Stafford Station – Multi-Storey Car Park Station Road ST16 2AA
Arriving by train one Saturday morning at the Stafford Station, with time on my hands, I thought to take a look at the adjacent multi-storey car park.
As a pedestrian I found it to be first rate, clean and well signed and designed, easy access by both stairways and lifts, affording panoramic views of the town.
The motorists however have mixed opinions.
I have been here before recording the history of Manchester City FC on this site.
A football stadium surrounds by railways, roads, homes and industry.
The area is now much changed, though the railways and roads remain, the homes are in a state of flux.
Local Image Collection: Bennett Street with Heywood House 1972 – photo Anne Jackson.
Local Image Collection: Wenlock Way flats taken from Bennett Street – Photo Ben Garth 1972
Local Image Collection: Matthews Street from Bennett Street 1964 – Photo Thomas Brooks
The Gateway to the Simple Life is here.
Situated in Ardwick, one mile outside of Manchester’s vibrant city centre, The Gateway is a distinctive development offering a collection of homes and apartments to rent.
Enjoy living in the prime location of Manchester’s bustling city centre, where there is a vast range of employment opportunities, cafes, bars and restaurants. All year round, you can benefit from various fun days out with events and activities available on your doorstep.
In addition to the apartments there is a mixed development of terraced, detached and semi-detached homes.
We pride ourselves on building places you can call your forever home, knowing it won’t be sold from beneath your feet. We offer renters a whole new experience which brings together the best of both worlds – all the perks of a private rental with the added excitement for customers at the start of a development to choose their own plot and watch it being built.
With home ownership becoming unaffordable for some and an unappealing lifestyle choice for others, we meet the need for a high quality home which still feels secure in the long term.
Having photographed the arterial roads of Manchester in 2014, I have resolved to return to the task in 2024.
Some things seem to have changed, some things seem to have stayed the same.
Shropshire Council Raven Meadows Shrewsbury SY1 1PL
Built by Truscon Ltd. – 1969
I am a disabled driver and found a lot of the direction signs worn away. When I came to leave I wanted to use the machine on the ground floor. This was out of order, as a lot of other people found. The office was empty as the staff were outside smoking. I then had to negotiate stars back to the 7th floor where the next machine was located. There was no sign on the ground floor machine telling it was out of use and where the next machine was located.
If staff want to have a smoke they should at least leave someone in the office.
Most of the parking spaces are very tight and I would not recommend the use of this car park unless you have a small car and a crystal ball to find the disabled parking and the payment meters.
The rudest man at the kiosk, that I have ever had an encounter with, over a ticket that was blurred. He had a go at me for not going to him straight away – I went when I went to leave and it wouldn’t work. He also had a go at me because I pressed the buzzer on the intercom. Very strange unhelpful man. Made an issue for no reason! Awful to deal with I never write reviews, but I hope this gets back to him and with hope he will gain some manners.
Being a pedestrian, I entered through the bus station on foot.
The station is considered to be dated due to its 1980s architecture partially under a 1960s multi-storey car park. There have been plans for the station to be modernised and rebuilt, or even demolished completely, as part of the town’s Big Town Plan. The demolition of the station would mean the town would not have a central bus terminus and would instead use smaller sites on the town’s Park and Ride routes.
Shrewsbury Bus Station is a disgrace. I am embarrassed to use it. I don’t feel comfortable with using it. Yet, it is the bus hub for our county. It is one of the main gateways into Shrewsbury and Shropshire for those travelling by public transport.
New bus hubs and interchanges have been developed around the country. Shropshire Council meanwhile ignores Shrewsbury Bus Station. It promises a new bus interchange, but that is in Phase 4 of its plans to redevelop Shrewsbury town centre between Pride Hill and the riverfront. In the current financial climate and with the council stretched to the limit on existing funding, Phase 4 is probably more than a decade away.
Maybe now in fantasy land.
Then took the lift to the seventh level – the ninth and eleventh being closed to motor cars.
But not the intrepid pedestrian.
This is an informative video tour of the area.
St. Anns Road North in Heald Green is in the North West region of England. The postcode is within the Heald Green ward/electoral division, which is in the constituency of Cheadle.
It literally was all fields around here once – save for a Lunatic Asylum and a cottage or two.
There is still a Griffin Inn, in which to sup yourself insensible.
I often cycle along here on my way to who knows where – today I stoped to take some snaps.
