RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Last night on BBC2 there was an hour long trailer/update programme for the brilliant 'Restoration' programme shown last summer. Apparently it is running again this summer with another twenty odd decaying buildings competing for cash.

Considering that most of us decry the demolition of much loved parts of the borough, It occured that it might be interesting to see if there are any buildings in Accy that would benefit from a campaign that we could sponsor.

It's all very well saying that ''They should never have knocked it down. They should have found another use for it''. But 'They', as was seen in the programmes last summer is, in most cases, us. The Council, have neither the will nor the imagination to do anything meaningful about the loss of our heritage, unless they are stung and shamed into action by public opinion.

It will be interesting to hear what other board members think.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

old cinama ......

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Which one????

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

empire near new cinama (the new 1 is in debt)! (my m8 works there)

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Nice idea, but I think that you will find that the interoir was entirely ripped out when it was converted to flats, and from what I remember of it from when it was still a cinema there wasn't really anything of note or of value in it. The exterior, what little of it there is, is certainly a fine example of late Victorian/Edwardian architecture. The music hall which was adjacent to it was certainly of more interest. Churchill addressed the people of Accrington there. Sadly, it was destroyed by fire in the late seventies.

Restoration
 

Hi Bob, watched the programme. Loved it! Have sent off for the pack. At least someone has had the sense to save the old Karrimor building on Eastgate/Water Street/Avenue Parade, which is a surprise!
We have lots of lovely old buildings in town which although they may not look to be decaying, probably are. Just think of all the empty, unused rooms along Blackburn Road, especially on the side where the Yorkshire bank is on the corner. I am sure they could be altered and made into flats.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

The problem is that of the buildings that we have in Accy/Ossy/Church etc do not appear to fall into the category that the BBC appears to require....these are 1) The building should have sufficient architectural/historical merit, 2) the building should be going some way into delapidation 3) that the building can be restored 4) that the funding to do so is otherwise proving difficult to obtain.

I can really only think of two buildings - adjoining - that currently fall within this criiteria, and those are the old canal warehouse at Church and the Commercial Hotel next door. The former is probably the best example of Georgian canal architecture on the longest canal in England, at roughly it's significant half way point, while one of the reasons (I understand) for the building of the hotel was for watering & accomodation for passengers travelling by barge packet boats in the period between the opening of the canal and the opening of the railway.

Of course, there have been other buildings which would otherwise have met the requirements (above)...but as we all know, they've been pulled down (make your own list up).

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

palladium :)

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Buildings like the Palladium are just too numerous..there's a similar building in Church (the one, like the Palladium, that became a Bingo hall and then a Snooker Hall).....the problem is they date from the 1920's/30's, they've been mucked around inside, they are mostly of little architectural merit and to restore them to their original function would be uneconomic.

The building should be as far as possible, unique in original function and design...thats the only way it will stand any chance of making the short list, never mind the buildings that appear on the TV show itself....and remember, last year there was an Accrington connection with Bullough's castle in Scotland.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

what was the connection, someone from accys brother in-laws futre wifes cousin visited it once? :)

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Could you possibly elucidate, AFC?

OK HERE'S THE CONNECTION

http://www.kcfa.org.uk/castle.html

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

ahhh bullough park....

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Howard & Bulloughs.....before your time!

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Hi Tealeaf,

I agree with much of what you have said. However I did not really consider entering anything in Accrington into any sort of national competition for the simple reason that as you have said there is very little of National architectural or cultural importance in Accrington that is need of rescue that hasn't already lost the negotiation with the demolition crew. I was thinking more along the lines of something that is of local importance that we could campaign for locally. From what you have said and from what I have seen the canal warehouse and the 'Church Commercial' are prime candidates. I remember you saying something in another thread about the council not wanting to do anything about them because the owner is not known. I thought that was what Compulsory Purchase Orders were for. What use could the two be put to though?

