Farnborough Road

Farnborough is an urban wasteland. Laid waste by decades of bad planning decisions, a planning department in the pocket of developers.

Folk avoid Farnborough, even folk who live there avoid Farnborough.

Pass down the Farnborough Road and you would not even notice Farnborough exists. You pass straight through.

About the only thing Farnborough can claim in its favour is that it is not as bad as Aldershot. Though a moot point, Aldershot a once proud Victorian town destroyed by decades of bad planning. The same planners, the same council, that has destroyed Farnborough.

Farnborough had Victorian origins, the same Victorian origins as Aldershot, the British Army. Until it was decided to relocate Farnborough and create an artificial town centre. A street of 1960s era ugly buildings, not dissimilar to a parade of shops on an inner city slum estate. To which was then added two of the ugliest shopping centres in the country.

In the late 1990s, St Modwen front-company Kuwaiti-financed KPI, bought a large chunk lock, stock and barrel. Half of the town centre demolished for a large supermarket in an area saturated with large supermarkets, a small estate of social housing demolished to make way for a car park, many small retailers destroyed. Erected buildings even uglier than the 1960s buildings demolished.

Pass down the Farnborough Road and you will see a boarded-up pub, The Tumbledown Dick, a c 1720s coaching inn. A coaching inn that used to stand on a desolate heath by a track that passed over the heath.

Boarded-up and left to rot, The Tumbledown Dick is earmarked for demolition for an unwanted Drive-Thru McDonald’s.

The Tumbledown Dick should be on a local list of buildings of local historical buildings, it meets the criteria for inclusion, and yet it is missing. The suspicion is that deliberate exclusion is to facilitate demolition. If suspicions prove to be well founded, then misconduct in public office, if not corruption. Both being serious criminal offences that attract a prison sentence.

The local council is required by national planning policy to have a pub protection policy. It lacks one.

A sustainable local economy should be part of local planning policy. It is not. It is part of the local planning policy in Cambridge.

Local planning policy should protect local small retailers. There is no provision.

National planning policy requires protection of small retailers, they are seen, as in Islington, the base line. The planning department lies and says protection of small retailers not a planning matter.

The council views the retention of small and independent shops as a baseline and places great weight on the need to retain any shops which currently or potentially could be utilised by small and independent retailers.

National heath policy requires the local planning authority to regulate fast food outlets. There has been a total failure to do so, leaving the locality performing badly on health indices.

Islington recognises the need to address obesity and it is written into their planning policies.

The Government White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England (2010) identifies that more than 1 in 5 children in England are overweight or obese by age 3, with higher rates among some Black and Minority Ethnic communities and in more deprived areas. The paper highlights the role of councils in taking action to improve public health, including regulating the development of new fast food restaurants in their role as local planning authority.

The Farnborough Society claims to speak on behalf of the local community. They do not. They claim to be custodians of the local heritage. They are not. They have a cosy, if not incestuous relationship with the local council. They have regular monthly meetings with senior planning officials to discuss planning applications, that borders on pre-determination. According to the Farnborough Society, The Tumbledown Dick can be demolished, a sign stuck up with the name, and local heritage has been safeguarded.

The local council has commissioned a shoddy report on The Tumbledown Dick, that surprise, surprise, says The Tumbledown Dick has no historical value. It reads as a report written for McDonald’s to facilitate demolition. The consultancy boasts of delivering planning solutions for industry, welcomes the relaxation of planning controls, sees heritage as an obstacle to development.

The local council has sought legal advice on pushing through the application on behalf of McDonald’s. As it has been given by the Borough Solicitor, it is probably worthless.

Local people have decided they have had enough. They have had enough of seeing their town trashed, a local council in the pocket of developers, They have produced a detailed, well researched report on The Tumbledown Dick. They have filed Freedom of Information requests. They have made it very clear, The Tumbledown Dick is not going to be destroyed. As a first step, The Tumbledown Dick has been registered as an Asset of Community Value.

In Islington, a strong local campaign to save a pub will be noted and be taken into account when determining a planning application.

Down the road, Aldershot, a once proud Victorian town, has been all but destroyed by decades of bad planning decisions. Plans are afoot to trash The Arcade, destroying many small businesses that have already been kicked out of The Arcade. Shops in Wellington Street are thereatened with demolition, more small businesses destroyed. The ugly Westgate development, (large superstore, tacky fast food chains) on the edge of the town centre designed to deliver the final death blow to the town.

Islington has a planning policy that sees small retailers as the baseline.

Aldershot and Farnborough would form excellent case studies for any planning schools of bad planning, how not to destroy town centres.

