. The northern portal of tunnel 2 was removed when the Metro system was constructed in the late 1970s. The cutting above Lime Street was filled in in 1977 and the tunnel at the quayside bricked up and landscaped over in the 1990s. Only the Red Barns tunnel remains as a metro overrun facility.
24/7, completely free and always spaces! A hidden parking gem of Newcastle! 10 minute walk to Millennium Bridge. Security is almost non-existent but busy enough that trouble should be deterred.
A popular Newcastle car park will be staying locked up overnight in an effort to crack down on boy racers. Council bosses have confirmed plans to permanently close the Spillers car park in Ouseburn at 10pm each night after it was plagued with – significant anti-social behaviour.
The future of the car park is uncertain, with major redevelopment plans having emerged for the area.
While planning permission has expired for the controversial Whey Aye Wheel project, which would have seen Europe’s biggest observation wheel built at Spillers Wharf, there remain proposals to build housing on the riverside plot.
However as of September 2023 a car park is a car park – a car park with embedded remnants of the railway yard, interspersed with rapidly emergent plant life, and crumbling concrete obstacles.
The ingredients list of Wotsits Cheese reveals that cheese and dairy-derived components play a significant role in creating the mouthwatering flavor. The primary ingredients include corn and rapeseed oil, which form the base of the crunchy corn puffs. However, it is the cheese flavoring that truly brings the cheesy goodness to Wotsits cheese.
Opened in 1961, Martins Bank’s branch at Sheffield Moor is new and purpose built, occupying space left in the Sheffield Moor area by the bombing of the second world war. Time flies however, and more than fifty years on, the building is empty and awaiting the next chapter of its life.
Note the olivetti shop incorporated into the bank building.
Our New Branch at Sheffield Moor owes its existence to the extensive replanning of this area of Sheffield. Part of it was destroyed during the war and the remainder has been or is in course of being pulled down as the plan unfolds for the creation of a brand new shopping area.
It is really too far from the old commercial quarter to be effectively served by our branch at West Street and so the banks are moving in. It is a beautiful modern building with interior decor which responds to the full blaze of sunshine most cheerfully, or, on a dark day when the illuminated ceiling has to be switched on, creates an oasis of light, warmth and welcome which makes it a pleasure to step inside.
Plans are in place for redevelopment of the site and the demolition of the tower block and adjacent housing.
The scheme, designed by Sheppard Robson, would see 3,300 new bedspaces brought forward, taking the total number of units at the complex to 5,400, a net increase of 950. This is an increase of around 1,000 new units compared to the previous iteration of the project, approved in 2015.
The history of youth work goes back to the birth of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, which was the first time that young men left their own homes and cottage–industries to migrate to the big towns. The result of this migration was an emergent youth culture in urban areas, which was responded to by the efforts of local people.
Work with young women however was seen as less important, because young women’s needs at this time were seen as being centred on homemaking, which were already, supposedly, provided for in the home.
By 1959 widespread moral panic in the press about teenage delinquency led the British government to look into a national response to catering for the needs of young people. In 1960 a government report known as The Albemarle Report was released, which outlined the need for local government agencies to take on responsibility for providing extracurricular activities for young people. Out of this the statutory sector of the youth service was born. For the first time youth centres and fully paid full-time youth workers made an appearance across the whole of Britain.
Which is where I enter this short history, attending the Broadoak Youth Club in Ashton, during the late 60s early 70s. These were days of ping pong, snooker, spinning 45s and drinking pop if you had the coppers.
Council run, housed in an architectural style best described as bunker like.
I uncovered a little of Manchester’s youth club history during my travels.
The Ardwick Lads’ and Mens’ Club on Palmerston Street, latterly the Ardwick Youth Centre, opened in 1897 and is believed to be Britain’s oldest purpose-built youth club still in use and was until earlier in 2012. Designed by architects W & G Higginbottom, the club, when opened, featured a large gymnasium with viewing gallery – where the 1933 All England Amateur Gymnastics Championships were held – three fives courts, a billiard room and two skittle alleys – later converted to shooting galleries. Boxing, cycling, cricket, swimming and badminton were also organised. At its peak between the two world wars, Ardwick was the Manchester area’s largest club, with 2,000 members.
On the 10th September 2012 an application for prior notification of proposed demolition was submitted on behalf of Manchester City Council to Manchester Planning, for the demolition of Ardwick Lads’ Club of 100 Palmerston Street , citing that there was “no use” for the building in respect to its historic place within the community as providing a refuge and sporting provision to the young of Ancoats.
Whilst cycling through Gorton, I passed the now defunct West Gorton Youth Centre.
Intrigued I started to dig a little deeper, I remembered playing five-a-side at Crossley House in Openshaw.
Openshaw Lad’s Club was founded in November 1888 by William John Crossley. It was previously known as the Gorton and Openshaw Working Lad’s Club and the Crossley Lad’s Club. The Crossley family financed the club up to 1941 and they built the club premises, Crossley House to commemorate Sir William Crossley after his death in 1911. The building was opened on 1 September 1913. In July 1941 the premises were handed over to the National Association of Boy’s Clubs and a management committee was formed to administer the club
Simon Inglis gives the architect as John Broadbent; Buildings of England names the architect as James Barritt Broadbent.
Stalybridge born outside right Tommy Broad started with Redgate Albion in 1902 spending time at Manchester City without making their first eleven before playing for Denton Wanderers in 1903 and Openshaw Lads Club in 1904 from where he joined Second Division West Bromwich Albion in September 1905 making his Football League debut at Wolverhampton Wanderers that September. After a single goal in 15 appearances he moved to Chesterfield Town in the February 1908 scoring 5 goals in 50 appearances for The Spireites over the next two seasons at Saltergate, where he was an ever present in 1908-09.
