30 Milkstone Rd Rochdale OL11 1EB
At some time in the not too distant past it seems to have lost its fascia board.
After also trading as HMA Launderette.
Google streetview.
On my way somewhere else with time to spar I popped in.
Launderette Rochdale
Rochdale Observer
The Rochdale Observer is a local newspaper published on Wednesdays and Saturdays for the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale.
It has been Rochdale’s main newspaper since 1856.
This is the original building on Drake Street.
This was replaced by the current building, which is no longer home to the newspaper.
Its foundation stone was laid in 1954 by the Rochdale-born singer and actress Gracie Fields.
Architect – Frank Bradley of Bolton.
Image – Mike Ashworth
It has subsequently been converted to apartments.
Behind the Observer offices on Drake street are the former Observer print works on Greenwood Street.
Worcester College Oxford
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.
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.
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.
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.
Materials Science University of Oxford
The Denys Wilkinson Building was designed by Philip Dowson at Arup in 1967.
The building houses the astrophysics and particle physics sub-departments of the Department of Physics at Oxford University, plus the undergraduate teaching laboratories. It was originally built for the then Department of Nuclear Physics and named the Nuclear Physics Laboratory. From 1988, the building was known as the Nuclear and Astrophysics Laboratory after the Sub-Department of Astrophysics moved from the University Observatory in the Science Area. On 21st June 2002, the building was renamed as the Denys Wilkinson Building, in honour of the British nuclear physicist Sir Denys Wilkinson, who was involved in its original creation.
Denys Wilkinson Building Oxford photo – Webb Aviation.
Department of Nuclear Physics, Oxford Arup Associates 1971 – Colin Westwood RIBA pix.
The University of Oxford is relocating its undergraduate physics practical teaching from the Denys Wilkinson Building amid concerns about the presence of asbestos at the ageing site.
From Michaelmas this year, some practical teaching labs will move to the former Biochemistry and Biological Sciences Teaching Centre, with the remainder moving by Michaelmas 2027. The Biochemistry and Biological Sciences Teaching Centre will be adapted for physics practical teaching. Around six hundred undergraduates currently take part in compulsory practical coursework in the Denys Wilkinson Building across the first three years of Oxford’s physics degrees.
A University spokesperson told Cherwell that the decision to relocate had been taken proactively to avoid the risk of a sudden building failure causing disruption later. The spokesperson added that the Denys Wilkinson Building:
Is being carefully managed through the later years of its usable life, adding that the building has some legacy issues, including asbestos.
Originally completed in 1967, the building had not been maintained and required significant repairs to the roof structure of the accelerator tower, which had suffered from prolonged water ingress.
All defects were identified through a hammer test survey and thorough visual inspection, the original concrete was broken out back to a sound substrate and was square cut to depth of 10mm, thus preventing featheredging of the subsequent repair.
Exposed reinforcement was mechanically wire brushed, and prepared using high performing and sustainable products from Sika. Treated with Sika Monotop 1010; a bonding primer and corrosion protection, followed by the application of Sika Monotop 4012; a concrete repair mortar, to the original surface levels.
This building has been assessed under the Planning – Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest. The asset currently does not meet the criteria for listing.
It is not listed – the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport disagreed with Historic England’s recommendation for this case 23rd July 2015.
Let’s take a look at what I looked at:
St Catherine’s College Oxford
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.
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.
Florey Building – Oxford Queens College
Florey Building, a residential student block.
RIBA pix 1977 Alastair Hunter
Designed by James Stirling and Partners in 1966-1967 for Queen’s College, Oxford, and built 1968-1971, with Roy Cameron as associate, and Frank Newby of F J Samuely and Partners as engineer.
RIBA pix 2005 Jeremy Harrison
Listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* as a highly significant work by Sir James Stirling, one of Britain’s foremost post-war architects;
* as the last of a triumvirate of university buildings that are without doubt amongst Stirling’s most significant works in England;
* as a highly creative re-working of a familiar formal language, executed with masterful handling of form and colour, characteristic of Stirling’s style;
* for the high degree of survival of the original plan form, fixtures and fittings, which have been little altered since the building’s completion, including but not limited to the bedrooms, porter’s lodge, and breakfast room;
* as a distinctive and popular piece of post-war university architecture.
On the day of my visit the building was secured and in a state of semi-dereliction, mothballed by the owners The Queens College Oxford.
