Ancient landscapes and archaeological remains have fascinated Amanda Wallwork since childhood. Her images are intended to awake instinctual longings.
Ancient landscapes and archaeological remains have fascinated Amanda Wallwork since childhood. Her images are intended to awake instinctual longings.
IT WOULD appear that the bustling community of Boadwindsor is having problems. Both the shop and the pub in the village [The White Lion] look set to close.
Not if The Red Bladder has anything to do with it they won’t.
Like a rat-trap closing on its prey my mind snapped on a solution so simple yet so elegant that I stunned even myself.
The core of the whole thing is that the two buildings are slap-bang opposite each other. There you have it: combine the two and place them under a single management.
That way the doors of the boozer could be sealed up so that no one can enter the premises that way. Make the punters enter the shop where they can pick up a basket and rummage around the grocery department on the ground floor.
Even those hell-bent on pouring booze down their throats may well make an impulse purchase.
Then the shoppers and the sensible people go on upstairs! I knew that you would like this one. There, other things could be on offer. Essentials like haberdashery, millinery and drapery, the day-to-day items that the locals are crying out for.
Now comes the clever bit. Once the enthusiastic shoppers have been loaded up with spare whale bones for corsets, slouch hats and knicker elastic… they cross the newly erected foot bridge to the pub.
This could also double up as a viewing platform where enthusiasts could spot cars, vans and lorries heading for such far-away and exotic sounding locales as Clapton, Coles Cross and Kittwhistle. It would prove a huge attraction in its own right.
Once across the bridge the customers then enter the upper floor of the pub which will now be the coffee lounge and tea room.
As you can see this is not just a place to do a bit of shopping. No, this offers the good people of Broadwindsor and miles around a completely new and unique retail experience.
The lounge serves two purposes. It parts the mugs, sorry I meant valued customers, from more of their dosh and it prevents certain people from getting in the way of the serious business of boozing downstairs in the pub. Which, as we all know, is the sort of place that people who want hot drinks should never, ever be allowed into.
So there you have it, the salvation of a village’s services using only a little imagination.
I demand no fee for this invaluable advice.
It might be nice if the foot bridge over the square were to be named something simple like The Red Bladder Bridge to Paradise but I don’t really mind all that much.
Just to have helped will have been its own reward.
Editor’s Note: Around 200 people met in Broadwindsor’s Comrades Hall to discuss the future of The White Lion and the village shop.
The shop closes on Wednesday, 31 August. It was recently put up for auction but failed to reach the reserve price.
The pub’s licensees are leaving at the end of October. Owners Palmers Brewery are seeking new landlords.
To gauge support for action to save the shop, a questionnaire is being circulated around the Broadwindsor area. One idea is to buy the premises and run it as a community shop, following the example set by Thorncombe (in the far west of Dorset) and Bishop’s Caundle (a few miles from Sherborne).
Some grant funding might be available, as well as a loan from West Dorset District Council, but local people would need to raise about a third of the total amount. The total amount would almost certainly be more than £250,000. (That was the guide price – and also, it would seem, the reserve price at auction, given that £240,000 was bid and turned down).
Other ideas being discussed are a mobile shop, a temporary shop in the Comrades Hall and a facility in premises in the centre of the village currently used as a Saturday morning coffee shop run by the church.
The Red Bladder’s proposal may, at first reading, be considered outlandish, but no one could dispute that it lacks the virtue of imagination. One reason it’s published here is that imagination will certainly be required in Broadwindsor.
THE WEATHERVANE on top of Bridport Town Hall has been re-gilded – and very fine it looks too.
Bridport artist Jemma Thompson applied sheet gold in her studio on St Michael’s trading estate in the South West Quadrant.
The weathervane is much bigger – and heavier – than it looks from down on the ground.
It’s 2.4 metres long and is made from lead and copper, so it weighs around 100kg.
It took 10 men to get it back up on top of the Town Hall’s cupola.
Bob Gillis, clerk to Bridport Town Council, said: “The dome of the cupola has also been cleaned and the columns repainted. The clock face and surrounding slates are now being repaired and restored and as work is completed from the top down we will be lowering the scaffolding.”
Bridport Town Hall is being restored as part of a £1.2 million Heritage and Conservation Project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Bridport Town Council, Dorset County Council, and West Dorset District Council.
Bridport Town Hall is Grade 1 Listed but that doesn’t mean it was constructed with impeccable skills and materials first time round.
I was talking about it in The Loders Arms the other evening to structural engineer Simon Brody of Brody Forbes Partnership in West Bay.
He was saying that a key part of the structure supporting the weathervane (the bit the pole was stuck into, in very non-technical terms) had been found to be the hub of an old Somerset cart wheel. He knew it was Somerset because there was a name inscribed which he’d traced back as far as 1823.
Mr Brody wondered whether a cart had come down from somewhere like Taunton or Shepton Mallett and broken down and, rather than try to repair it, they’d salvaged the wheel hub for re-use.
And you have to say: it may have been improvised back in the 19th century, but no one could say that it hadn’t lasted, given that it’s now 2011.
Editor’s Note: Jemma Thompson also gilded the fine golden bull hanging outside The Bull Hotel in Bridport. Pretty cool to have two gold artefacts in Bridport town centre. I can only think of the King George III statue in (say) Weymouth. The statue’s mason, incidentally, was James Hamilton – who also worked on Bridport Town Hall…
“Much that I’d been warned about in relation to the way in which West Dorset District Council conducts its affairs appears to be true. There is precious little “democracy” as evidenced by the fact that there’s virtually no debate on major issues.” So argues independent councillor Alistair Chisholm, who was elected in May 2011.