Sincil Street

Sincil Street

Running north-south and bounded to the north by the River Witham (bridged by a footbridge), this area was originally wetlands reclaimed sometime late Anglo-Saxon or early Medieval. The river flowed just south of the wall of the Roman City Lindum Colonia. The present course of the river dates from the 12th century.

Sincil Street is the only remaining heritage outside the Central Market in Lincoln (ironically older than the Central Market), parts dating from 1840, home to many independent retailers, the street more popular than the High Street demolishing the myth shoppers prefer the sameness of High Street retailers (Sincil Street is busier than the High Street).

Little alleys run between the shops, some run to the back of the shops, others run through to what used to be workshops, but now an ugly bus station.

At either end there are two indie coffee shops, Café 44 at one end, Revival at the other.

All that remains of heritage of this period in this part of the town centre.

And yet the City Council wishes to see Sincil Street destroyed. Revival to be demolished to make way for a soulless shopping centre.

No one wishes to see Sincil Street destroyed, it gives the area character, the local businesses recycle money within the local economy.

Why is the City Council hell bent on destruction?

Last orders? How councils can protect local pubs from closure

The Lord Tennyson destroyed for student accomodation

The London Unity under threat of redevelopment thanks to greedy PubCo

The Tumbledown Dick under threat of demolition for Drive-Thru McDonald’s

Iris Murdoch once wrote of pubs as ‘universal places, like churches, hallowed meeting places of mankind’. This leads you to two inevitable conclusions: 1) she had a lovely turn of phrase and fully deserved that DBE, and 2) she had clearly never been to the Wetherspoons in Leeds city centre on a Friday night.

Like churches, however, pubs are facing a period of great challenge: the British pub is battling with diversifying consumer trends. The latest figures show that pub closures have slowed in 2012, but are still occurring at a rate of 18 a week, leading the Chief Executive of CAMRA to remark earlier this year that the future of Britain’s valued community pubs is ‘in jeopardy’.

Despite this, the emotion people have for community institutions like pubs sets them apart as a distinct political issue for local authorities. And recent planning policy suggests this is a concern shared by central government. The 2012 National Planning Policy Framework includes new responsibilities for local authorities to promote local pubs. According to the framework, planning policies and decisions should:

• plan positively for the provision and use of shared space, community facilities (such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship) and other local services to enhance the sustainability of communities and residential environments; and
• guard against the unnecessary loss of valued facilities and services, particularly where this would reduce the community’s ability to meet its day-to-day needs. (NPPF, March 2012)

The public house has never been specifically identified in a document like this before, so its inclusion is significant. The Localism Act too raises similar issues. The new Community Right to Buy makes it possible for communities to list local pubs as assets of community value, and to bid for them should they come up for sale.

There is certainly a strong argument to be made for the social and economic value of the community pub. IPPR’s recent report Pubs and Places: the social value of community pubs, placed the wider social value of a sample of community pubs at between £20,000 and £120,000 per pub. It noted that pubs inject an average of £80,000 into their local economy each year, besides their cultural and practical community value.

With this in mind, some local authorities have already gone out of their way to safeguard the future of their local pubs. Cambridge City Council and the London Borough of Islington, for example, have both established their own ‘pub protection policies’ to make it more difficult for planning loopholes to be exploited to turn pubs into housing, or betting agencies.

Of course this won’t be a priority for all councils. Pubs have the potential to exclude as well as include, and councils will need to weigh their decisions against the views of their community. Nevertheless, if councils want to protect the pub, they now have the powers to do so. We hope those authorities that plan to use them will get in touch to share their work with us.

For more information go to:

• CAMRA’s community pubs campaign

Posted by Lauren Lucas on Local Government Information Newtwork.

Pub closures, although they have slowed, are still running at the rate of 18 a week.

They are being sold by zombie pub owning companies that are unable to pay their loans for redevelopment as Tesco supermarkets, housing, drive-thru McDoanald’s.

The Lord Tennyson, a fine example of a Victorian pub was sold last year against strong local opposition for redevelopment as student housing.

The London Unity is under threat of redevelopment for housing.

• Fight to save Brighton pub from flats development bid

The Tumbledown Dick, an old coaching inn c 1720, is under threat of demolition for a Drive-Thru McDonald’s.

• Buildings of Local Historical Importance in Aldershot and Farnborough

The greedy Pub Companies will falsely claim the pub not viable. What is not viable for them, is not the same as the pub not being viable. CAMRA has shown that pubs sold freehold without economic burden of extortionate rent to a PubCo can flourish thereafter.