There have been plans and a competition for refurbishment:
Perhaps the most charismatic of James Stirling’s surviving buildings; the Florey Building is hugely admired worldwide for its boldness and heroism.
Despite some practical and infamous failings, the Florey has a cult presence in Oxford: a modernist’s riposte to a city defined by traditional architectural masterworks.
The Queen’s College Fellows seek a dedicated team who are inspired by Stirling’s exhilarating vision. The challenge: to use advances in technology to update the building, provide modern facilities and achieve exemplary energy design.
The competition has now concluded — 27th February 2014
The Queen’s College, Oxford is delighted to announce that the team led by Avanti Architects has won the design competition to update the Grade II listed Florey building, widely regarded as an emblem of modernism. Avanti will now work to develop their scheme for the project and determine construction priorities.
The plans however were poorly received:
Alas the proposal for Florey lets down the practice, the college and most importantly Jim Stirling and the Modernist corpus, with a design that all but wrecks the essence of this unique building.
Alan Berman – founding partner at Berman Guedes Stretton
These proposals must be thrown out and consigned with distaste to the dustbin as a gross violation of Stirling’s intentions.
If permitted, they would constitute the comprehensive betrayal, by alteration, of one of the internationally most important buildings of the 20th century.
Thomas Muirhead – Stirling’s friend and former colleague.
Furthermore there has been a history of criticism of the building:
At the official opening in 1971, the Queen Mother was rumoured to have said it was the ugliest building she had ever seen.
College bursar AA Williams described it as – a structure revolting and inhuman in its hideousness and defective in practically every aspect of its functioning.
Just a year later, students were complaining that it leaked, was noisy, too hot in summer, too cold in winter, they couldn’t stand up straight in the showers, and there were no baths.
Lord Florey, the pioneer of penicillin after whom the building is named put up the money, and was almost the architect’s sole supporter in the college.
This culminated in a legal battle, an intense dislike of the building throughout the college, a reluctance to spend anything but the minimum on maintenance, and decades later, to the possibility of demolition.
Oxford Mail.
So with little institutional love and a soupçon of general loathing, we are left with a Listed building in limbo.
Happily Leicester University are taking care to care for their Stirling building.
Chorley Walk – 2026
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.
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.
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.
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.
Launderette – Boscombe
479 Christchurch Rd Boscombe Bournemouth BH1 4AD
Seen here in 2011 via Google – with clear windows and delightful signage.
2024 with vinyl covered windows and sign intact.
By the time of my visit in May 2026 – the sign and the Bentley were no more.
This is my most recent wander into a washateria following something of a lay off. Having previously published a launderette book and calendar way back when.
So once again we enter that familiar bubble of bubbles, whirrs and washing.
Eglwys Sant Brynach Nanhyfer – St Brynachs Church Nevern
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.
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.
Wyndham Court Southampton – Again
I had spent the day in Southampton in May, the first area I explored was Wyndham Court.
At the end of a long day I found myself there again, with an hour to spare before my train back to Bournemouth.
The sky was no longer blue, the sun was now occluded.
The photographs were almost monotone, so with a small tweak I made them monochrome.
Designed by Lyons Israel Ellis for Southampton City Council in 1966, ED Lyons being the partner in charge and architects Frank Linden and Aubrey Hume also assigned to the job.
The structural engineers were Hajnal-Konyi and Myers and the firm of builders was G Minter.
The building is Grade II Listed.
Lyons Israel Ellis, though well known as a finishing school for the famed likes of Stirling, Gowan, Colquhoun et al, were the sort of Brutalists that didn’t get Yale scholarships, shiny monographs or late careers in pomo. They are found more often designing local authority housing, comprehensive schools and other unsexy things – most of them robust enough to be extant and in good nick. From their Old Vic extension through to the London School of Engineering, they were giants of big, chunky, angular neo-constructivist architecture rife with skylines, cantilevers and complex geometries, all in satisfyingly raw, tactile concrete. As Colquhoun later put it, this was architecture for those who had nothing but contempt for ‘the Englishness of English art’ and other consolatory narratives.