He moved to Second Division Oldham Athletic in May 1909 and they were promoted as Second Division runners-up in his first season when he missed only one game, scoring a career best 7 goals in the campaign, and in three seasons at Boundary Park he scored 9 goals in 104 appearances. He then played for Bristol City between the summer of 1912 and the suspension of peacetime football due to the onset of the First World War in 1915, where he missed only one match in his first two seasons, scoring 8 times in 111 appearances at Ashton Gate.
During the First World War he served in the Armed Forces and after its resolution he joined First Division Manchester City in the summer of 1919, making 44 appearances in two years at Hyde Road, and helping The Citizens to finish runners up in the League Championship in 1920-21, which he followed with a move to Stoke in the summer of 1921 where Broad along with his younger brother Jimmy helped The Potters to promotion in 1921-22, finishing as Second Division runners-up, although this was followed by relegation the following season.
After three years in The Potteries, where Broad scored 4 times in 89 first team appearances, he moved to the South Coast to join Southampton. Broad still holds the distinction of being the oldest player ever signed by The Saints, being just three weeks short of his 37th birthday. At The Dell, he was used as cover for Bill Henderson and only had a run of three games in October, followed by six more appearances in April. In September 1925, Broad moved to Weymouth of the Western League, before playing out his career with Rhyl.
Procter Youth Centre a victim of city’s spending cuts
Procter Youth Centre 1966-2011. Despite being in singularly ugly building, it was very popular, providing a wide range of activities such as pool, football and martial arts, to name but a few. In 2009 the premises were refurbished with £668,000 being spent on a weights room, dance studio, recording studio. Then two years later Manchester City Council did the logical thing – closed it! Some of the eight staff offered to take a pay cut but to no avail. There were plans to use the building as a pupil referral unit. Today the building stands in the middle of wasteland that is the process of redevelopment.
Ancoats Youth Club had sadly ceased being a place for the community to come together and use the facilities a number of years before it became a bed shop before it was finally demolished in 2011, with yet another community resource gone forever.
Bringing us back to Gorton – the unoccupied and demolition ready Youth Centre.
Surrounded by new-build and no stranger to a passing Bentley.
Where the state has created a vacuum the charitable sector steps in.
Designed by Seven Architecture, the Manchester Youth Zone East will be the second of its type in Greater Manchester, following the Factory Youth Zone in Harpurhey.
Following years of slow decline the area is on the up.
Linden Homes’ new build properties on Belle Vue Street, Gorton have now completely sold out, with the first of the 14 homes ready for homeowners to move into this month.
The properties are part of the £9m Grace Gardens development, which is situated in a prime location in an up-and-coming part of Greater Manchester.
April 2023 and the shops and homes are being prepared for demolition.
The company responsible for the demolition also dropped the Robert Tinker, on nearby Dalton Street.
While it is not yet clear exactly what will replace the shopping parade, work has already started nearby on other projects within the scheme. The first phase of development in Collyhurst will see 274 new homes built in the area.
The council has pledged to reinstate the William Mitchell totem nearby.
However the weight of the concrete sculpture and its base have presented unforeseen challenges.
Siting a crane above the Victorian rail tunnel is an issue, as is the cost, a quote for £100,000 was deemed excessive. So stasis is the order the day – the immovable object awaits an unstoppable force.
The sculpture is one of four around Manchester – the Hulme exemplar is long gone.
We begin at the Railway Station – recently refurbished, overwriting its 60s iteration – completely rebuilt by the architect Ray Moorcroft as part of the modernisation programme which saw the West Coast Main Line electrified.
Across the way an enormous brick clad multi-storey car park – skirted by the lines for the tram, which travels to and from Birmingham.
Walk across the brand new pedestrian footbridge over the ring road.
Architectural glass artist Kate Maestri was commissioned to produce the artwork design which features glass with blue and green strips of colour running through it.
Linking the Rail Station with the brand new Bus Station.
The normal practice of the Wolverhampton Bus Service is to have dirty, smelly buses, that are cramped and extremely hot in the summer and freezing cold in winter. They offer no announcements apologizing for delays they know about and don’t appear to care how long passengers wait with no idea of how or when they’ll be getting a bus.
The best thing you can do is learn to drive as quickly as possible and get your own vehicle or car pool.
Midland News Association managing director Matt Ross confirmed the company is now looking at the building’s future.
For a number of years we have been exploring opportunities surrounding our historic Express & Star offices in the heart of Wolverhampton.
After removing the printing presses from the site and restructuring our departments we now have significant spare capacity available and so are looking at the various options available to us, be that redeveloping the current site or exiting the building altogether.
Extension is by architects: H Marcus Brown & Lewis 1965
With further work at the rear.
Along Princess Street this corner group, with an impressive clock tower – originally HQ for the South Staffordshire Building Society
Architects: George A Boswell of Glasgow 1932.
On to the Mander Centre – opened on 6th March 1968, refurbished 1987, 2003 and 2016-17.
The Mander Shopping Centre in the heart Wolverhampton is your one-stop shopping destination for all things fashion, home, beauty, food and technology.
Architects: James A Roberts principal architect Stanley Sellers.
Developed by Manders Holdings Plc, the paint, inks and property conglomerate, between 1968 and 1974. The site occupies four and a half acres comprising the old Georgian works and offices of the Mander family firm, founded in 1773, as well as the site of the former Queens Arcade.