Totnes seen as a model community

Totnes got national if not international recognition as the town that said no to Costa.

Not the local planning authority, they stuck two fingers up to the people and local businesses of Totnes. It was the people of Totnes, the local businesses, the town council, the mayor, the local member of Parliament who said no to Costa. The local district council, they didn’t give a toss for the people of Totnes.

Heritage is important. It gives character, sense of well being, quality of life, civic pride to a locality.

Heritage houses local businesses, it gives them somewhere to operate out of. They in turn give an area its character, its idiosyncrasies.

We see this in Totnes, we see it in North Laine in Brighton, we see it in Steep Hill in Lincoln.

People do not visit these places to drink coffee in Costa. It was a sick joke when Costa tried to claim they would enhance the vitality and vibrancy of the town, that they would attract tourists into the town. People visit to drink coffee in indie coffee shops.

You do not go to Protaras in Cyprus to eat at McDonald’s or drink coffee in Costa, you go to Nicolas Tavern for kleftiko a traditional Greek-Cypriot meal cooked slowly, slowly in a wood fire clay oven or sip freddo cappuccino sat outside patisserie amelie.

Independent record shops do still exist. It is not Amazon that treats music as a commodity, it is a platform that sells stuff and dodges tax, it is the major record labels that treats music as a commodity.

Ben’s Records in Tunsgate in Guildford, not only has a passion for music, but knows what the regulars like. It will be playing no sooner have you walked in the door.

Resident in North Laine in Brighton, has an amazing diversity of music.

Independent record shops and a thriving music scene seem to go hand in hand.

If you wish to use the net, there is bandcamp, which offers a far better deal to both artist and music lovers than Amazon, iTunes or Spotify.

The shop earmarked for Costa was a wholefood shop. It stood empty, it was claimed there was no interest, Costa were doing everyone a favour, occupying an empty shop. That lie has been exposed, no soonest has Costa pulled out, than it has found a use as an art collective and exhibition space and a leather workshop.

Independent businesses trade with each other, support each other, they recycle money within the local economy, they pay their taxes. Totnes even has its own local currency.

If Totnes is one end of the spectrum, then Aldershot is the other, a Victorian town raped by greed and planners in the pocket of developers and big business. If Totnes serves as a model for others to follow, then Aldershot serves as a model of what not to do.

Aldershot is a Victorian town, or was. It is unusual in that it sprang up almost overnight from an isolated village in the midst of heathland. Over a period of ten years when the Army arrived it became a Wild West boom town, brothels, pubs, victuallers, whatever was needed to service the needs of soldiers away from home.

Most towns would be proud of this heritage, not Aldershot. Systematically it has been destroyed. Many of the fine Victorian buildings were destroyed, or defaced by inappropriate developments, the heart of the town was gutted for a ghastly shopping centre, which houses the same clone shops as found in every other Clone Town.

Aldershot used to have a Victorian Arcade. It was levelled to the ground, to be replaced by a plastic replica. Last year it was acquired by a developer for redevelopment, the first act was to kick out all the small retailers who were in the way. The head of planning fell over backwards to try and push it through, blatantly lied to committee saying it was putting to good use empty shops (no mention why they were empty). For once councillors said no, and refused planning consent. It now goes to appeal.

Opposite The Arcade is a small row of shops. Possibly what is left of a much larger row of shops, another small row further down the street. These shops are 250 years old, pre-dating Victorian Aldershot by a century. The greedy developer who owns the ghastly shopping centre wants them demolished.

It could not be stronger, the contrast in this tale of two towns. Totnes is thriving, a strong sense of community, Aldershot is a centre of deprivation in an otherwise affluent southeast, a strong sense of alienation.

Managing Heritage at Risk

Why Heritage Matters

These old buildings do not belong to us only … The belonged to our forefathers and they will belong to our descendent unless we play them false. We are only trustees to those who come after us. – William Morris, Annual Meeting of the SPAB 1889

Our heritage is part of our well-being, our quality of life. Many small businesses operate out of old buildings. Heritage is what gives our town centres character.

Our old building are at risk, they are at risk from greed, ignorance, criminal behaviour, and above all the Philistine behaviour towards our heritage displayed by the ConDem government.

Archaeological sites are being vandalised for rare finds which can be sold on the black market. When a church loses its roof the damage goes far beyond the loss of the lead, ingress of water produces further damage. The penalties in Court should reflect this.

Too many local authorities are backwards in protecting their heritage, they fail to see it for what it is worth.