Their masterpiece, Wyndham Court, ought to be as well-known as the Brunswick Centre or the Barbican, and isn’t largely because of where it is. It is a monumental, civic housing project on the grandest scale. As a building, it shows more than a hint of rhetoric creeping into LIE’s usually astringent aesthetic. Placed just outside Southampton Central Station with a fine view of the docks, its service tower skyline and long, streamlined volumes have more than a hint of the ocean liner about them. Here they arc around a square, with shops on the ground floor, high-density-city centre living for council tenants rather than as an aspirational loft-living lifestyle. A magnificent vote of confidence in a city which has built little of note since, it’s also, for me, the building that announces that I’m ‘home’ far less depressingly than BDP’s repugnant West Quay shopping centre on the other side of the railway line – a massive concrete statement that another city was and still is possible.
Wigan Walk – 2026
It’s been four years since our 2022 Wigan Walk – so time to see if there has been a refreshing change.
Beginning with a trip to the former flicks, the Princes Cinema now trading as Pure nightclub, sometimes home to Singo Bingo.
Originally the site of New Princes Theatre, opened on the 1st May 1911, the cinema was demolished and replaced, on an adjacent plot, by Princes Cinema in 1933.
Onward now to see the three Telephone Exchanges.
Interwar
Sixties
Ofd special note the adjacent Electrical Substation of the day.
Plus extra added military history.
Seventies
Tucked in behind the Telephone Exchange are several streets of Edwardian social housing – the Spring Gardens Scheme of 1905.
The property is practically paying its way, and all the present generation has to find is a small sum of ninety odd pounds for sinking funds. For this we get fifty-nine families decently housed, the rateable value of the town increased, a slum abolished, an eyesore removed, the health of the inhabitants remarkably improved, their environment made clean, refined, and elevating, whilst our successors in 1959 will inherit an unencumbered estate.
Next to the Wigan Post Office Sorting Office 1959.
Next we take a look at the Bus Station.
Wigan’s original bus station was on Market Square.
Image Wigan World
It was demolished in 1985 as part of a wider redevelopment of the town centre to make way for the Galleries Shopping Centre. A new bus station, built at a cost of £2.3 million, began construction in April 1986, and opened in November 1987.
Wikipedia
Transport for Greater Manchester commissioned Austin-Smith:Lord to design a replacement nineteen stand £15.7m bus station in Wigan Town Centre, the project was completed in October 2018.
Construction images – Bee Network.
Around the corner to the Wigan & Leigh College.
The original building of 1954 by Howard V Lobb G Grenfell Bains & Hargreaves, with later extension.
There have been several phases of redevelopment and new build in recent years.
This block of the Technical School has been demolished since my last visit.
Thomas Linacre Technical School for Boys mural 1954.
Image – RIBA pix
Across the road the former Grammar School.
Wigan Grammar School was founded in 1597 and closed in 1972, as part of the comprehensive education movement.
It then became Mesnes High School, and subsequently Wigan College’s Mesnes Building in 1989.
Since 2003, it has been known as the Thomas Linacre Centre and is an out-patient department for the Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust.
It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1997.
Architect: A E Munby
DJ Russ Winstanley was a former pupil, here he is in 1975 at the Wigan Casino holding up a copy of Footsee by Wigan’s Chosen Few b/w Seven Days Too Long by Chuck Wood.
On Millgate we find the former Wigan Civic Centre.
Once it was all boarded up with nowhere to go.
Subsequently resuscitated by Capital&Centric.
Across the way the new Library and Life Centre by Astudio and LCE Architects.
Down the road is the recently refurbished Leisure Centre.
Built on the site of the International Swimming Pool – opened 1968 demolished 2010.
Across the way to Scholes Comprehensive Development 1964
Five thirteen-storey tower blocks adjacent to Douglas House in Scholes were approved in 1964. Lower-rise housing and flats spread to the east. In 1968, a further 13-storey block, Boyswell House, was built at this eastern end of the Scholes Comprehensive Development Area. Almost 500 slum houses, housing 566 families, were demolished that same year and 581 new council homes completed.
Image – Tower Block 1987
Next to the Roger Booth cop shop that became a Premier Inn.
A super-comfy bed, blackout curtains, a powerful shower and free Wi-Fi – our double rooms have everything you’ll need for a great night’s sleep.
Next door the Wigan & Leigh Courthouse 1992 Wigan MBC Architect.
Relief figure of justice by Christine Ward.