Architects: T & PH Braddock and also Bernard Engle & Partners.
Along St Georges Parade, an abandoned Sainsbury’s church combo – store designed by J Sainsbury’s Architects Department opened 1988.
The church was built between 1828 and 1830 – architect: James Morgan, at a cost of £10,268. It was consecrated on Thursday 2 September 1830 by the Bishop of Lichfield, it was made redundant in 1978.
The site is currently under lease to Sainsbury’s for a further three years and will come forward on a phased basis subject to their lease concluding. The council is in active dialogue with prospective development partners on the redevelopment of this site and in wider consultation with Homes England.
Notable cases included trial and conviction of four members of The Stone Roses, in October 1990, for criminal damage to the offices of their former record company.
Thence up Snow Hill to the former Citizens Advice former Barclays Bank currently empty.
Architects: John HD Madin & Partners 1969
Take time to have a look around the back.
Off to Church Street and Telecom House
Sold for £4.25 million to Empire Property in 2022.
It had previously been sold for more than £3m in July 2018, also for use for apartments, to Inspired Asset Management which later went into receivership.
Located on a popular apartment block on Church street in the Wolverhampton centre, this 1 bedroom property has been newly renovated throughout and compromises an entrance hallway, open plan lounge/kitchen with in built appliances, shower room and double bedroom.
Next to this modern piazza New Market Square – Architects: Nicol Thomas from a concept by head of planning Costas Georghiou.
Formed from the former Market Square, a mix of flats and shops opened in 2004, in an Italianate version of the modish school of streaky bacon.
In 2021 the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck visit to the Midlands was cancelled.
It was meant to arrive at Market Square in Wolverhampton at 11am today but failed to show up.
One fan had waited since 7am this morning to see the Coca-Cola truck.
While schoolchildren were left gutted when the truck didn’t turn up – and one boy had been so excited his mother said he had been talking about the red truck all morning.
Retail Market – Late 1950s market hall and offices above.
Architects: Borough Surveyor.
Excellent example of the Festival of Britain style of architecture, won Civic Trust Award 1960.
Locally Listed March 2000.
demolished January 2017.
Photo: Roger Kidd
This development that wraps itself around Salop, Skinner and School Streets appears to be of a similar period to the Retail Market – and sports a Lady Wulfrun in relief.
There is access to its roof top car park.
And also an exit back to street level.
Where we find at street level the former Odeon Cinema, opened on 11th September 1937 with Conrad Veidt in Dark Journey.
In October 2000, the former Odeon was designated a Grade II Listed building by English Heritage.
RIBA pix
In recent years it was a Mecca Bingo Club, but this was closed in March 2007 In October 2009, it had been refurbished and re-opened as the Diamond Banqueting Suite. In April 2021 police raided the vacant building to discover an illegal cannabis farm operating in the building.
Four men were arrested.
Let’s take a turn around the corner to Victoria Street where we find the complex of Beatties Buildings.
Architects: Lavender, Twentyman and Percy 1920’s – 30’s
The C20 Beatties store is a multi-period site developed first in the 1920s-30s. A Burton’s men’s clothes shop was built on a curved corner site at Victoria St/Darlington St and Beatties themselves replaced their existing Victoria St store in the 1930s with a building by local architects Lavender, Twentyman and Percy. Beatties later acquired and incorporated the Burton’s shop into their store. These two buildings form the locally listed building to which were added a mid-C20 extension along Darlington St and a late-C20 development to the rear at Skinner St.
An imperious Portland stone clad mixed us block on Waterloo Road, with a delightful clock.
Formerly the Gas Showrooms then SunAlliance & LondonInsurance offices – aka Clock Chambers
The showroom in Darlington Street was also the centre of a radio network that controlled a fleet of service vans. This enabled customers to receive service within minutes of making a telephone call. Demonstrations of cookery, washing and refrigeration were given by the Gas Board’s Home Service Advisers and a number of the company’s engineers, who specialised in designing gas equipment for industrial processes operated an advisory service for manufacturers.
Architects: Richard Twentyman 1939.
Nineteen Waterloo Road latterly First City House formerly home to Eagle Star Insurance 1970
8-10 Waterloo Road architects: Richard Twentyman 1959 extended 1966.
This has narrow ramps up and down, and narrow parking spots.
One ticket machine upon entry wouldn’t dispense – the other was covered with a bag but did work, very weird.
Becky T
Anyway, a way must have a name, so why not Maid Marion?
Olivia De Havilland
Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circumstances are obscure, but she commanded high respect in Robin’s circle for her courage and independence as well as her beauty and loyalty. For this reason, she is celebrated by feminist commentators as one of the early strong female characters in English literature.
Robin Hood and DH Lawrence apart it seems most apt – so Maid Marion Way it is then.
In November 1945, the city council decided to ask Parliament for the go ahead for a scheme likely to cost more than half a million pounds.
However, it would cut a swathe through medieval streets, wiping some from the map and spelling the end of a community life which had thrived for centuries.
The arguments, discussions and negotiations rumbled on for years. It would be 1963 before work finally got underway and the new road was built.
Less than two years after it was completed, it was given a label that has stuck over the past four decades — the ugliest street in Europe.
Dual carriageways mean cars, cars mean car parks and car parks mean business.
Whether you’re visiting a student or are one yourself, parking at our car park on Maid Marian Way gives you easy access to the University of Nottingham.
For those who want a bit of retail therapy, look no further than the Intu Victoria shopping centre. Located within easy walking distance of our Maid Marian car park and right in the heart of the city centre, you’ll have a choice of over fifty shops to browse.