Heritage sites can often be found alternative uses, but it requires vision.

Look at Aldershot. A Victorian town destroyed by greed and decades of bad planning decisions.

A former RAF/USAF site was scheduled for redevelopment. This has now been stopped. The hardened bunkers, with 80 ton steel doors would have been very difficult to demolish. They were designed to withstand a bomb attack. The hardened bunkers housed nuclear-armed aircraft. A use has been found for the hardened bunkers as data storage sites. The entire site could become a World Heritage Site to demonstrate the futility of the Cold war.

The Tumbledown Dick in Farnborough is at risk. A building that pre-dates Farnborough, once a popular music venue, now earmarked for demolition for an unwanted McDonald’s. It needs to be placed on the Buildings at Risk Register, but first it must be turned into a Listed Building.

Buildings at Risk Register is as the name suggests, a register of buildings that are at risk, but only applies to Listed Buildings.

Heritage at Risk Register takes this one step further, to include heritage sites. This can be battlefields, gardens, landscapes, shipwrecks.

Many of our churches are at risk, and yet oddly the Church of England is refusing to cooperate with English Heritage on the Buildings at Risk Register.

We have a government that sees heritage, the countryside as an impediment to economic growth, that the right to Judicial Review and to mount legal challenges to be restricted.

English Heritage can play its part, but the hand of English Heritage is greatly strengthened if individuals, communities, are prepared to stand up and fight for their heritage.

Once our heritage is gone it is gone forever.

Based on an excellent illustrated talk by Dr Nigel Barker of English Heritage at the Guildford Institute in Guildford.

Save the Tumbledown Dick

Save the Tumbledown Dick

Save the Tumbledown Dick

This building has the richest history of any other in the town, we CANNOT and WILL NOT stand by quietly and watch it be destroyed for fast cash. – Save the Tumbledown Dick campaign

The Tumbledown Dick is a sleazy run-down pub on the main road running through Farnborough. Or was. It used to have a reputation for drug dealing, though I never saw any evidence for this.

The Tumbledown Dick may have been sleazy, but it did at least have character, which is more than can be said for the soulless town centre that lies behind it, a town centre that must rank as one of the ugliest in the country.

The Tumbledown Dick closed down in 2008 in very suspicious circumstances. The pub was raided by local environment health, at the request of a member of the public, the pub then closed, the staff sacked. It has remained closed and boarded-up ever since.

• The Tumbledown Dick – 15 Months On

At the time it was at serious risk of demolition. It stood surrounded by vacant land, half the town centre and a small housing estate was about to be demolished for an unwanted Sainsbury’s superstore. Had the Tumbledown Dick been demolished, it would have created a very large site for redevelopment as part of the town centre redevelopment.

What ever nefarious scheme was planned must have fallen through as The Tumbledown Dick still stands, vacant and boarded up.

At the time, it was requested of the council that an Emergency Listing was applied for the building as it was under threat. No application was ever made. It is also highly suspicious The Tumbledown Dick has never been a listed building. It is listed as a Hampshire Treasure, any entirely worthless and meaningless listing.

The Tumbledown Dick pre-dates Farnborough. Old maps show it as an isolated building in the middle of desolate heathland, on a track running through the heath. The track running past Farnborough North Station, across the line and across the River Blackwater, towards Frimley Green, is the original track across the heathland.

The first documentary evidence of the Tumbledown Dick appears in a letter dated 30 July 1722, from Thomas Matthew of Cove. The earliest known tenant was William Prior in 1817, and it was also owned by the Lord of the Manor of Farnborough in the 1820s.

In more recent years, as well as being a popular public house, The Tumbledown Dick has been a popular music venue. Bands such as The Jam have played there.

The name Tumbledown Dick has two possible origins.

Richard Cromwell was the third son of Oliver Cromwell. He was the second ruling Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, serving for just under nine months, from 3 September 1658 until 25 May 1659. Royalists rejoiced at his downfall and he was given the name ‘Tumble Down Dick’ or ‘Queen Dick’.

The heathland was the province of Highway Men, one of whom was reputed to be Dick Turpin.

The threat to the Tumbledown Dick is now acute, it has been bought by McDonald’s who wish to develop the site as a McDonald’s.

• McDonald’s plan revealed for historic pub
• McDonald’s confirms plans for Tumbledown Dick pub
• Drumming up support for Tumbledown Dick pub

The last thing the area needs is yet another McDonald’s.

It is claimed the Tumbledown Dick is not viable as a pub. This statement is not true as it was viable before it was closed.