Onward to Brocol House – currently home to the Job Centre
Image – Wigan Peers
Originally built for the Inland Revenue one the site of the Brewers Arms – has the welcoming charm shared by the majority of Ministry of Works buildings of the period.
Nearly done – up the road to the County Playhouse.
Which masquerades as Ibiza.
The club’s atmosphere is defined by thumping music and a vibrant crowd eager to dance and celebrate. Its modern interior design complements the lively ambience, creating an inviting space for locals and visitors alike.
Construction began on the County Playhouse in 1916. However, due to a shortage of materials and labour during World War I, it was not completed until 1919.
Finally opened on 22nd December 1919 with The Hun Within – starring Dorothy Gish.
The County Playhouse closed on Sunday 13th November 1966 with Disney’s “The Sword and the Stone”. It was taken over by the Leeds Based Star Cinemas chain and they converted it into Star Bingo and Social Club opened on 24th November 1966.
MAS sales store 1982 – Frank Orrell Photography
The building has since been used as a discount store and Playhouse Club Café. It then became home to the 1,200 capacity Pure Nightclub. In the early-2000’s it became the Ibiza nightclub. The Pure nightclub move into the former Princes Cinema
Time for a swift half in The George to end your tour?
Great for a local pint one of the cheapest in Wigan I believe, slightly rough at times but no fights just real local people who are generally friendly. Proper drinking gaff, and karaoke on certain nights.
Wigan Civic Centre 2026
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.
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.
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.
Dolphin Leisure Centre – Poole
Kingland Rd Poole BH15 1TN
Poole Dolphin Leisure Centre offers a modern gym with sixty stations, four pools including a main, teaching and diving pool, plus award-winning swimming and diving lessons. Enjoy casual swims, fitness sessions and a wide range of group classes for all ages. After your workout, relax in our sauna and experience fitness, fun and wellbeing all in one place.
I can’t speak for the facilities, or their general cleanliness, I don’t swim or have much time for leisure.
Walking around looking at things, taking pictures, chatting and such is my lifestyle choice and preoccupation.
So here’s a snapshot of the centre’s exterior, with particular attention paid to the concrete relief.
As an aside the nearby Dolphin Shopping Centre was once known as The Arndale.
In 1957 discussions began about creating a covered in shopping centre in the heart of Poole town centre, in a similar vein to those popular at the time in America. In 1963 property developers were invited by Poole Corporation to present schemes to develop this shopping centre as part of a redevelopment of the town.
The winning scheme was for a two million pound redevelopment by the Arndale Property Trust on land at High Street, Seldown Lane and Kingland Road] known as the Ladies Walking Field. One of the main reasons Arndale won was that their proposal incorporated a fully enclosed shopping centre. The scheme was to be designed by Leslie Jones and Partners in association with Geoffrey Hopkinson; Poole Borough Architect and Chief Planning Officer, the structural engineers were to be Bowden Sillett and Partners and the main contractors were to be Sir Lindsay Parkinson and Company.
The transformation of Poole Town Centre started in June 1966 when work began on a new road layout and construction of the shopping centre commenced in March 1967 when the then Mayor of Poole, Alderman Ron Hart, dug the first turf.
In 1989 an eight million pound refurbishment programme was carried out on the centre, which emerged with a new name ; The Dolphin Shopping Centre.
In February 2025, reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete RAAC was found at the shopping centre. The final Beales department store in the UK will close at the end of May 2025.
To ensure the shopping centre remains popular and well occupied, the owner LGIM Real Assets is investing in the redevelopment of the internal malls and various retail buildings within the site. Designed by tp bennett, a programme of refurbishment is underway with the aim of delivering a more exciting and modern retail experience to help attract shoppers and retailers. The scheme includes new stores for H&M, New Look and JD Sports as well a new mixed-use leisure development, with a multiplex cinema, restaurants and a refreshed public realm.
It will be a huge transformation and there is a real local desire for it.
Says tp bennett’s James Painter.
Part of wider improvement works in Poole, it is hoped that this major investment will enhance the customer experience, and reinforce the centre as a popular, family-friendly retail and entertainment destination.
Barclays House – Poole
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.
The main reception 28th January 1976.
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.
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.
Hamtun Street Mural – Southampton
The large and colourful mural in Hamtun Street in Southampton’s Old Town charts the history of the city from Roman Clausentum and Saxon Hamwic, to the modern docks and football.