If you’re a bit of a history buff then Nottingham Castle should definitely be on your ‘to do’ list. Park near the castle at Maid Marian Way, and you’re just minutes away from reliving tales of the past as you explore the original hidden caves equipped with a dungeon. Make sure you don’t leave without taking a picture with Nottingham’s most famous resident, Robin Hood, found just outside the castle.
Had a lovely conversation with a lady in the machine after my parking ticket was swallowed and learnt lots about the poor acoustic in car parks. They charged me twice to park my car which made me feel lots of negative emotions towards them. So all in all, a bit of rollercoaster. Highly recommend this experience for anyone looking for somewhere to park that enjoys conflict and has lots of money they don’t need.
There is evidence that the current town location has been occupied since prehistoric times. Prehistoric tools found in the caves of Graig Fawr, in the nearby village of Meliden, have revealed the existence of early human habitation in the area.
“Sunny Prestatyn” became famous for its beach, clean seas and promenade entertainers, and visiting for a bathe was considered very healthy by city-dwelling Victorians.
The town is at the northern end of the Offa’s Dyke Path, although not on Offa’s Dyke itself.
The holiday camp in Prestatyn was built by the London Midland and Scottish Railway Co. in 1939. The main buildings were in classic 1930s style, featuring rounded building ends, steel framed windows and porthole windows. Chalets showed an early form of sectionalised building method.
Requisitioned as a military camp until after the Second World War, it reopened as a holiday camp in the early 1950s. The site was demolished and cleared between February and March 2001.
Prestatyn offers the opportunity to engage in an impromptu game of Crazy Golf – though the facility was closed on the morning of my visit.
The crazy golf was fantastic the kids didn’t want to leave plus the lady was so helpful plus the price were very reasonable – would highly recommended.
The promenade is dominated by a tight knit group of modern leisure facilities.
An expansive car park fronts directly onto the seafront.
There have been serious reinforcements made to the seawalls – ensuring that the passing cyclist will not be washed away, by the crashing waves of the incoming tide.
The reinforcement work demands that we temporarily detour onto the Rhyl Coast Road, where we encounter Pirate Island Adventure Golf.
Uncover hidden treasure on the North Welsh Coast at Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Lyons Robin Hood Holiday Park.
Make friends with the great white shark, octopus, and the resident pirates who guard the Island.
This 18-hole course is a fun and crazy challenge for all the family, with stunning views of Rhyl seafront to boot. Plus, it’s located just a stone’s throw away from Sherwoods Sports Bar where refreshments are served.
Rhyl
Rhyl Sands: David Cox 1854
The Welsh orthography has proved difficult for English writers to transliterate as Rhyl’s opening voiceless alveolar trill is uncommon in the English language.
I nipped into town for a tub from Sidoli’s – £1.83 well spent.
The promenade is home to a series of entertainments including the Rhyl Pavilion Theatre
The theatre, owned and operated by Denbighshire Council, has also been re-clad as part of the project, designed by architects Space & Place.
It forms part of a wider redevelopment of Rhyl’s seafront, which includes the demolition of the Sun Centre and the construction of a £15m water park.
There is a also a becalmed Post Modernist Piazza – named Rhyl Events Arena.
The playful nursery geometry of the SeaQuarium.
The functionalist Vue Cinema.
Tickets were £5.99 for a standard seat, the staff said not to bother upgrading as the premium seats were rubbish, sound was okay and picture quality was okay.
Food price was expensive so it maybe cheap to get in, but £16.99 for a large popcorn and drink ups the price, would go again if in the area.
Much of the coast is fringed with chalets and static caravans.
Kinmel Bay
Home to The Frothy Coffee.
There aren’t enough food, service, value or atmosphere ratings for The Frothy Coffee, yet – be one of the first to write a review!
Kinmel Bay beach is popular with tourists and the local population. In addition to various small shops and takeaway outlets, there is also an Asda superstore that opened in 1981, which includes a large petrol filling station.
The concrete shore is softened by grasses and wild flowers – with views of the mountains beyond.
Here we are in Towyn
The town made national headlines in 1990 when a combination of gale-force winds, a high tide and rough seas caused Towyn’s flood defences to be breached at about 11.00am on 26 February. Four square miles of land was flooded, affecting 2,800 properties and causing areas of the resort to be evacuated. Further flooding occurred later the same week, on 1 March, shortly after the site of the disaster was visited by Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
Scientific experts also believe that the silt left behind from the flooding had left the town with a higher concentration of radioactivity, over ten times the governmental safety limits, most likely originating from the nuclear processing plant at Sellafield which had been dispersed into the Irish Sea over many years since its construction.
Excitements galore, await at the well maintained funfair.
Motor cars to the fore, as the intrepid sea-anglers prepare for a day of sea-angling.
Abergele where Family Fun can be found in the form of Kiddies Karts.
In 2020/21 Abergele hosted the 20th and 21st editions of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! at Gwrych Castle, due to the Covid pandemic restrictions in Australia.
I failed to avail myself with a chilly treat courtesy of Danny’s Whippy, having already had my 99 tub, from Sidoli’s in Rhyl.
Local brewery Purple Moose’s delivery van driver takes a timely break, whilst fellow cyclists stop for a cig and a chat.
Rugged rocks, sadly lacking ragged rascals, as the Little Orme comes into view.
Cast concrete defences, and Raynes Quarry jetty at Llandulas.