Having an interest in suburban housing its vagaries and typologies – I have recored Penrhyn Bay several times, along with Woodford, Whitley Lodge Estate, Killingworth, and East Didsbury.
This area was once described to me as built by Cowboys for Indians – though statistically there are more Pakistani residents.
This is a dormitory suburb of Manchester and nearby Stockport and is oh so close to the airport, polite and professional well presented and aspirational.
Once this was a Modern paradigm.
Subsequently the plaything of the upwardly mobile – extending in all directions, adding period details way out of period, or embracing the current vogue for the refined and smoothly rendered grey-ification of their homes.
Welcome to the land of the performance vehicle, impressive impressed drive, carriage lamp and bay window, overlooking a well clipped lawn.
What’s in a name?
Is there such a thing as nominative determinism when it comes to streets?
The naming of Bland Close as Bland Close seems to me to be an act of municipal cruelty, compounded by the addition of the adjoining Brown Street.
Having previously visited Blank Street in Ancoats I was eager to find out.
Statistically there are no anomalous details, which indicates any discernible difference between the streets and the surrounding area.
On a February morning the streets were well behaved and consisted of a typical mix of nineteenth century terraces and postwar semis, the residents chatty and welcoming, whilst they went about their business.
There are different causes that can make a street name controversial:
Research has found that if you live on Pear Tree Lane your property is more likely to attract potential buyers and a higher price, than those living in a similar property on Crotch Lane.
What are the guidelines for street naming?
So in summary the name Bland does not in my opinion represent the close’s appearance and may in fact detract from the value of the property and possibly the perception of the area.
Let’s take a look – see what you think.
The A34 is a major route from the ports on the South Coast of England to the Midlands and the North West, with the standard varying from rural dual carriageway sections in the south to urban single carriageway in the north, and everything else in between.
Slade Lane junction, Rushford Park to Parr’s Wood, East Didsbury – to connect to Manchester Road to Cheadle. It continued on to Laneside Road as a residential road. Opened on 11 April 1923 by Mary Cundiff, Lady Mayoress, and Margaret Turnbull, daughter of Alderman Turnbull, Chairman of Manchester Town Planning Committee. Width was 100 feet and it was designed for tram tracks in the central reservation. The dual road carriageways were 20 feet wide. Manchester’s tram system was closed in 1949. The carriageways were widened and central reservation grassed over. Originally opened as A5079.
Laneside Road, East Didsbury to Schools Hill/ Wilmslow Road junction, Cheadle. Opened on 12 October 1959. The official opening was on 15 October 1959. Planning for the bypass had been halted by the war. In December 1949 Manchester Corporation stated that it was not a priority since the Corporation was only responsible for the 200 yards to the proposed bridge over the River Mersey and Cheshire County Council had not asked for a joint approach to Ministry of Transport to build it. Work was finally authorised in January 1957 and started in the June. Width was 90 feet with dual 24 foot carriageways. Expected cost was £600,000 to £700,000.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road and Ashton Old Road and Hyde Road and Stockport Road.
The road now begins slightly further south than it used to. Instead of starting on Fairfield Street in Manchester city centre, it begins immediately as the Mancunian Way ends, which at this point is the unsigned A635(M). The motorway flows directly into our route. There’s a TOTSO right at a set of lights, and we pick up the old alignment, which now starts as the B6469.
We can see the new City of Manchester Stadium on the left, site of the 2002 Commonwealth Games and now home to Manchester City FC. The road switches between S2 and S4 as it passes through the rather run-down urban areas of Ardwick and Gorton. A short one-way system at a triangular-shaped junction with the A662 leads onto a wider stretch as we near the M60 junction. This area is set to see significant industrial growth, with whole swathes of land either side of the now D3 road cleared and ready for development.
In 2014, having taken early retirement from teaching photography, I embarked on a series of walks along the arterial roads of Manchester.
See also Bury New Road and Cheetham Hill Road and Rochdale Road and Oldham Road and Ashton New Road
Kendals Car Park – M3 2WY
Kendals is of course long gone – absorbed by House of Fraser.
The store had previously been known during its operation as Kendal Milne, Kendal Milne & Co, Kendal Milne & Faulkner, Harrods or Watts.
The store was designed by Harrods’ in-house architect Louis David Blanc, with input from a local architect John S Beaumont, in 1938 and completed in 1939 – it is a Grade II listed building.
Great location but narrow roadway between floors. Pay in advance so you need to know how long you’re staying for.
£20.40 for four hours is expensive but you are minutes from Deansgate shops.