Created in 1978 by influential artists Henry and Joyce Collins,
The mural was commissioned by Sainsbury’s to decorate the façade of their supermarket in Lordshill, Southampton.
The 19m long and 3m high mural consists of thirty seven concrete and glass mosaic panels depicting landmark buildings and iconicevents from Southampton’s history.
Thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the mural was cleaned and restored by ceramic artist Oliver Budd.
Artist and conservator Oliver Budd creates and restores mosaics for public and private commissions. Budd Mosaics was set up in 1960 by Kenneth Budd, a contemporary of Henry and Joyce Collins. Kenneth invented the technique of prefabricating mosaics in the studio on aluminium mesh panels.
By July 2011 it was installed at Hamtun Street in the heart of the Old Town.
Here it is with Castle House in the background.
Southampton Mural 2013.
A cross-section of the local community helped create a new mural depicting contemporary Southampton. The design was inspired by ideas from young people at Prince’s Trust, residents of Ironside Court, parents from St. John’s School and local people who attended mosaic workshops led by artist Joanna Dewfall.
Joanna Dewfall’s design captures the city’s iconic buildings, maritime industry and present-day life. The border, made during mosaic workshops, contains themes from past and present celebrating Southampton’s cultural diversity.
The new mural is located on Castle Way, round the corner from the Hamtun Street Mural.
My first encounter with the work of Henry and Joyce Collins, was on the side of the former BHS in Stockport.
I have subsequently visited their work in Bexhill on Sea.
And Cwmbran.
Castle House – Southampton
A view from the Balcony of Castle House, Castle Way Southampton in the very early 70’s, St Michael’s Church and one of the liners are clearly visible.
Photo – John Fahy
Under construction.
Photo – Kim Herdman
Taken in 1963
Photo – Lutek Fitulek
April 22nd2016.
Photo – Richard Czuprynski
Entrance 1985
Photo – Miles Glendinning.
Following our visit to Wyndham Court let’s take a look at Castle House.
One thirteen -storey block containing seventy two dwellings – 1960 Eric Lyons
Wyndham Court – Southampton
Wyndham Court is a block of social housing in Southampton which opened in 1970.
It was designed by Lyons Israel Ellis for Southampton City Council in 1966, ED Lyons being the partner in charge and architects Frank Linden and Aubrey Hume also assigned to the job. The structural engineers were Hajnal-Konyi and Myers and the firm of builders was G Minter.
It is located near Southampton Central station and the Mayflower Theatre. Wyndham Court includes 184 flats, three cafes or restaurants and 13 shops, and was completed in 1969.
It is built from reinforced concrete and finished with white board-marked concrete, with narrow bands painted horizontally between windows and the partition walls that separate the apartments’ balconies. Because it is built on a hill, the building has six storeys at its northern end and seven at the southern. There is an underground car park which was constructed from the basements of previous buildings on the site
This was my very first visit on my day out in Southampton having also taken a look around Nelsons Gate.
Walking around the building I was quickly engaged by two residents, emerging from their concrete clad home. Assuming that I was from the Council, I was given a lurid account of rodent infestation, faulty locks, open doors and all manner of ills. Having explained my unfortunate lack of municipal affiliation, we parted amicably as we went our respective ways.
A single bed apartment will cost you £600 PCM.
The flat itself is situated within this large purpose built block, benefits with this particular block include secure entrance system and lift access to each floor. This particular flat is found on the 4th floor and offers a private front door, as you enter the hallway leads round to a large living room which has plenty of space for dining as well, the kitchen is separate but has been cleverly designed to include an large opening hatch that creates the feeling of open plan to this area. The kitchen is clean and tidy and is supplied with the white goods including a brand new washing machine.
The main living space has lovely big windows that not only offers lots of natural light but also offers a stunning viewing, where you can see glimpses of the Cruise liners docking. The bedroom is accessible by multiple doors either from the living room or hallway, the bedroom is a great size and also features nice big windows, along with plenty of storage. Back into the hallway there are two useful storage cupboards and last but not least a fully tiled bathroom with shower and bath. Further benefits with the flat include electric heating and external storage cupboard next to the front door, the block also boosts a communal garden which is a nice place to sit and enjoy some fresh air.
The building is Grade II Listed.