The quarry was originally known as Llysfaen Limeworks, being close to Llysfaen railway station. James Trevelyan Raynes of Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, took over the quarry in the 1870s, adding large new limekilns. Lime from the quarry was shipped to various alkali works. Alkali was used for soap, textiles and many other goods.
Quarrying in this area has also produced porcelain-like limestone for high quality architectural uses. St Margaret’s Church – also known as the Marble Church in Bodelwyddan, was built with limestone from Llanddulas.
In November 2011 one of the freighters, MV Swanland, sank in stormy weather on the Irish Sea after collecting 3,000 tons of stone from Raynes jetty bound for the Isle of Wight.
Two crewmen were rescued but five, all Russian, were lost.
Almost the end of the line here in Old Colwyn – where there are the last of a series of shelters.
Formerly lining the prom all the way to Rhos on Sea
Cutting under the A55 Expressway to Colwyn Bay.
During World War II the Colwyn Bay Hotel, Marine Road – now demolished, was the headquarters of the Ministry of Food. This also housed the Cocoa & Chocolate division and was the communications hub for the ministry, they continued to use the hotel until 1953.
One man who saw the wisdom of building a road infrastructure to deal with high volumes of traffic passing through Halifax and to provide convenient links to the M62.
That man was prominent town councillor John Burdock.
Burdock Way, the modern flyover system, was opened in 1973 to take the A58 and A629 traffic over the River Hebble.
Faced with the problem of very high volumes of through traffic in its town centre, and with the impending construction of the M62 too far to the south to provide relief for the town, Halifax needed a bypass. The steep sided valley that the town centre inhabits prevented a conventional road from being built around the town, and so in the early 1970’s construction began on Burdock Way – one of the most adventurous relief road schemes built in Britain, certainly by a town the size of Halifax.
Only one phase of the futuristic road was ever built, but what exists is a partially grade-separated dual carriageway that runs through deep trenches and over tall viaducts close to the heart of the town. At its eastern end is a truly byzantine piece of traffic engineering that stretches the definition of a roundabout to its limit.
In October 1971 the official celebrations went anything but according to plan. It had been decided to give the people of Halifax a half day holiday so they could attend the opening, but there were not enough police on duty to control the sightseers. It was impossible to get complete silence for the speeches and arrangements to tell the artillery guns at Southowram Road when to fire broke down. They were fired prematurely while an archdeacon was offering prayers. The Mayor, HC McCrae, finally managed to announce that the bridge was officially open and he scurried back to the town hall where he hosted a banquet.
Burdock Way has never been fully completed as it is missing certain sections envisaged in the early 1960s plans. There are a number of reasons for this, but it is mainly owing to West Yorkshire County Council’s cost cutting in the 1970s.
Yorkshire Post
This is the Valley of the Gwangi in the West Riding – minus the dinosaurs.
An urban chasm, the gulf between everything and nothing.
North Bridge is a Victorian iron and stone bridge crossing the valley of the River Hebble, connecting the town to roads to Bradford and Leeds. Replacing an earlier six arch stone bridge it was raised to allow the subsequent construction of the Halifax High Level Railway beneath it, along with an adjoining station.
Opened in 1871 amid chaotic crowd scenes it carried increasingly heavy traffic until it was by-passed by the Burdock Way in 1973.
North Wales Police – Heddlu Gogledd Cymru is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales.
Photo: Gareth Ellidge
As of March 2020, the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support officers, 71 police support volunteers, and 984 staff.
Having cycled from Prestatyn, I popped into reception to ask permission to photograph the exterior of the HQ.
Following a short wait, I was granted permission.
The building is an imposing steel, concrete and glass system built structure of 1972, with brick outliers on a grassy site.
It has undergone adaptation to modern eco-standards.
The administration building for North Wales Police, located in Colwyn Bay, was typical of the breed: a 1970s leaky and draughty concrete-framed building with high solar gains, especially on the South and West facades. It consumed a lot of energy and delivered very poor comfort conditions.
The budget for the refurbishment was set at around £2.4 million. North Wales Police appointed Capita Symonds as the Project Manager with the design team comprising FSP Architects, Buro Happold, WS Atkins, and Faithful+Gould.
A system of brise-soleil solar shading was provided for the East, South and West facades. Combined with the reduced area of glazing, the brise soleil reduced the solar gains enough to avoid the need for mechanical cooling and for the natural ventilation strategy to be retained.
Hyde Road was a football stadium in West Gorton, Manchester, England.
It was home to Manchester City FC and their predecessors, from its construction in 1887 until 1923, when the club moved to Maine Road.
Billy Gillespie on the ball.
Before its use as a football ground, the site was an area of waste ground, and in its early days the ground had only rudimentary facilities. The first stand was built in 1888, but the ground had no changing facilities until 1896; players had to change in a nearby public house, the Hyde Road Hotel.
As a Chester’s house, a condition of the club’s official link to the pub was that supporters and club officials and players would sup Chesters ales, and in return Stephen Chesters Thompson of the brewery helped finance stadium improvements.
The move of MCFC to Maine Road in 1923 following a fire at the Hyde Road ground, didn’t adversely affect the Hyde Road Hotel and it continued to serve the West Gorton community and the once-bustling Hyde Road thoroughfare.
As late as the 1980s, renamed the City Gates, it was a popular watering hole before the match for supporters travelling in from East Manchester. It was kitted out in all sorts of MCFC memorabilia and was run by George Heslop, City legend of the 1960s, after he’d had the Royal George in town.