Only given one star because there wasn’t an option for zero.
Not secure, car broken into theft of personal effects, pedestrian gate was un locked, no CCTV that I could see anywhere. Cost me over £25 to park for six hrs and lost over £200 of personal effects, complained to council, no response. Wouldn’t park here ever again.
Get there whilst ye may.
The pedestrian in a car park presses on!
Manchester City Council is set to hand over a multi-storey car park and close a row of shops, including a Greggs and a barbers, in the hope of driving huge development in Deansgate. The multi-storey car park on King Street West, behind the iconic Kendals building, is set to be demolished if plans are passed by the council’s executive committee, with proposals to turn it into an office block.
The demolition of this car park and ground floor retailers would facilitate the redevelopment of the site, according to a report by the council’s strategic director, and will pave the way for the refurbishment of the adjacent grade II listed Kendals building, which currently has House of Fraser occupying it. Engagement with the retailers has been ongoing for some time, according to this report, with guidance being offered to them as to their next steps.
Plans were approved last year to transform the Kendals building into ‘high end’ offices with the car park to be turned into a 14-storey office block, along with improvements to the public realm. For this to go ahead the council will need to surrender the lease of the car park building, according to the report.
New Bailey Car Park – M3 5EN
Maple gave architects Aedas RHWL the freedom to express themselves on a prominent multi-storey car park development in Salford. Their imaginative design created a great concept – the nine storey New Bailey car park appearing to be wrapped in ribbons that echo the lattice patterns and intersections in the ironwork of nearby Victorian bridges.
The pedestrian in a car park is happy to shine its tiny light on Salford’s regeneration – and has lead a Modernist Mooch around the area named Salford Nouveau!
English Cities Fund and National Car Parks have officially launched the new 615 space, nine storey car park at New Bailey, which is due to open in early December.
The £12 million car park, which was designed by architect Renton Howard Wood Levin Architects and constructed by Morgan Sindall has been forward funded by Legal and General and let to NCP on a 35 year lease.
This purpose built flagship multi-storey car park features a number of benefits for customers. These include state of the art larger and quicker lifts, energy efficient LED lighting and automatic number plate recognition. The online booking service includes pre booking facilities and level monitoring communicates to drivers which levels have available parking spaces. There are also direct links to the NCP customer contact centre via a number of help points throughout the car park, as well as 27 CCTV cameras for increased safety and six charging spaces for electric cars.
The car park is also conveniently located adjacent to Salford Central train station.
A good, clean and modern car park, easy to navigate and sensibly sized spaces.
The only downsides are that it’s not cheap and getting into it from Trinity way is hard, as the traffic blocks the junction meaning it takes may cycles of the traffic lights to get across the junction.
The pedestrian boldly goes – up in the lift.
Chorlton Street Car Park – M1 3FY
Secure and easy to find while driving, struggled to get back in through side door, had to walk up the ramp.
Expensive.
Stairwell stinks like piss and I’ve seen homeless people sitting in there, doesn’t feel safe.
Great car park, security is great, right in the city centre, above the bus station that goes Scotland to Cornwall, Wales to Norwich and many more, Manchester city centre literally, with Piccadilly Gardens, around the corner.
We have been snapping here afore in the guise of Mr Estate Pubs – checking out the Thompsons Arms.
For this is a car park with coach station and boozer attached.
The pedestrian in a car park approaches cautiously – along the ramp.
Retreating the better to circumnavigate the site.
I was quickly losing light – so I called it a day.
Returning on a sunnier day.
Charles Street Car Park – M1 3BB
Hugging the railway viaduct twixt Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations, approximate to UMIST.
The entrance is extremely narrow so watch out for your alloys when you turn in. Ridiculous size for a modern car park – just terrible.
This car park has served me well on many occasions!
It is truly wonderful as car parks go.
Terribly maintained, regularly find human faeces and worse in the stairwell.
The pedestrian in a car park is taking you as high as is humanly possible – the upper tiers are now locked off.
Though it does remain a car park with a pub- the former Swinging Sporran now trading as Retro Bar.
Sackville Street 1902
Piccadilly Station Car Park Boad Street M1 2RP
JHA Pulmann were 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.
Give my regards to Boad Street.
Q-Park First Street M15 4FN
Q-Park First Street is a multi-storey car park within the up and coming First Street development. The safe and secure facility is a short walk away from HOME Theatre, Innside by Melia, Bridgewater Hall and the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
VIP spaces are available to book online.
