England – Page 30 – Modern Mooch

The Wash Inn – Hastings

Posted on September 4, 2015 by modernmoocher

Standing alone in an unattended laundrette can be a chilling experience, a heightened state of awareness abounds, accentuating that all pervasive absence of presence.

The unseen hand, that write the notes, that speak to you in emphatic hurried caps, pinned or taped precisely on the walls.

The ghosts of clothes, still warm, now gone.

A Proust defying amalgam of aromas, that almost fills the air.

Just you and a series of slots, demotic instructions, care worn utilitarian surfaces and time.

Wash Inn get out.

Pevensey – Oyster Bungalows

Posted on August 20, 2015December 1, 2015 by modernmoocher

Hardly by accident, passing Pevensey Bay by bike one sunny summer’s day, hurriedly intent on catching up with old friends.

Having visited here some years ago, under the guidance of pal Pauline, I was as ever, over eager to renew our previously brief acquaintance.

There they were waiting patiently, to the left of a long straight road, running parallel to the adjacent shore.

Oyster Bungalows – so called for their cylindrical form and formerly scalloped barge boards.

Holiday homes the work of designer / architect: Martin & Saunders Limited built: 1937 – 1939.

Small and perfectly formed, they all seem to have suffered the indignities of ageing none to gracefully.

Subject to the whims of fashion and the uPVC expediency of our age.

Typically no two are the same, variegated planting, neglect and graceless addenda grace the previously pristine homes.

For all that, their diminutive charm remains undiminished.

My spirits lifted as I strolled by, inevitably yours will too.

Okehampton – Car Wash and Go

Posted on August 11, 2015July 8, 2018 by modernmoocher

Early morning on the A30 out of Okehampton and something is beginning to stir.

Two inscrutable Romanians and a curious garrulous traveller are going about their respective business.

They – filling buckets and arranging a complex array of cleaning fluids.

Me – just mooching with a compact camera.

Initially expressing an understandable resistance to my snappy ways, their consent was granted, following a series of complex hand gestures, smiles, and an open and honest request.

Moments later my job was done and theirs had just begun.

Wash and go!

Stoke on Trent – The Glebe

Posted on June 30, 2015July 1, 2015 by modernmoocher

Hard by Stoke Minster stands the only pub in the area I care to visit, tucked in a cosy corner by the Civic Centre, five minutes from the station, barely time to work up a thirst.

Carefully and skilfully refurbished, exquisite original semi circles of stained and painted glass depicting the months of the year – though there is no February, the lower panes a recent addition.

A tiled floor and broad stripped floorboards beneath your feet.

Sympathetically furnished, plainly, simply appropriate to a pub with pride.

In being a pub.

We and the afternoon sun, spill lazily in, in time for a pint.

It’s delicious so we have another

And another.

http://www.joulesbrewery.co.uk/pubs/pub_details.php?id=9

Manchester – Pomona the Last Lost Posts

Posted on June 25, 2015March 14, 2019 by modernmoocher

Things come and go.

A former dock has surely seen its fair share of life’s ins and outs.

Things have gone.

Now.

Over your cities grass will grow.

Greening the ground.

The last lost posts still stand.

Kent – Ghost Signs

Posted on June 21, 2015May 7, 2016 by modernmoocher

Revealed as fascia is removed and replaced.

Weather washed brick, faded.

Scratched painted glass surface.

Cut, cast and moulded in native stone.

Ghostly.

Signs.

Margate – Batchelor’s Patisserie

Posted on June 19, 2015September 18, 2017 by modernmoocher

Idly meandering through Cliftonville, along Northdown Road, I chanced upon the most delightful of cake shop windows. Being something of an aficionado of cakes, shops and windows it seemed like an ideal opportunity to snap away, with customary broad-smiling, wide-eyed enthusiasm. Furthermore why not go in? I was met with the most charming of receptions from the patron Stuart Turner and staff – not unreasonably inquisitive regarding my impromptu picture taking, I explained my particular interest in the patisserie. The interior of the 50’s bakery, shop and café is perfectly preserved, with a little sympathetic restorative work. Well upholstered and formica topped the furniture is the finest of its kind, each table graced with fresh flowers, condiments and loving care and attention. An exquisite array of breads, pastries and cakes, resting on delicate doilies, displayed in glass fronted cases. I encourage you to visit, take tea, take cake, take away the fondest of sweet memories.

Margate – Turner Contemporary

Posted on June 15, 2015September 18, 2017 by modernmoocher

Mr Turner came here way back when,

The same sea lapped a different shore,

A gallery stands where he passed,

If passing pop in,

Or wander the perimeter in search of a sense,

Of well being, or otherwise,

Seeking a link with some not too distant past,

When a different sea lapped the same shore.

https://www.turnercontemporary.org

Margate – Arlington House

Posted on June 15, 2015May 12, 2020 by modernmoocher

Arlington House is a 58 metre high eighteen-storey residential apartment block in Margate, Kent, England.

It was built in 1964, it has 142 apartments, and was designed by Russell Diplock & Associates, developed by Bernard Sunley Trust, and built by the contractors Bernard Sunley & Sons.

The sides of the building have a wave-like design, providing both inland and sea views.

It was initially advertised as Britain’s first park and buy shopping centre with luxury flats , incorporating a theatre, restaurant and rooftop swimming pool.

Arlington Margate

I’ll try anything twice.

So off I went to Margate, on a train, again.

Rushing out of the station agog, eager, looking for a long lost friend.

An impudent exclamation mark at the end of a rowdy Georgian row.

Arlington House.