Sadly, as the community around it was decimated, the pub struggled and its last hurrah was as the City Gates theme pub. The business failed in 1989 and the pub sat empty and rotting for twelve years until it was demolished, despite a half-hearted fans campaign to save it. Two keystones from the Hyde Road Hotel reside in the MCFC memorial garden and are all that remain of this significant Manchester pub.
By 1904 the ground had developed into a 40,000-capacity venue, hosting an FA Cup semi-final between Newcastle United and Sheffield Wednesday the following year.
The stands and terraces were arranged in a haphazard manner due to space constraints, and by 1920 the club had outgrown the cramped venue. A decision to seek an alternative venue was hastened in November 1920, when the Main Stand was destroyed by fire. Manchester City moved to the 80,000-capacity Maine Road in 1923, and Hyde Road was demolished shortly afterward. One structure from the ground is still in use in the 21st century, a section of roofing which was sold for use at The Shay, a stadium in Halifax.
Maine Road – which in turn closed on May 11th 2003, City losing 1-0 to Southampton
City are now at home at the Etihad – formerly the Commonwealth Games Stadium.
I had always known the area as the Olympic Freight Depot – seen from the passing train.
I cycled by the other day and the containers are long gone – the site is being cleansed to a depth of two metres.
Loitering by the gates, I asked if I may take some snaps .
Please y’self – so I did.
So what’s next on the cards, for this little corner of local history – set twixt Bennett Street and Hyde Road?
New homes is on the cards – and on the hoardings.
Plans have been revealed for a 337-home development on the Olympic Freight depot in West Gorton.
Brought forward by Sheffield-based Ascena Developments, the planning application to Manchester City Council outlines proposals for 191 houses and 146 apartments, split across two blocks.
Alongside the homes, the development would include a 3,000 sq ft circular community centre and café, shop, and a unit which is earmarked for a chip shop.
Kellen Homes has been granted planning consent to redevelop the thirteen-acre Olympic Freight depot on Bennett Street in Manchester into 272 homes.
The developer, owned by Renaker founder Daren Whitaker, lodged plans for the West Gorton scheme last year following the withdrawal of an earlier and larger scheme drawn up by Sheffield-based Ascena Developments.
Three nineteen-storey point blocks built as public housing as part of the redevelopment of Sunderland town centre. The blocks contain 270 dwellings in total. Construction was approved by committee in 1967.
The blocks were constructed by Sunderland County Borough Council.
The developers of the Town Central Area were Town and City Properties Ltd. It is believed that they contributed £38,600 to the development of the blocks.
Ian Frazer and Associates were the architects for the sub-structural works only.
Llewelyn, Davies, Weeks and Partners were the structural and mechanical engineers in addition to being the architects for the tower blocks.
Gilbert-Ash Northern Ltd.’s tender for the contract was £959,258 – construction began in March 1967.
Black’s Regal Theatre was built on the site of the Olympia Exhibition Hall and Pleasuredrome 1897-1910 and it was built for the northern independent Black’s circuit. It opened on 28th March 1932 with Jessie Matthews in Out of the Blue.
The theatre was equipped with a Compton three manual, nine ranks theatre organ which had an Art Deco style console on a lift.
This was opened by organist J Arnold Eagle. The policy of the theatre for many years was pictures and variety and it had a fifty seven feet wide proscenium, the stage was forty feet deep and there were ten dressing rooms. Other facilities included a cafe and roller rink.
Regal/Odeon, Holmeside, Sunderland, Co. Durham
In 1955 the Black’s circuit was taken over by the Rank Organisation and the Regal was re-named Odeon from 28th November 1955. It was divided into a three screen cinema in 1975 with 1,200 seats in the former circle and two 150 seat screens in the rear stalls.
On 28th March 1982 a special 50th Anniversary concert was given by Phil Kelsall on the Compton organ. Three months later, on 26th June 1982 the Odeon was closed with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back, Mary Millington’s True Blue Confessions.
The building was boarded up and abandonded for a long period of time.
However it was to re-open as a Top Rank Bingo Club and remains in use today as a Mecca Bingo Club. The sub-division of the auditorium has been removed. In July 2009, it was announced that the building and the entire block had been the subject of a compulsory purchase order.
Opened on 1st March 1937 with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers in Swing Time, the Ritz Cinema was built by the Union Cinemas chain. They were soon taken over by Associated British Cinemas – ABC. It was lavishly fitted with deep pile carpets and chandeliers.
In 1961 it was re-named ABC. It was converted into a two screen cinema from July/August 1974 when the former circle became a 534 seat screen and the front stalls a second screen seating 212. The rear stalls area was converted into a Painted Wagon pub. Sadly the conversion destroyed much of the original interior of the auditorium. It was later taken over by the Cannon Cinemas group, but later went back to the ABC name.
Sadly it closed on 29th April 1999, the last of Sunderland’s major cinemas.
It has recently reopened as The Point a nightclub which has four dance floors and has now completely lost all features of its cinematic past.
Construction of Killingworth, a new town, began in 1963. Intended for 20,000 people, it was a former mining community, formed on seven hundred and sixty acres of derelict colliery land near Killingworth Village. The building of Killingworth Township was undertaken by Northumberland County Council and was not formally a New Town sponsored by the Government.
Unlike that town, Killingworth’s planners adopted a radical approach to town centre design, resulting in relatively high-rise buildings in an avant-garde and brutalist style that won awards for architecture, dynamic industry and attractive environment.
This new town centre consisted of pre-cast concrete houses, with millions of small crustacean shells unusually embedded into their external walls, five to ten storey flats, offices, industrial units and service buildings, which often consisted of artistic non-functional characteristics, shops and residential multi-storey car parks, interconnected by ramps and walkways. These made up a deck system of access to shopping and other facilities, employing the Swedish Skarne method of construction.
