PigBlog

A short reference to silly post-pub gameshow Banzai.

I’m now wondering after yesterday’s events (blogged in detail by Brownhills Bob) which historic building in Walsall will be next.

We’ve had the Jabez Cliff building, the church at Melish Rd, another old leatherworks near the art gallery, several pubs, and of course Shannon’s Mill. Prior to that, Great Barr Hall.

So then. What’s next for the unleaded and Swan Vestas treatment, so handy for ridding yourself of an expensive to refurb building?

Will it be The Bell in Willenhall?

The Walsall Workhouse Guardians Building?

Or a mystery item from our diminishing list of historic buildings? (In all honesty, I’m running out of ideas as targets are acquired) Still given the state of our town, something is bound to become vacant and unloved, then burnt and demolished soon.

As The Plastic Hippo pointed out, there’s a remarkable amount of fires involving buildings from either the Statuary List (PDF, 262k) or the local list (PDF 180k). At least the Avion escaped.

Work is progressing on the Avion. The section that appeared to be getting demolished actually seems to be mostly retained, there’s a new roof in progress (rather than what looked like asbestos sheets), and some impressive windows at the rear, presumably where the original screen was, so a similar treatment to The Imperial, where it works quite well. It surely can’t be long until the building will be watertight again.

Rear of the Avion cinema, 26-June-2012. New roof under construction, and new glass. Click for bigger version.

Looks like the visit to the Avion by some urbexers was well-timed: over the Easter break my bother-in-law emailed me:

Just thought I’d let you know that they’re demolishing it ……we went to Morrisons today & the back half has already gone.

I’m pleased to say that it’s not actually being demolished, or at least not all of it: the planning documents (PDF, 80kB) on Walsall MBC’s site don’t go into detail (and I can’t find anything more detailed), but they do say:

Part demolition and alterations and change of use to Class A4 (drinking establishment) with external seating area, extension of adjacent car park, new boundary fences and pedestrian access.

which pretty much confirms the Wetherspoons story.

They’re not mucking about though: I called in at Morrisons on Monday, and you get a good view at what’s going on, and they’re demolishing a good part of the large auditorium behind. At least there’s nothing architecturely significant about it- pretty basic 1930s construction, brick, steel girders, and a sheet roof.

Avion Cinema from Morrisons car park, 23/4/2012

From the side, it’s clear how much has been demolished:

From one side. 23/4/2012

What I’m not sure about is how much is going to be demolished, or how much is original: it’s a big old shed of a building, so clearly they won’t need all of it. Can’t help but think that the top of the frontage, on the other side, would make a nice roof terrace…

I first got the heads-up from a neighbour, but this was also featured in the Express and Star tonight, though not online. I’ll try to scan the page.

There’s plans afoot for the Four Crosses, one of my favourite pubs, and now the only pub in Shelfield, as the Spring Cottage is (still) undergoing conversion to a Co-op store.

It’s an odd one. Unlike most planning applications involving pubs these days, the pub is to stay, but it’s beer garden, car park, and surrounding land is to be taken over by a care home, which will spread into the first floor of the pub, with the pub business continuing below. A very odd arrangment.

Planned elevations for the site: Click for bigger, see link below for PDF original.

There’s full details on Walsall MBC’s fairly ropey planning site: I can’t easily link the application as a page, so here’s the most interesting documents. For the full application, go to here and search for 12/0221/FL.

Design and Access Statement (PDF, 4.4MB)

Elevations (1) (PDF, 3.6MB)

Elelvations (2) (PDF, 3.8MB)

Ground Floor Plan (inc Garden/Car Park) (PDF, 800KB)

There’s a few things I don’t like here: I’m not keen on the new building for a start, and it clashes somewhat with the nice old pub, and I also rather like a pint in the beer garden, but more of a concern is that the care home will apparently create 40 jobs, but the new car park will have only 17 car spaces (less than currently!) despite having to support the pub and the care home. Admittedly, it’s not the kind of pub many drive to, but a 30-bed home with 40 potential staff (who admittedly won’t all work at the same time) and a pub having 17 parking spaces, when the surrounding roads are either unsuitable to park in or already crowded by residents? Seems like a bad idea, despite what the Transport Statement says (PDF, 1.3MB). I also wonder where all the pub customers will smoke…

The only thing in favour is that the pub will get a bit of a refurb, and the owners will make some money, which might be the difference between closing and not, but it just seems so odd, and just doesn’t quite fit: I’d be concerned that the pub would get swallowed up. Still, I suppose better it stays standing?