The Spirit Pub Company, the current leaseholder, claim the Tumbledown Dick to not be viable as a public house. What may not be viable for the Spirit Pub Company to invest in is not the same as the Tumbledown Dick being viable following the required investment.

Spirit Pub Company was recently spun off from Punch Taverns. Punch Taverns is a zombie company.

A zombie company is one that is in a hole, drowning in debt, with no hope of paying off the loan, which is barely able to pay the interest on the loan, not able to invest in the company.

There are an estimated 150,000 zombie companies in the UK of which one is Punch Taverns. They went on a massive buying spree, financed by borrowing billions of pounds on an overvalued estate which has since collapsed in value. Punch Taverns is only able to stay afloat by jacking up rents to pub landlords (not good news for the pub landlords) and selling off pubs for development (not good news for pubs like the Tumbledown Dick). Interest rates are currently at a record low. Were interest rates to go up, zombie companies like Punch Taverns would go bust.

Were the Tumbledown Dick a listed building, which it should be, it would have no redevelopment value, which raises big question marks against the developers best friend the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor for not applying for a listing as soon as it become apparent the Tumbledown Dick was under threat. It also raises the question why an historic building like the Tumbledown Dick is not a listed building.

Where do we go from here?

As a matter of absolute emergency an Emergency Listing must be obtained for the Tumbledown Dick. If listed, the owners can then be forced to maintain the building.

The Tumbledown Dick will need extensive renovation, then turned into a cultural venue, music, art, decent place to eat.

Farnborough is a cultural wasteland, there is nowhere decent to eat.

The Tumbledown Dick could be a coffee bar during the daytime, serving quality coffee, lunches, afternoon teas, meals in the evening.

The walls used for art exhibitions.

The small bar used a as free space for meetings.

It could even be alcohol free. Yes, I can hear the groans, but such places are springing up across the country, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, are but three examples.

If it is to serve alcohol, then emphasis on quality, not rubbish out of what is little more than a chemical factory. Support for local breweries.

The food served locally sourced, freshly prepared.

The separate music venue probably needs demolishing and rebuilding. It could go completely and use the large bar.

Possibility of a recording studio.

It should be open to all ages, from kids in buggies, to young teens feeling a safe space to meet their friends

Anyone who thinks this is pie in the sky, look around locally.

The Keystone, Guildford: Excellent, freshly prepared food., Café Scientifique, art on the walls, Keystone Spirit.

• Lunch at The Keystone

The Foresters, Church Crookham: Excellent food, albeit a little pricey.

• Carvery at The Foresters

The Barn, Farnham: Music, food, popular with all ages, art exhibitions, record launches, drawing classes, yoga …

• Chris Skillicorn-Aston @ The Barn
• Julie Kember @ The Barn

Café Mila, Godalming: Coffee bar, excellent coffee, lunches, afternoon teas, occasional dinners in the evening, yoga …

• Lunch at Café Mila

This by looking what is possible locally, and highly popular, is possible locally.

Funding could be raised using Kickstarter.

All what is lacking is the will.

But what must not happen, is demolition and turning into a disgusting fast food outlet.

If relaunch as a cultural venue does not happen and demolition is imminent, then the building should be occupied, seized as a cultural venue for the locality.

An excellent example would be Ramparts, a very popular cultural centre in London that was occupied and held for a number of years.

Anyone wondering about the legality of occupation, it is not illegal to occupy a vacated commercial building that is sitting empty and putting it to good use. That is what happened with Ramparts and is happening across the country.

A facebook group, Save the Tumbledown Dick has been formed. There is also a Save the Tumbledown Dick website, which appears to be dormant.

Please sign the petition, and pass to friends and colleagues.

Costa tried to muscle their unwanted way into Totnes. They were booted out. Now do the same with McDonald’s.

The Coach and Horses in Soho is under threat. One of many pubs sold off by zombie company Punch Taverns.

Westgate

Westgate ugly eyesore on edge of Victorian town centre

Westgate is indeed a comprehensive scheme that will be a fantastic asset for Aldershot and its residents. … all round it is great news and I’m delighted to see it opening. — Peter Moyle, council leader Rotten Borough of Rushmoor

It’s just a fantastic addition to the town and will be a huge boost to residents. … Westgate will serve as an excellent conduit to the town centre itself. — Andrew Lloyd, chief executive Rotten Borough of Rushmoor

Westgate is an appalling eyesore of a development literally on the edge of Aldershot town centre, totally out of character with a Victorian town.

At least that is how it looks from the outside, looking from the town centre. Within not a lot better.