Originally named Killingworth Township, the latter part was quickly dropped through lack of colloquial use.
Killingworth is referred to as Killy by many residents of the town and surrounding areas.
Around 1964, during the reclamation of the derelict pit sites, a fifteen acre lake south of the town centre was created; spoil heaps were levelled, seeded and planted with semi-mature trees.
In 1987 the demolition of this three-tier housing estate of the township was undertaken by the Architects’ Department of the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside.
Photo: Philip Wolmuth
Once the wrecking ball arrives new town can begin to look like any old town.
Following Euan Lynn’s suggestion – I went to take a look around.
From the window of the 52 bus, I saw an enchanting Telephone Exchange.
This joint-stock bank was established in Manchester in 1836 as Manchester & Salford Bank by a group of promoters keen to take advantage of recent legislation allowing the formation of joint-stock banks outside London. The bank had up to 15 directors and the issued capital was £1m, of which £252,100 was paid up by December 1836.
RIBA Pix: Headquarters building for William Deacon’s Bank Limited – Mosley Street Manchester: the garden at podium level.
Harry S Fairhurst & Son 1965
The first shareholders’ meeting, in May 1836, took place in temporary premises, but in August 1836 a banking house was rented in King Street. Land off Mosley Street was later acquired and a new banking house completed in 1838.
In 1969 The Royal Bank of Scotland was restructured and Williams Deacon’s became a direct subsidiary of a new holding company, National & Commercial Banking Group. The following year the holding company’s subsidiaries in England and Wales – Williams Deacon’s Bank, Glyn, Mills & Co and the English and Welsh branches of The National Bank – merged to form Williams & Glyn’s Bank.
In 1972 Williams & Glyn’s Bank joined with five other European banks to form the Inter Alpha Banks Group to exploit opportunities in the European Economic Community. In 1985 The Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s two major subsidiary holdings, Williams & Glyn’s Bank and The Royal Bank of Scotland, were fully merged as The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.
The very merry monopolies and mergers merry dance – consequently this perfectly formed Modernist bank stands alone and forlorn.
The first school of design in the UK, the Government School of Design, was established in 1837 and went on to become the Royal College of Art. It marked the beginnings of the development of technical education in the UK, which expanded in the remaining decades of the 19th century, and was largely instigated by the Science and Art Department of the Board of Trade, formed in 1853. In 1856 the Science and Art Department transferred from the Board of Trade to the Education Department and administered grant-aid to art schools from 1856 and to schools of design and technical schools from 1868.
The Technical Instruction Act 1889 permitted local authorities to levy rates to aid technical or manual instruction. County and borough councils began to provide technical instruction by day and evening classes.
The Local Taxation Customs and Excise Act 1890 diverted ‘whisky money’ from publicans to local authorities for assisting technical education or relieving rates, boosting investment in technical instruction.
By the end of the 19th century continuing education was provided by a variety of bodies in a number of forms:
day continuation schools
evening schools and classes
mechanics institutes
schools of art
polytechnics
university extension lectures
tutorial classes
working men’s colleges and courses
Under the 1902 Education Act, changes to conditions attached to government grants encouraged the expansion of technical education. Local Education Authorities took over most of the evening continuation schools.
Major changes occurred after the Second World War. Junior technical schools , commercial schools and schools of art were fully integrated into the revised system of secondary education.
Manchester School of Art was established in 1838 as the Manchester School of Design. It is the second oldest art school in the United Kingdom after the Royal College of Art which was founded the year before.
The school opened in the basement of the Manchester Royal Institution on Mosley Street in 1838. It became the School of Art in 1853 and moved to Cavendish Street in 1880. It was subsequently named the Municipal School of Art. In 1880, the school admitted female students, at the time the only higher education available to women, although men and women were segregated. The school was extended in 1897.
The mill towns which encircled the city of Manchester each had their own independent colleges of Art and Design.
Textiles in particular required practitioners in surface pattern and garment design and construction, innovative and skilled students were in demand for print, engineering, architecture and general manufacturing – who also required the services of typographers, illustrators, commercial and graphic designers.
Having left school aged sixteen in 1971, all I ever wanted to do was go to Art School.
My local college was the then Ashton under Lyne College of Further Education – the full-time mode of study was then a two year Pre-Diploma Course.
It had begun life as the Heginbottom School of Art based at – Heginbottom Technical Schools School of Art and Free Library Old Street Ashton-under-Lyne.
The new Technical Schools and Free Library, which has just been completed were opened for students without any formal ceremony. The building has been erected from designs prepared by Messrs John Eaton and Sons, architects, Ashton, at a cost, including fittings of £16,000.
The building is now Grade II listed and the library and college long gone.
A blue plaque in the main entrance celebrates the former student Raymond Ray-Jones.
This is the syllabus of 1924-25 – courses take place in evening as students would have been working during the day.
Many of the classes were clearly defined by gender.
Drawing was a seen as a skill which underpinned he majority of disciplines.
Some of the provision was non-vocational.
Forward now to 1959-60.
There are now full-time courses in Art and Design – though there were no degree courses until 1974, students would find employment, places on a teacher training course or possibly progress to one of the London colleges, which did have graduate status.
There were still clear distinctions in what were considered women’s skills, which also reflected the patterns of employment.
There was also an increasing distinction between specialisms, Fine and Applied Arts taking diverging paths.
An astounding range of skills were available on a part time evening basis, opening up vocational or non-vocational options.
These were always affordable and well attended.