Wyndham Court, ought to be as well-known as the Brunswick Centre or the Barbican, and isn’t largely because of where it is. It is a monumental, civic housing project on the grandest scale.
Nelson Gate – Southampton
On arriving a Southampton Central there it is looming over Blechynden Terrace.
A big brute of a building Nelson Gate, comprised of sixteen-storey Norwich House, seven-storey Frobisher House and five-storey Grenville House.
Though it seems that for some time there are those which wish to tame the brute.
Plans for a multimillion-pound development including a hotel, homes, offices and shops in Southampton city centre have been revealed.
The Nelson Gate scheme, proposed by developer FI Real Estate Management, would also see Norwich House and Frobisher House revamped.
A public square would be created by the city’s central railway station, as well as a new pedestrian route.
A full planning application is expected be submitted later in the summer.
Chris Hammond, leader of Southampton City Council, said: “Nelson Gate is one of the gateways into the city from the station, so to see a brand new development is fantastic. It really showcases what the city has to offer for those coming in.”
Fast forward to 2025
Ellis Williams was appointed to develop designs and achieve planning permission for the redevelopment of Nelson Gate in Southampton, transforming the existing 1970’s office accommodation into an iconic residential and public space. Through positive and extensive engagement with Southampton Council, the site has been re-imaged as an arrival gateway into the city from the Central Railway Station.
The existing office buildings and car park will be transformed into 247 residential apartments, 42,000 sq ft Grade A office space, a 224 bed hotel with extensive dry leisure and 14,000sf commercial / food and beverage space fronting onto a new public realm and urban park.
Aligned with other significant investment into Southampton, Nelson Gate will create a truly unique place for people to live, work and socialise.
The scheme is expected to be delivered in two phases. The first phase, focusing on the existing buildings and their immediate surroundings, is projected for completion by September 2026. However, it is important to note that this timeline is a challenging target.
As of Tuesday May 5th 2026, all is as was.
Though there is a new mural.
It’s 2023 and Nelson Gate, renamed The Bulb, will sport the UK’s largest clean air mural, it was designed by French street artist Nerone.
Here’s what I did photograph.
San Remo Towers – Boscombe
San Remo Towers Sea Rd Boscombe Bournemouth BH5 1JY
Alwyn Ladell
Block of 164 flats, with penthouse and office, over basement garage. 1935-8 by Hector O Hamilton. Pale brick, with areas of render, particularly to ground and upper floors, faience tiling, and concrete floors. Flat roof behind high parapets edged with pantiles, and with pantiled roofs over staircase towers and over penthouse. Single stack serving boiler house. U-shaped plan around central courtyard, set over garage.
The flats, on five floors, are set in five blocks, with corridor access via separate residents and trade stairs and lift from each of six entrance doors – the central block C is served by the main entrance as well as its own. Through access between blocks on ground floor only. The estate office projects on the ground floor of Block C. The exterior is in a delightful Spanish mission style, with extensive use of coloured faience around doors and in window jambs. Metal casement windows with small panes, round-arched to ground and fifth floor, where coloured jambs predominate. Projecting balconies of brick and render to the larger flats, with coloured balustrades and supported on console brackets. Glass rooflights to the basement car park. The six entrances with double panelled doors, set in lively decorated surrounds of brightly coloured faience, with barley sugar engaged columns under Ionic capitals and block designation – A-E, main entrance, in faience lettering. French doors with small panes to courtyard. Attached brick retaining walls at entrance to courtyard.
Interiors: The residents’ staircases with jazz modern metal balustrading, those for tradesmen with stick balusters. Interiors of flats not inspected but understood to have been modernised. San Remo Towers is one of the most comprehensive seaside developments of flats to be erected in the 1930s. It was planned as early as 1935-6 by Armstrong Estates Limited of Guildford. It was opened on 1 June 1938 as ‘a magnificent block of 164 superior flats, 296-260 per annum rental, garage for 130 cars’. Facilities offered as inclusive in this price included centralised hot water and central heating, an auto vac’ cleaning system, centralised telephones, a resident manager, a porter, daily maid, boot cleaning and window cleaning services. There was a Residents’ club with a reading room card room, billiard room and library, and a children’s recreation and games room. There were kiosks in the ground-floor lobbies selling tobacco and convenience items, where the staff took orders for the local tradesmen. The fifth-floor restaurant offered a la carte meals, which could be taken at pension rates of 38s per week. A simpler dinner cost 2/6d.