Like I say, an odd one. Anyone have any comments?

A discussion on Twatter today prompted me to poke about on 28dayslater, the Urban Exploration forum, and I was very pleased to see the Avion in Aldridge featured in two threads.

Thread One: February 2012

Thread Two: April 2010

There’s some great pictures there: one thing great about Urbex is that at least for the most part, the urbexers just explore and document, unlike the arsonists that visit most of Walsall’s old buildings.

I’m rather a sucker for Art Deco buildings- which seems odd considering I also love Victorian Gothic Revival (much of which was flattened during Deco’s prime).

Even if you don’t like the building there’s some nice history (and hideous bingo decotration) in there.

What’s starting to concern me is that the reported Wetherspoon takeover of the building hasn’t happenned yet, and while the building is locally listed, we all know what level of protection that offers.

This is going to be a very short post, but I want more permanence than a tweet: as spotted by @TheFabMrj, this E+S article is both good news, and a fantastic read once you skip to the comments.

I noticed in last night’s Express and Star (sorry, no online story and I don’t have a scanner to hand) that rumours abound that Wetherspoons are to take on the Avion cinema (Gala Bingo) in Aldridge. This was speculated upon by Brownhills Bob and myself, and IMO can only be a good thing: I don’t love Wetherspoons pubs, but Aldridge is sadly lacking in even tolerable pubs, and if it means that the local arsonists don’t get their hands on another heritage building, it has to be good news- the pub chain usually do a fairly good job on old buildings. I also reckon Aldridge’s large retired population will love it in the day, if this turns out to be true.

…when I’m right. Just under a year ago I predicted

a mysterious fire followed by demolition.

for the Jabez Cliff works, a rather nice, but unlisted building in a conservation zone in Walsall. I speculated that the decision to demolish was already made, and that the building would go, following this statement from Adrian Andrew, quoted in my post at the time:

If it is a new building it would have to be an iconic building. It is a fantastic opportunity for someone to come in and do something special in Walsall.

Mere speculation on my part, you understand- unless I have developed telepathy. The mysterious fire was hardly needed this time (though one might wonder if the cost of the civic arson consultants is less direct cost than normal demolition), as this building wasn’t even listed, not that that makes the slightest difference in this town. Fuck it, it’s only our heritage and history, and we can soon throw up another identikit building on the site. Regeneration in action.

[edit]
For me, this article from Tuesday’s Express and Star says it all:

From the Express and Star, Tuesday 16 August 2011 Click for a larger version

I don’t think this will change the proposal for the health centre as that needed demolition anyway.

In other words, local listing or not, conservation area or not, it was always going to be demolished. This just saves any awkward questions.

For further comment on this, please see both BrownhillsBob and The Plastic Hippo.

We’ve been on holiday, to Deal, in Kent. Deal is a very different place to Walsall- but more of that later in another post. For now, I’d like to explore one thing that makes it similar, and indeed similar to many towns in the UK.

The cottage we stayed in had a number of old photos around it, including one very similar to this:

The South Eastern Railway (later Queen's) Hotel at Deal. Image taken from http://www.dover-kent.com/South-Eastern-Hotel-Deal.html.

A rather fine Victorian pile. (picture from http://www.dover-kent.com/)
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We’d been meaning to visit AMRTM for some time now, and a recent announcement on twatter that they’re short on funds due to cuts (cuts that have also seen Birmingham City Council start to charge for it’s previously free museums) reminded us, plus we were still feeling a bit tired from working over Easter, so a trip out to Witton/Aston in the car for a change seemed like a good idea.

We struck lucky: as well as the museum (in a wonderful old tram shed, opposite the lovely building of the Aston Hotel, and down the road from The Holte), old buses were running between there and the city centre, via the Birmingham Museums Collection Centre in Nechells, so we got a look at the old buses (including Walsall’s last trolleybus), a ride on two of them, and a look around all the usually unexhibited stuff from the museums.

Both places are really worth a visit: admission at AMRTM is a mere £2 (though I’s encourage anyone to make a donation above that), and the Collection Centre is free- though you need to book.

There’s a few pics in the Gallery.