Art and design education had undergone a major transformation in the early 1960s. The Coldstream report -1960/ 1962 had restructured art education: the existing National Diploma in Design had been replaced with a three year Diploma in Art and Design in 1963. The Dip.AD was conceived as providing ‘a liberal education in art’ and had four areas of specialisation: textiles/fashion, three dimensional design, graphic design, and fine art. Other subjects, such as electronic media, photography and film, were incorporated into fine art or graphic design courses.
The Dip.AD was intended to be the equivalent of a university degree. To achieve this academic entry requirements, at least five O’ levels, were introduced; although exceptions could be granted for “students with outstanding artistic promise”, very few were: only 36 were made in 1967 . The Dip. AD itself contained a compulsory academic element and enhanced art history component: taken together these accounted for 15 per cent of course time and 20 per cent of the final pass mark. One year Pre-diploma (latterly Foundation) courses termed Basic Design, were also introduced, these a product of the Bauhaus approach to art education, pioneered in the UK by and Richard Hamilton, Tom Hudson, Harr Thubron, Maurice de Sausmarez, and Victor Pasmore. Basic Design was a form of creative education involving basic analytic experiment and a clearing of the slate.
The college which I attended was opened on March 3rd 1964.
Gone were the autocratic Victorian stylings of the Heginbottom School – The College of Further Education represented a more open democratic age.
The communal areas were light and airy, with full-length windows, wooden floors, contemporary furniture and fittings.
The teaching rooms and workshops well equipped and staffed, with ample support from technicians and lecturers.
This was a no expense spared build – we were made to feel valued, in an institution purpose built for our education and future lives.
The full-time course was five full days a week, with one late evening for photography and art history.
I attended ever single day for two years, we were eager to learn and following an introductory merry go round of design disciplines, students were able to choose their own route.
I was privileged to have been taught by Bill Clarke as a student of Fine Art – of whom fellow Ashton student Chris Ofili said:
After six months on the foundation course I chose to specialise in painting and drawing. The teacher there, Bill Clarke, introduced me to painting in a way that didn’t make me feel restricted or limited. Not only was it something completely new, but it was something that allowed me to investigate further into who I am. He taught us that it wasn’t so much about painting a scene and making sure you got the shading right, but trying to get to a point where the thing that works is absolutely critical and essential to you as a living, breathing person. I was obviously aware of famous artists, but I suppose I never really thought that was what you could do with your life. He opened the door enough to make me think that it was worth going into the room.
A huge emphasis was placed on observational drawing in the life-room, in addition to more exploratory work in a variety of media.
I also spent a great deal of time in the Print Room working in both etching and lithography with lecturer Colin Radcliffe.
Returning to the college four years ago, I found that the life room was now in use by the Animal Management course.
The site had been undergoing refurbishment and new development.
Built by Kier and designed by IBI Taylor and Young the Advanced Technologies Centre has been constructed following a £10.5 million investment.
Levolux designed, supplied and installed a customised architectural facade solution as part of the £10.5 million development of the Advanced Technologies Centre.
ITP supplied our VCL 250 vapour control layer as a protective solution underneath a stunning façade design. With a mono-filament reinforcement scrim for tensile strength, its polyethylene-based membrane ensures that the building envelope is properly sealed to control ventilation, prevent heat loss and protect insulates from interstitial condensation.
The single storey building was previously home to the Ceramics and Textiles rooms.
The Construction Skills Centre has been designed by Manchester-based architects 10 Architect.
Heckford Signs work with Willmott Dixon approached on a new coloured acrylic sign for the new Construction Skills Building at Tameside College. The aim for this new sign was to create a showcase of the college logo at an eye-catching size, to include 3D elements which would be housed on the East elevation of the impressive new building on campus.
The rolling curves of the original workshops have been retained and updated.
Since leaving the college in 1973, I graduated from Portsmouth Polytechnic with a BA(Hons) Printmaking, subsequently spending thirty years of my working life teaching in a variety of Further Educational sites across Manchester.
Fielden Park College seen here in 1973 – where I taught design to the printing apprentices.
Originally designed by the City Architect SG Besant Roberts in 1965, refurbished by Walker Simpson Architects.
Closed.
Wenlock Way – an annex of Openshaw Technical College, a former primary school which housed courses in Sign Writing, Jewellery, Horology and Retail Display.
Demolished.
Openshaw College – since demolished and rebuilt, becoming Central Manchester College in the 90s.
We were relocated to Taylor Street in the former Bishop Greer School – renamed the East Manchester Centre.
Since demolished to make way for an old people’s home.
Following the reorganisation of Manchester’s FE provision we were moved again to the former Yew Tree High School, Arden Sixth Form College – renamed City College Manchester.
This block was eventually demolished to make way for the new Northenden Centre – which closed last year, which has in its turn been demolished.
Everyone was relocated to the brand new building on the former Boddington’s Brewery site.
Everyone but me, as I left in 2014 to become a modern moocher.
Manchester College City Campus
Following build completion in July, the long awaited 27,000 square metre, four-storey campus, designed by Bond Bryan and Simpson Haugh, offers a range of facilities, creating an exceptional student experience. It becomes the home of the College’s Industry Excellence Academies for Hospitality and Catering, Creative and Digital Media, Music, Computing and Digital as well as its Centres of Excellence for Visual Arts and Performing Arts.
It accommodates a range of Higher Education courses such as the UCEN Manchester’s School of Computing and Cyber-Security, The Manchester Film School and The Arden School of Theatre and the School of Art, Media and Make-up.
Modern Mooch 