Achieving Park Mark Plus demonstrates that this Q-Park car park has achieved the highest parking facility standards with exceptional customer services and ambience. Only good management can ensure that measures are in place to reduce crime and the fear of crime, enforce disabled parking for the benefit of those that need accessible bays and care for the environment at the same time.
The pedestrian in a car park ventures forth into a part of town rarely visited, discovering a clean and modern environment, affording extensive views over an ever expanding city.
The car park was designed by Ian Simpson 2015.
As part of the redevelopment of the Gaythorn Gas Works site, First Street has successfully managed to create a new thriving neighbourhood in Manchester. The development continues to seamlessly integrate cultural spaces with commercial offices, retail spaces, a hotel and multi-storey car park.
Cundall has provided multidisciplinary engineering services spanning several years and multiple buildings including, Q-Park MSCP.
It’s all a long way from the Gaythorn gas works.
Another year on, another day in Penrhyn Bay – fifth time around.
I have to admit that I’m fascinated by the manicured homes of this long sweep of road reaching from the base of the Little Orme.
It was fascination, I know
And it might have ended right then, at the start
Just a passing glance, just a brief romance
And I might have gone on my way, empty hearted
Once a scattered agglomeration of inter-war houses in the shadow of the limestone quarry.
On each visit one apprehends the ever so slowly evolving additions, carefully considered property improvements, another new car in the same old town.
Keeping it quietly personal.
Where are we?
We once were lost, but are we saved?
A remnant from a discarded photographic album locates us in Cornwall.
The Ordnance Survey places us at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.
Now we are in the shadow of Tesco Extra and a recently opened Porsche dealership.
As of 2022, the supermarket chain had a brand value of roughly 9.91 billion US dollars.
Porsche Automobile Holding SE net worth as of January 2023 is 16.51 US dollars.
By the side of the River Tame and the M60 Motorway
The 19th-century industrial concentrations in the above-named urban areas resulted in the Tame being a much polluted waterway. As well as industrial pollution from the dyes and bleaches used in textile mills, effluent from specialised paper-making cigarette papers, engineering effluents, including base metal washings from battery manufacture, phenols from the huge coal-gas plant in Denton, rain-wash from roads and abandoned coal spoil heaps there was also the sewage effluent from the surrounding population. Up to two-thirds of the river’s flow at its confluence with the Goyt had passed through a sewage works. The anti-pollution efforts of the last thirty years of the 20th century have resulted in positive fauna distributions.
There is a plot of land to the left of Porsche which remains undeveloped, I often walk around this area, what would have once been for myself and others the place of childhood high jinx.
Now it is the domain of the fly-tipper, the home of the homeless, a war zone for a species which has declared war upon itself.
A desert of detritus, interpolated with tangles of brambles, seas of teasels and the ubiquitous buddleia.
This is the unofficial showroom for the unofficial Anthropocene Epoch – always crashing in a different car, during increasingly unseasonal weather, the superabundance of abundance.
It seems that the sun may set on us, before the sun finally sets.
Let’s take a peep at Portwood.
Game over.
Vehicle use affects our whole quality of local life. Traffic can be dangerous and intimidating, dividing communities and making street life unpleasant, whilst air pollution and traffic noise can make urban living uncomfortable.
The impacts of mass consumption are: Misuse of land and resources, exporting pollution and waste from rich countries to poor countries, obesity due to excessive consumption, a cycle of waste, disparities and poverty.
I love to walk the long concrete promenade along the North Shore.
In fact I’ve previously written all about it.
One very sunny post lockdown day I walked along again.
I was taken by the strung out procession of anglers casting from the sea wall.
So I took some pictures.
Well it seems that I had already cycled from Hull to Scarborough, so it must be time to head for Redcar.
Leaving Scarborough by the Cinder Track under the expert guidance of Mr Ben Vickers.
This was the site of the Gallows Close Goods Yard.
Formerly the Scarbough to Whitby Railway – the line opened in 1885 and closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching Axe.
Yet again I chance upon a delightful post-war home.
I parted company with the track dropping down to the Esk Valley from the Larpool Viaduct.
Construction began in October 1882 and was complete by October 1884.
Two men fell from the piers during construction, but recovered.
I found myself in Ruswarp, home to this enchanting bus shelter.
I bombed along the main road to Sleights.
There then followed a hesitant ascent, descent, ascent along a badly signed bridleway, fearing that I had climbed the hill in error I retraced, then retraced.
A difficult push ensued, a precipitous path, rough and untended, rising ever higher and higher.