BRIDPORT’s iconic Café Royal has been sold at auction for £260,000 to Nicholas de Savary. UPDATED
IT SEEMS that all the news is about cuts these days and this is no exception. Money available for bus passes for older people is being significantly reduced.
At the moment, responsibility locally lies with West Dorset District Council but as of April 2011, it will be with Dorset County Council.
Up to now West Dorset has been offering extra concessions e.g. free travel before 9.30am. Older people elsewhere in the UK – depending on the goodwill of their councils – have to travel after rush hour.
What seems to make sense in towns and cities where buses are busy with people travelling to work does not necessarily add up in remote parts such as ours.
Imagine you live in Melplash and need to go to Yeovil for the morning. If you can no longer take the 07.44, the first bus available is at 10.24, getting you to Yeovil at 11.20.
And if you want to travel from Beaminster to Weymouth without going around the houses, then you can no longer do it for free as the only bus is at 08.45.
The consultation ends this Friday, 14th January (it started on 3rd December). Seems a bit short but I have only just been made aware of this (then again, I don’t qualify for free travel yet!).
I understand that this consultation has had a postal survey and a web survey. If you qualify for a free bus pass, are affected by the proposed changes but have not been made aware, here is your chance:
http://consultationtracker.dorsetforyou.com/concessionarytravel
A Dorset County Council spokesman commented: “Whilst the official deadline is 14 January we will be processing responses received for at least 5 working days after the deadline.”
He went on: “We are consulting, amongst other things, on the possibility of restricting the use of passes before 0930 on weekdays in West Dorset, East Dorset and North Dorset (this restriction already applies in Christchurch, Purbeck and Weymouth & Portland).
“The final decision will be made by councillors taking into account the much reduced government grant and the impact on passengers of such restrictions.
“It is, however, highly likely that where buses are infrequent officers will be recommending that exemptions are allowed (there are already precedents for this in areas where the pre-0930 restriction already applies).
“We are currently identifying those journeys likely to be recommended for exemption and it is quite a long list!”
BRIDPORT’S acclaimed Café Royal is to be auctioned next month, as West Dorset District Council embarks on a plan to raise £1.5 million.
The Café Royal is opposite Bridport bus station. Its big-windowed American diner style has, over the years, attracted many admirers.
Wired magazine correspondent Russell Davies visited in 2009. On his blog, he wrote: “This is a magnificent place. Just when I thought I’d lost my mojo we spend a couple of days in Dorset and bump into this joyous establishment. It’s so fine it’s featured in a lovely series of paintings. I haven’t been this excited about a cafe in ages.”
The paintings that Mr Davies refers to are by Bridport artist Kit Glaisyer; five of which can be seen by clicking on this link.
Mr Glaisyer sees the Café Royal as iconic: “the most interesting building” in Bridport.
It doesn’t look quite the same as it used to because last year the proprietress TJ painted it a glorious sunny-sided eggy yellow outside, and refurbished some of the features inside.
It was then thought locally that West Dorset District Council was going to go ahead and do some work on the buildings – including the café – in Tannery Road.
Instead, on February 25, the buildings will be auctioned in Sherborne by Symonds and Sampson. Details are on Symonds and Sampson’s website.
The agents say the sale is “a unique opportunity to acquire a large parcel of land and buildings within Bridport town centre, potentially suitable for development subject, of course, to any necessary consents”.
The district council hopes to raise £270,000.
The guide price is £150,000.
TJ declined to comment, but she is understood to feel “a little cheesed”.
The Café Royal and the taxi office are what’s known as ‘sitting tenants’: when the Tannery Road buildings are sold, their leases will move to be with the new owner.
But it’s unclear exactly what could happen in the future.
It’s possible the buildings could be demolished and the site redeveloped.
Steve Woollard, West Dorset District Council’s technical services manager, said: “The council’s Executive Committee approved the sale of the district council’s property in Tannery Road, Bridport, on an ‘open market’ basis in April 2005 as part of the proposal to provide 100 per cent affordable housing on the council land at Flaxhayes.
“The sale would have proceeded as part of the redevelopment of the South West Quadrant, but when the planning application for this scheme failed it was decided to proceed with an independent sale for Tannery Road site.
“The Tannery Road buildings are beyond economic repair and largely empty, and an eyesore.
“Re-development of the site will provide a new building which will greatly improve the character of the area.
“The re-development will be controlled through the council’s planning policies which were developed in consultation with local community and examined through the Local Plan enquiry in 2006.
“We have contacted the existing tenants, and also informed local councillors and the town council about the situation.
“It’s now proposed that Symonds and Sampson will auction the property on 25 February.
“Any re-development by future owners will need to go through the normal planning process, and meet the council’s usual planning and affordable housing requirements. At which time people will also have an opportunity to comment on the proposals.”
UPDATED WITH AUCTION DETAILS JAN UARY 21
Let’s walk. Underfoot the scrunchy pea gravel scrapes and squeaks. Sudden patches of sand give relief to legs already wearied by trudging on banked and sliding stones. Look closer underfoot – individual pebbles lucent with seawater
EYPE BEACH near Bridport – part of Dorset’s world-famous Jurassic Coast – is to be sold by West Dorset District Council.
The beach’s value is reckoned by the council to be £1.
“Anticipated proceeds” from the sale of Eype Beach are also officially recorded as £1.
So could you or I buy it for £1?
The Trick Factory in Bridport “no longer gets close to breaking even… the number of local users in recent times doesn’t even amount to double figures, much to the dismay of myself and the disbelief of those that travel to use The Trick Factory.”