Restaurant Crockery 1940
The use of an American architect, Hector O Hamilton, may be an explanation for the building’s large range of facilities, including the grand underground car park and sophisticated servicing. The residents’ club was converted to a penthouse in the 1950s, but the block retains its select tone. The elevations were described in 1940 as dignified and select and harmonise with the general surroundings. Today they are admired as for the very striking way in which they stand out from their surroundings as a piece of 19305′ exotic fantasy transported to seemly Bournemouth.
San Remo Towers is one of the most impressive seaside developments in England of its period. Source: Waycotts, San Remo Towers, 1940 letting brochure.
Following on from the nearby Boscombe Pier.
First seen in 2015 on my South Coast cycling tour, today I was on foot with time to wander around San Remo Towers.
For me it is the most charming and capricious of seaside apartment blocks – a playful symphony of faience and fancy. An exotic dose of Californian Hispanic on the Dorset coast.
Today, most of the flats have been refurbished and sold to independent buyers. In 2019, the lessees worked together to buy the building and it is now owned by San Remo Towers SRT Freehold Ltd. Not all the flats have share of freehold yet, but the option is available for any lessee who wishes to join.
Hector O. Hamilton, young New York architect, who won a share in the first prize with his design for the projected Palace of the Soviets in Moscow, announced yesterday that he would sail for Russia in a month at the invitation of the Soviet Government to aid in the construction of the building. Although persons familiar with Russia have warned that he would be paid in rubles and probably not be permitted to take the $6,000-his share in the prize money-out of the country, Americans who have worked there point out that it is the policy of the Soviet Government to pay technical men from this country in dollars. They say also that while it is against the law to take rubles out of the country this law does not apply to foreign currency.
Boscombe Pier
The Boscombe Pier Company was formed in 1886 and the first pile was laid on 11th October 1888. Designed by Archibald Smith, the 600 foot pier opened on 28th July 1889.
The local council took over the pier in 1904 and erected buildings at the entrance and on the pier-head. Facilities included a busy steamer landing stage.
In 1924/5 and 1927, the head was renewed in high alumina concrete. Between 1958 and 1960, the neck was reconstructed using reinforced concrete. In 1940, the pier was breached for defence reasons.
Between 1958 and 1960, the neck was reconstructed using reinforced concrete.
A restaurant and the Mermaid Theatre were built at the pier-head in 1961 although the ‘Theatre’, in fact, opened as a covered roller-skating rink for its first two seasons. In April 1965, the leaseholder, Cleethorpes Amusements, converted it into an arcade. The council formally took over the Mermaid ‘Theatre’ in 1988 when the lease ended.
In 2008, the area around Boscombe pier underwent extensive renovation. The derelict and unsafe building at the end of the pier was demolished, and replaced by a simple viewing and fishing platform. The rest of the pier was also restored.
I was first here in 2015 cycling the South Coast – heading to Portsmouth.
Historic England’s listing notes:
However, the neck building is a design of great verve and vivacity that well demonstrates the revitalisation of the British seaside resort in the 1950s. The contemporary style associated with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian houses and made popular with Californian homes in the 1940s was well suited to the requirements of an architecture that combined ‘sun and fun’. The contemporary style made a feature of expressing different elements or planes of a composition with different materials, and here the combination is honest and each element well detailed. The sweep of the cantilevered, boomerang-shaped roof is a particularly joyous feature. It is a building that would have been despised as being exactly of its date until recently; now it is a building that can be celebrated for that very reason, and a rare example of pier architecture from these years.
Open seven days a week from 9am to 11pm – may be subject to change due to weather conditions.
Inside the Grade II listed building at the pier’s entrance, you’ll find a café, takeaway and a beach shop. Outside you can have a go on the bouldering walls and the slackline.
There’s no charge to go on Boscombe Pier, there’s also a viewing platform at the end of the pier.
The resident, who does not wish to be named, was walking along the seafront from Southbourne to Boscombe Pier on Thursday, March 17, at around 10.30am when he noticed strange objects in the sky.
He told the Echo:
“I noticed in the sky three bright, what looked like orange, lights approaching me head on from the west to the east quite low down. I thought they might be aircraft landing lights which seemed strange as it was blue sky and a sunny day.
Modern Mooch 