Bridport: Cafe Royal up, Tannery Road down?
The Cafe Royal seems to be in line for improvements, but what about the other four shop units in Tannery Road, Bridport? Abacus, by the way, should read Beeline. The sign was never updated.
THINGS are moving on at a rapid pace down at Tannery Road in Bridport.
The new owner of the Café Royal, Nicholas de Savary, seems absolutely hell-bent on improving the faded beauty, some might say dereliction, of the old girl.
Already a local company has been in and measured up for new doors!
Obviously here we have a property developer who doesn’t intend allowing the grass to grow under his feet.
It can’t be long before it will celebrity-packed gala nights, show-girls having champagne sipped from their slippers and bouts of all-in wrestling with Terry Wogan acting as the referee.
But what about the rest of the site?
Breathtaking developments await us all.
It seems that demolition is on the cards.
The plan is to then use the space for car parking.
Private car parking of course. I suppose there might be room for 50-odd vehicles but will there be much demand for those spaces?
On Saturdays in August – without a doubt. On a wet Thursday afternoon in November – probably not.
Old age brings on cynicism but I can’t help but think that there is Plan B lurking in the background. An office block? Housing? A casino and luxury sauna and massage parlour? Anything could come to pass.
Something is afoot: we shall learn in time exactly what it is.
The Red Bladder is a former national newspaper journalist, tabloid and broadsheet.