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

You're right Bob.....on another posting I mentioned that the owner of the Warehouse was some ex-pat colonel living out in Hong Kong or somewhere similar & no one has been able to contact him.....I think the hotel should be far easier to deal with.
If the location was just somewhere else, then the buildings would make a super residential development - unfortunatly, air pollution locally rules out that oppoutunity.
It may well be that with the large residential development on the old Lodge sight then the Council will come to their senses and do something about this shocking eyesore which blights the main road at Church.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Hi Tealeaf, I was under the impression that the Warehouse at Church belonged to the Waterboard? No? And to Accy stanley fan, the connectin with the marvellous Kinloch Castle featured on last times Restoration was .....Bullough (of Howard and Bullough fame) BUILT the castle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

I'm sure if the warehouse does belong to British Waterways they would have done something with it by now.......their track record over the last few years on restoring canal side historic buildings has been excellent. I'm certain that what I wrote above comes from reading about it in the Observer a couple of years ago when there was one of the sproradic hue & crys about the eyesore.......but as the footy fans will tell you, the Observer does'nt always get the facts right.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

ACCRINGTON SWEAT & BLOOD BUILT THAT CASTLE (sorry, thats the old radical in me speaking

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Right on, Comrade Tealeaf. I fully agree with you. Though Kinloch Castle is beautiful, representing as it does the final flowering of Edwardian excess. I cannot help but be reminded of some of the people who spent their working lives helping to pay for it. The whole place should have been left to the people of Accrington. Mind you, with the council's record on building conservation, if it had been left to us I am sure it would have been demolished a long time ago. Just an idle thought, is there a case to be made in law for moral ownership?

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

The interesting thing is that the estimate to build a similar structure today is close on £100m......of course, if it had been built as large as Bullough originally specified - 221ft across the front, to match his yacht - then it would be half as much again.
What I find objectionable is the fact that this 2nd Bullough wasrarely seen in Accy, preferring instead to ride to hounds in Leicester while the 3rd Bullough blew the money on nags down at Newmarket (Unlike me.....I spend 90% of my money on drink, fags and women and the rest I waste)...

Whatever the argument for saving this particular property - and there are several - one thing is for sure. The working-class taxpayers of Accy have already paid for it many, many times over.....let the heavily-subsidised Jocs pay for it instead. Afterall, ther're the ones who get the benefit of it.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

A great article that one on the Castle, and I can just imagine the idle rich wasting money whilst the rest of Accy slaved away for peanuts.

The Commercial and the warehouse next to it should have been improved many years ago. In fact I can remember the place actually being in use. The whole site could make an excellent attraction and mayde his knibs at Ossy Mills would be interested.

The main problem I foresee is the yobs and Gypos that inhabit the area (No I don't include those on Lion Stret!). But a sort of Ossy Mills extension linked to the waterways may provide a different sort of atmosphere.

However, you're right about most things, and getting anybody interested in doing anything about it is almost impossible. Still it's good to have some ideas.

PS: Just back for the day, on my travels again to-morrow!! :beer58: :beer58:

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Bearing in mind the canalside location of the buildings perhaps some kind of water based attraction there? I was thinking of canal cruises. Well I can daydream can't I?

Has anyone else ever thought that our River Hyndburn is also vastly underrated? It isn't even marked on some maps as existing at all!

Most of it is underground but there's an area which could be developed and made attractive near Oak Street (practically town centre) where, with a bit of imagination and a lot of refurbishment, we could have a riverside picnic area with grassy banks.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Hi,

This is good stuff... keep it up. I'v not been back home since 78 so its hard to give an opinion, but i'm all for it.. what about my old house??? - 89 Church St, Church. I was born there at 1.30 am a wet Thursday morning on the 6th August 1959.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Hi Doug

Well, if you're from Church - so am I! You probably remember the X Guns - not very nice, now; the Thorn (ditto) and the Queens (now a private residence)....the Commercial is now a delapidated building, the Welly is a resaurant, the Bridge is so-so.....everything happens at the Stag - see the piccy's under "Bank Holiday Sunday" thread.

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

Hi Tealeaf,

Thanks.. I had my first drink in the Cross Guns at the ripe old age of 4. My mum and dad Margret & Alan Douglas where regulars at most of them in the 60s. My dad was a bus driver in the mid to late 60s driving omo's on the Church Kirk and ferngore runs, my mum work at the Commercial.

Again Thanks for the picture.. Times change and not always for the better

Re: RESTORATION - in Accy?
 

To Willowthewisp - that a brilliant idea, the area down Black Abbey Street. On a summers day you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the country side. Anyone out there with any money who could transform it?

Black abbey street area.
 

Here is a photo taken last year of the lower part of Black Abbey street area.