Finally arriving at Aislaby, more than somewhat exhausted – the village is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Asuluesbi.
Pausing to catch my breath I took the wildly undulating road to Egton – along the way I was alerted to the presence of a tea stop by two touring cyclists from Nottingham.
A welcome wet and a hunk of home made carrot cake.
Brewmeister Maria was good enough to suggest route through Castleton Moor and over the tops to Saltburn.
It was too hot a day for a detour to Fryup.
The curious name Fryup probably derives from the Old English reconstruction Frige-hop: Frige was an Anglo-Saxon goddess equated with the Old Norse Frigg; hop denoted a small valley.
An old woman at Fryup was well known locally for keeping the Mark’s e’en watch – 24 April, as she lived alongside a corpse road known as Old Hell Road.
The practice involved a village seer holding vigil between 11pm and 1am to watch for the wraiths of those who would die in the following 12 months.
Castleton Moor ghost.
In the village I was given further directions by two elderly gents, who had been engaged in a discussion concerning their long term mapping of acid rain levels in the area.
One was wearing a Marshall Jefferson t-shirt.
I climbed Langburn Bank onto the flatish open moorland.
Taking a brief break to snap this concrete shelter.
There then followed a hair stirring series of hairpin descents to the coast at Saltburn.
Followed by an off road route to Redcar.
Our Lady of Lourdes – Architect: Kitching & Archibald 1928
Built in 1928, this church was designed with some care and is an attractive, if fairly modest, Lombard Romanesque-style essay in brick. The use of a semi-circular apse, narrow brickwork and use of tile for decorative effect give it a pleasing appearance, typical of restrained but elegant work between the wars.
I arrived and took a look around, first time in town, here’s what I found.
Another long day – I went to sleep.
Here we are, right at the heart of Manchester.
Anything worth looking at?
Well not a great deal, it’s 1772 and the Gardens and Plaza, are as yet undreamt of – the area was occupied by water-filled clay pits called the Daub Holes, eventually the pits were replaced by a fine ornamental pond.
In 1755 the Infirmary was built here; on what was then called Lever’s Row, in 1763 the Manchester Royal Lunatic Asylum was added.
There were grander unrealised plans.
Including an aerial asylum.
The Manchester Royal Infirmary moved to its current site on Oxford Road in 1908. The hospital buildings were completely demolished by April 1910 apart from the outpatient department, which continued to deal with minor injuries and dispense medication until the 1930s.
After several years in which the Manchester Corporation tried to decide how to develop the site, it was left and made into the largest open green space in the city centre. The Manchester Public Free Library Reference Department was housed on the site for a number of years before the move to Manchester Central Library.
The sunken garden was a remnant of the hospital’s basement.
During World War II the gardens were home to air raid shelters.
The Gardens became a festival of floral abundance – in folk memory twinned with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but with slightly less hanging.
The area has also acted as a public transport hub.
And following post war bomb damage.
A delightful car park.
But this simply can’t carry on, keep calm and demand a Plaza!
Drawings are drawn, models are modelled.
1965 Architects: Covell Matthews + Partners
Work is commenced, post haste.
Towering cranes tower over the town, deep holes are dug with both skill and alacrity.
A Plaza begins to take shape, take a look.
Nearly done.
All we need now are tenants.
Piccadilly Plaza now contains the renovated Mercure Hotel it was formerly known as the Ramada Manchester Piccadilly and Jarvis Piccadilly Hotel; the refurbishment was completed in 2008.
The retail units famously contained Brentford Nylons.
The company was eventually sold at a knock-down price and the new owner did not think the name worth having.
The noisy upstairs neighbours were Piccadilly Radio.
The first broadcast was at 5am on April 2nd 1974, it was undertaken by Roger Day, with his first words to the Manchester audience: “It gives me great pleasure for the very first time to say a good Tuesday morning to you… Hit music for the North West…we are Piccadilly Radio” before spinning Good Vibrations.
It was the first commercial radio station to broadcast in the city, and went on to launch the careers of a host of star DJs, the likes of Gary Davies, Chris Evans, Andy Peebles, Timmy Mallett, Mike Sweeney, Pete Mitchell, James Stannage, Steve Penk and James H Reeve.
And of course my good friend Mr Phil Griffin.
Just around the corner the Portland Bars.