Outside two blocks of stone causing an obstruction. Edge on, barely visibly, the stone similar colour and blending in with the paving stones. A hazard for anyone with poor eyesight.

Entry to Westgate is up a flight of steps (there is also a slope for wheelchairs and cyclists). This leads into a stark, windswept plaza. Freezing cold in the winter, very hot in the summer. The design is very reminiscent of old Soviet Bloc architecture.

Lampposts have at their base a raised block about a brick in height. An ideal trip hazard for anyone not looking where they are going or of poor eyesight.

None are yet open, when complete, the plaza will be lined either side with tacky fast food chain restaurants.

Through the plaza, to the left a broad flight of steps leading down into the plaza and a travelator that leads down to an underground car park.

The car park is free, time limited to three hours. If only three hours in Aldershot, then the place to park to avoid expensive car parks.

Wandering around the plaza, more people than would see in the centre of Aldershot.

Then Morrisons.

I am no great fan of Morrisons, I would usually place near the bottom with Asda and Tesco.

Walking in, I was struck by the size, the sheer number of people, and that it was open and airy.

There was more people in Morrisons than you would see in Aldershot town centre in a month, maybe in a year.

Wandering around I was struck that this was not a typical Morrisons. It seemed to be aimed to compete with Waitrose, but with Tesco or Asda prices. Lots of fresh produce, fruit and vegetables, fresh fish, raw meat, cooked meat, a bakery. The meat section was making sausages on the premises, the bakery preparing tarts using fresh fruits. Though on closer inspection the cheeses were not of the quality of Waitrose and you do not slice cooked meats then leave to dry out.

Morrisons has its only little café. A dumb system, queue at one till to order, then queue at another till to pay. This is the norm for Morrisons. Cakes are on open display for everyone to cough and sneeze over. Scampi, peas and chips, not very good, but then on the other hand par for the course for Aldershot where nowhere decent to eat.

I had a chat with a lady who was there as an advisor to Morrisons. She said, yes, this was a different Morrisons, they had opened a couple like it in Scotland. She called it a Store of the Future.

Leaving Morrisons, I wandered into the town. No signposts pointing into the town centre, only a few pendants flapping in the wind on lampposts.

Upper Union Street leads into Union Street. The pavement flows across the road. I realised I was walking into the road. Very dangerous.

The Morrisons is going to kill the centre of Aldershot dead. It is probably going to have a big impact on local supermarkets too, as far better. It will also impact on the fruit and vegetable stalls on the Thursday market, one of the few reasons to visit Aldershot. The fishmonger on the market is unlikely to survive.

Maybe there will be some trickle down into the town, though I saw no evidence of this. What was the centre of town now becomes the bottom end of town. Maybe the top end of Union Street, which is usually dead, will see a few more people.

I passed a Nepalese café with a girl outside handing out leaflets. I cannot see anyone going in it. It looked dirty, the door was wide open, meaning it would have been freezing cold inside.

For anyone coming in on the No 1 bus from Camberley, Frimley or Farnborough, access is easy. Get off at Princess Hall and walk up the steps. It needs a bus stop outside Princess Hall for the return journey.

A couple alighted off the bus with me, and asked where to go. I showed them. They also asked where was the town centre.

From Westgate it is not obvious where the town centre is.

It is unbelievable the local council has not erected signposts directing people from Westgate into the town centre. How many months have they had?

From Upper Union Street crossing the road into Union Street, there needs to be a pedestrian crossing, a zebra crossing, not so much to help people across the road (though that is always useful), but to actually alert people that they are crossing the road.

The fast food chains when they open will drain money out of the local economy. Morrisons may bring people in from further afield. There may be some trickle down of people from the development into the town centre but so far the local council has done nothing to encourage this. The only money flowing into the local economy will be from the minimum wage staff, and unless they were previously unemployed, will only have relocated from other jobs. A supermarket of this size destroys a thousand jobs in the local economy.

Aldershot is a deprived area, the town centre a slum of fast food restaurants, gambling joints, charity shops and large bars. A place most people avoid. The last thing it needs is yet more money drained out of the local economy.

The impression given is that the local council, the Rotten Borough of Rushmoor as it is known locally, is deliberately trying to destroy Aldershot. Somewhat perversely they are promoting this developmental on the front page of their website. Even more perverse that they were co-promoters of the development.

What local council wishes to destroy its own town centre?