A mad amalgam of angles, incautious concrete surfaces and glass.

Entranced, enchanted, we both stare out to sea and eye each other admiringly.

Hove – Seafront Flats

Posted on May 13, 2015 by modernmoocher

The seashore seems ideally suited to tall well appointed private housing, this is the architecture and landscape of wealth and privilege.

Built and maintained in the finest sixties and seventies Modernist style and fashion, affording panoramic visits across the Hove Lawns to the sea, and the soft rolling hinterland of the Downs.

If you’ve got the dollar, you’ve got a room with a view, or two.

Hastings – Sea Front Shelters

Posted on May 12, 2015September 13, 2017 by modernmoocher

The very first time I visited Hastings, I was immediately enchanted by the seafront and its enchanting shelters.

Perfectly formed cast concrete poetry, facing the swelling channel.

Offering shade and respite from coastal sun, wind and rain.

Temporary home to some.

Decorated in the finest style.

A short endless walk, sea to the right, back again, to your left.

Eastbourne – The View Hotel

Posted on May 1, 2015April 1, 2018 by modernmoocher

Standing immutable on the south coast seafront is the View Hotel, forever almost changing.

A seventies delight of exuberant geometry, tiled detail, protruding balconies and audacious window frames.

Its confidence is overwhelming.

Recently refurbished this trade union run hotel and conference centre has preserved much of its period interior detail, a swirling spiral stairway, unique circular light fittings, dark hardwood fittings and furnishings.

Suitable setting for high espionage or low talking.

Swept along by the verve, vivacity and capacious volume, I suggest you take a peak.

http://www.theviewhoteleastbourne.com

Ashton under Lyne – Laundrette

Posted on April 28, 2015June 27, 2018 by modernmoocher

Cycling along Curzon Road one sunny Sunday afternoon, I found to my surprise, facing me across the Whiteacre Road junction.

– An empty yet extant launderette.

One lone drier tumbling, lonely – an absence of presence, save myself.

The usual spartan interior almost unkempt, enlivened by four legged, almost alien, ovalish plastic laundry baskets. A sunlit shimmer of brushed steel surfaces, low lit and deeply shadowed linoleum tiles.

Under the illuminating hum of bare fluorescent tubes.

I snapped and exited, unwashed.

Great!

Brighton – Embassy Court

Posted on April 23, 2015July 27, 2020 by modernmoocher

Embassy Court has always had a very special place in my heart.

Forty years ago as a young art student attending nearby Portsmouth Polytechnic, we were taken by Maurice Denis in a minibus to visit the modernist buildings in our locale, this was my first love.

Two days ago I returned to Brighton, sprinting spryly along the prom to meet an old friend.

We were ever so pleased to see each other after all these years, I walked around admiringly and smiled.

Embassy Court is an 11 storey block of flats situated on the Brighton seafront on the corner of Western Street and the Kings Road. It was designed by the architect Wells Coates and completed in 1935.

It is amongst of the most outstanding examples of pre-war Modernism in the UK, it has a grade II* listed status and remains a major Brighton landmark. This beautiful, elegantly proportioned block contains 72 flats, with awe-inspiring sea views, is considered one of the coolest places to live in Britain.

Restored in 2005 after a long period of decline, Embassy Court is now owned by a limited company, Bluestorm Ltd., born from a Leaseholders Association which obtained the freehold of the building in 1998.

Congleton – Trinity Methodist Church

Posted on April 10, 2015October 9, 2020 by modernmoocher

How incongruous, to find a little of the space age in a suburban provincial Cheshire street, keeping company with solid, stolid brick built homes and sensible Victorian stone structures.

Trinity is dominated by its diamond shaped stained glass, framed in unfinished concrete, emboldened like a wide ecstatic grin, extending beyond the bounds of the street, beaming towards heaven.

To the side are concrete columns pierced by irregular rectangular windows.

Completed in 1968, architect was Gorden Ball from VWB Architects.

This tiny gem deserves your attention – take yourself off to Mill Street pronto.

Blackburn – Launderette

Posted on April 7, 2015April 9, 2015 by modernmoocher

Wandering amiably down Whalley Old Road towards Blackburn one warm sunny day today, I came upon yet another launderette.

Somehow, somewhat frozen in time.

Front window cracked, but just about holding together, signage almost intact, machines formerly fully functioning – flagging, fluorescent tubes softly flickering, unguarded against the wood chip.

Patterned formica surfaces care worn and faded from use and abuse.

Washing done at home takes longer to dry (and costs you more).

You have been warned.

Bridlington – Bondville Model Village

Posted on April 1, 2015October 21, 2016 by modernmoocher

If you walk far enough away, you’ll find yourself right there.

The sea to your right, Bridlington to your left. You could even catch the Land Train if you are so inclined, I declined and walked wet streets, in ever eager anticipation of my first visit to:

Bondville

A family run enterprise, tucked just away from the Yorkshire coast nestled in the village of Sewerby. Jan Whitehead and her team of willing helpers kindly allowed me to get a sneak preview of the village, as they prepared for the imminent Easter opening.

This one twelfth scale wonder is filled with everything you might wish to find in an idyllic village – but smaller and made lovingly by hand. Wandering its narrow streets, each tiny turn is a new and exciting surprise, an irresistible vista of diminutive figures, set in a cornucopia of architectural delights.

The trains always run on time, and the trawlers bob merrily in the harbour.

The wedding party remain forever almost snapped by the arched photographer, blink and they don’t move.

So step inside a world of wonder – I’ll be back when the sun shines, I promise.

http://www.aboutbridlington.co.uk/bondville/