Waiting for a mate who worked at Piccadilly Radio we ventured down the stairs next door to get a drink and because of our clothes/leather jackets we were chucked back up the steps. We should of stood our ground like one of my mates who was told he could stay if he turned his jacket inside out, thinking he wouldnt do it, but he did and had a drink with his red quilted lining on the outside.
Oh and not forgetting the Golden Egg.
Bata Shoes and a Wimpy Bar.
“Food served at the table within ten minutes of ordering and with atomic age efficiency. No cutlery needed or given. Drinks served in a bottle with a straw. Condiments in pre-packaged single serving packets.”
In addition to familiar Wimpy burgers and milkshakes, the British franchise had served ham or sardine rolls called torpedoes and a cold frankfurter with pickled cucumber sandwiches called Freddies.
Even on the greyest days the Plaza was a beacon of Modernity.
Though sadly we eventually lost Bernard House.
However, City Tower still prevails as a mixed use office block, adorned east and west with big bold William Mitchell panels.
Which were to be illuminated by ever changing images, produced by photo electric cells – sadly unrealised.
So goodbye Piccadilly – farewell Leicester Square? – it’s a long, long way to the future, and we’re barely half way there.
While we’re in the vicinity take a quick trip up and down the car park ramp.
Notably the entrance to the Hotel Piccadilly was on the first floor, accessed by non-existent highways in the sky – sweet dreams.
Black and white archive photographs – Local Image Collection
We begin at the beginning of the end – fields full of fields
Dotted with farm buildings – then, along comes an Aerodrome.
A serious problem arose in 1924 when Avro was notified that the current airfield used by the company at Alexandra Park would be closing. After a hurried search to find an alternative location, Avro settled on New Hall Farm at Woodford and completed the move later that year.
In 1999, Woodford became part of BAE Systems as a result of the merging of British Aerospace with Marconi Electronic Systems. Plans to build the Avro RJX airliner at Woodford were shelved in 2001 which left production of the Nimrod MRA4 as the only active project at the site. Woodford Aerodrome finally closed in 2011 when the Nimrod MRA4 project was cancelled, ending almost 80 years of almost continual aircraft manufacture at the site.
Which in due course became a museum.
The site was subsequently acquired by Redrow.
Redrow has started construction on the first phase of 950 homes at the 500-acre former Woodford Aerodrome site near Stockport, nearly two years after planning consent was granted.
Preparatory works are underway and sales of the houses are expected to launch in June with the opening of show homes on the site.
The redevelopment of the 500-acre site, which is being brought forward by a joint venture between Harrow Estates, part of Redrow, and Avro Heritage, will also feature a primary school, employment area, pub, shops, community facilities, and areas of open and recreational space.
A 21st century development was on its way.
However, the architectural style owes more to Baron Hardup, than Flash Gordon.
The Tudor-Bethan style of Metro-Land, that oh so very, very English pantomime tradition of the village green, merry boys and girls dancing around Maypoles clutching wicker baskets, full of plastic daffodils.
For every raw obscenity
Must have its small ‘amenity,’
Its patch of shaven green,
And hoardings look a wonder
In banks of floribunda
With floodlights in between.
John Betjeman Inexpensive Progress
This is progress realised as regression, a pastiche of a pastiche, of a pastiche, of a pastiche.
Finding some small comfort in the imitation game, hurtling along radial roads, encased in the biggest, live now pay later motors, which borrowed money can buy.
Seeking succour in the certainty of an illusory past, whilst peering through the nets and blinds, at a seriously uncertain future.
You’re as pretty as a picture, a picture torn from a yellowing scrapbook, scanned and enhanced, to remove any unseemly rough edges and/or ruffians.
This was tomorrow calling, wishing you weren’t here.
Work is still underway and the surrounding landscape feels raw, windswept and wounded.
All of the plots on this phase are now reserved, but don’t miss out on the available homes on our other phases!
Just minutes from Wilmslow, Poynton and Bramhall, and within easy reach of Manchester for both work and leisure, Woodford is perfectly placed to offer the best of both the thriving city and the glorious Cheshire countryside. This makes it the perfect location for our high-quality Heritage Collection homes, which combine the very best of classic Arts & Crafts architecture with modern, family friendly interiors of the very highest specification.
The Oxford, Richmond, Leamington, Lincoln and Canterbury – reassuringly reassuring you, that you are in fact – nowhere.
This is it you have arrived – a gold-star, cast iron, paper thin investment for a certain aspirational section of society.
Goodbye Woodford Garden Village.
Now if the harvest is over, and the world cold, give me the bonus of laughter, as I lose hold.
Modern Mooch 