Other actions indicate a desire to destroy Aldershot

The Arcade, what was the centre, but must now be seen as the bottom end of the town centre, is a plastic replica of a Victorian arcade that once stood on the same site. All the small retailers kicked out to make way for a large bar (Wetherspoon) and a large retail store (Poundland). An unwanted redevelopment that was not good for the town, and yet the planners fell over backwards to push it through on behalf of the developers. For once the councillors on the planning committee showed a bit of backbone and threw the application out.

• Redevelopment of The Arcade REJECTED
• Developer shocked by refusal to allow them to trash The Arcade

If the tacky fast food chains kill off KFC and McDonald’s, then some good has come of Westgate.

What though of Aldershot?

The only way the town centre will survive is with specialist shops, something to bring people into the town, and yet these are the very businesses the local council has for years been doing its best to kill off.

The couple I walked though the plaza with, I asked them would they come from Camberley to any of the fast food chains. They said no, why would they come from Camberley for something that was in Camberley. They added all towns looked the same, with the same shops.

Aldershot has a town centre manager. But that is a non-job.

A town survives because of its hard working small retailers.

Aldershot needs a Master Plan, people with vision to draw it up, but that will not come from the council as they are without vision.

Aldershot bid for Mary Portas cash. They failed. But it would only have been frittered away. And the money available was less than a major retail chain would spend on a store refit.

Westgate also has a Travelodge and a Cinema. Begs the question why would anyone wish to stay in Aldershot. The cinema opened last week, just in time for the release of the new James Bond film Skyfall.

All Westgate does is relocate the centre of retail gravity away from the town centre and towards Westgate, whilst at the same time draining money out of the local economy.

Westgate is the local council delivering the final death blow to Aldershot as a viable town centre.

Autumn afternoon in Winchester

dusk inside Winchester Cathedral

A cold day, a cold north wind, occasional heavy showers. Did I really wish to spend an afternoon in Winchester?

Bus, train to Alton, then bus to Winchester.

Dysfunctional public transport. Time of arrival of train at Alton is same time as the bus departs. As the train pulls in and comes to a stop, the doors open, I leap off the train, run out of the station, leap on the bus and catch it as it is about to pull out. As the bus pulls away, I observe people leaving the station who have just alighted from the train.

The sun is shining as I reach Winchester, and it is warmer than when I set out. I am feeling rough from the bus journey and go for a walk.

Lunch at The Bridge Patisserie, which was something of a disappointment. I can see why they are getting bad reviews on TripAdvisor.

Calamity strikes. I do something wrong on my camera, over a thousand pictures deleted, gone in a blinking of an eye.

I walk along the river. Now cold, no sun.

I look in the bookshop in the back streets behind Winchester Cathedral. A real bookshop. I ask when is Manuscript Found in Accra due out. Something Waterstone’s unable to answer. I assumed some time soon as been coming out all over Europe this week. But no, not until April 2013!

I wonder into Winchester Cathedral Not quite dusk, but soon will be. Dusk is the time to see a mediaeval cathedral at its best.

I light candles for Canon Andrew White, Paulo Coelho, my lovely Russian friend Lena.

Evensong is about to begin.

The choir emerge and sing in the South Transept. It is a song of welcome. The acoustics are amazing. I sit at the foot of a shrine or tomb. I am the only one there.

I follow the choir and sit in the choir stalls for Evensong. It is sung evensong or choral evensong cf spoken evensong.

I had not intended to stay. I do, and as a consequence I miss two buses.

Walking to the High Street I spot a little alley I had not noticed before that leads to a coffee shop.

As I walk down the High Street, I spot a little alley I had not seen before that leads to a pub hidden in the alley.

I catch the last bus.

I once again experience dysfunctional public transport. Train departs Alton ten minutes early Bus arrives as train departs.

Forty minutes wait. I go to Waitrose.

At Aldershot, train arrives two minutes after bus departs. Almost 30 minute to wait for the next bus. I visit a local shop and chat to Nepalese girl serving in the shop.

From leaving Winchester Cathedral, almost three hours until I reach home!

Afternoon in Winchester

River Itchen

For whatever reason, I seemed doomed not to make it to Winchester until late afternoon, and have a terrible journey there and back.

The morning started off cool, a cold night, I decided to sow grass seed. For some reason it never seems to grow, either duff grass seed, or eaten by the birds. I decided to sprinkle compost from the compost heap on top.

It had been sunny all morning, warm in the sun, though cool in the shade. As it was rather pleasant, I decided upon a trip to Winchester.

I should have had 5-10 minutes to spare at Aldershot Station, but bus ran slowly, I arriving to see my train leaving.

At Alton, I leap off the train and just make the bus to Winchester. One wonders what imbecile timed the bus to leave at the same time as then train arrives? Yet one more example of a dysfunctional transport system that seems to be designed to deliberately discourage usage.

Had I not had a wasted half an hour wait at Aldrshot I would have been tempted to alight at Arlesford and pick up the next bus, but decide no, straight on to Winchester.

The bus took nearly an hour and so I arrived barely ten minutes earlier than if had caught the following bus.

The descent into Winchester gives a stunning view of the Cathedral and over the city. On alighting from the bus, I walked back up the hill and admired the view.

Lunch at The Bridge Patisserie. I am pleased to say they had a marginally better choice than on Monday, though sadly none of their delicious soup.

To the girl who served me I mentioned Costa Coffee (dis)Loyalty Card scheme, which she thought was an excellent idea to introduce poeple to quality coffee. Lets us hope the word spreads and more indie coffee shops participate.

It was pleasantly warm in the sun as I walked along the River Itchen. I wanted to walk out to the water meadows, but I saw where the sun was, it would soon set below the building, I therefore detoured to the Cathedral.

This part of the River Itchen flows along a channel created by the Romans in 70AD, which then formed a defence for the city.

I popped in a lovely old bookshop. From the window display, and even more so inside, I could see they loved books. A rarity in bookshops these days. At least in England. In Bassano del Grapa it was different. I recommended they looked out for Manuscript Found in Accra (Manuscrito encontrado em Accra) when published either later this year or early next.

It was then backtrack my steps to walk out along the river to the water meadows. Then backtrack again to a small old provisions store down one of the back streets.

Then head to the bus station, where with a couple of minutes to spare, I caught the last bus back to Alton at 1850.

Dysfunctional public transport system. Bus arrives at Alton Station 1935, train leaves at 1935. I alight from the bus to watch the train departing. 40 minutes wait for the next train. Then at Aldershot, train arrives a couple of minutes after the train leaves. Almost half an hour wait for the next bus.

Train and bus are operated by the same company!

Church Going

Once I am sure there’s nothing going on
I step inside, letting the door thud shut.
Another church: matting, seats, and stone,
And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut
For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff
Up at the holy end; the small neat organ;
And a tense, musty, unignorable silence,
Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off
My cycle-clips in awkward reverence.

Move forward, run my hand around the font.
From where I stand, the roof looks almost new —
Cleaned, or restored? Someone would know: I don’t.
Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few
Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce
‘Here endeth’ much more loudly than I’d meant.
The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door
I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence,
Reflect the place was not worth stopping for.

Yet stop I did: in fact I often do,
And always end much at a loss like this,
Wondering what to look for; wondering, too,
When churches will fall completely out of use
What we shall turn them into, if we shall keep
A few cathedrals chronically on show,
Their parchment, plate and pyx in locked cases,
And let the rest rent-free to rain and sheep.
Shall we avoid them as unlucky places?

Or, after dark, will dubious women come
To make their children touch a particular stone;
Pick simples for a cancer; or on some
Advised night see walking a dead one?
Power of some sort will go on
In games, in riddles, seemingly at random;
But superstition, like belief, must die,
And what remains when disbelief has gone?
Grass, weedy pavement, brambles, buttress, sky,

A shape less recognisable each week,
A purpose more obscure. I wonder who
Will be the last, the very last, to seek
This place for what it was; one of the crew
That tap and jot and know what rood-lofts were?
Some ruin-bibber, randy for antique,
Or Christmas-addict, counting on a whiff
Of gown-and-bands and organ-pipes and myrrh?
Or will he be my representative,

Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt
Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground
Through suburb scrub because it held unspilt
So long and equably what since is found
Only in separation – marriage, and birth,
And death, and thoughts of these — for which was built
This special shell? For, though I’ve no idea
What this accoutred frowsty barn is worth,
It pleases me to stand in silence here;

A serious house on serious earth it is,
In whose blent air all our compulsions meet,
Are recognized, and robed as destinies.
And that much never can be obsolete,
Since someone will forever be surprising
A hunger in himself to be more serious,
And gravitating with it to this ground,
Which, he once heard, was proper to grow wise in,
If only that so many dead lie round.

– Philip Larkin

Friend and fellow poet Andrew Motion discussed Church Going on the second to last in the series of Honest Doubt, a series by Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh, talking about religion.

Shame on the BBC that they are not holding this excellent series on-line.

Philip Larkin was deeply moved finding a church derelict. He had seen many churches bombed and destroyed but what moved him was finding a church abandoned and derelict.

Where was God?

Top Story in Bird’s The Word (Monday 25 June 2012).