March 6th – Back in Darlaston today. Riding up the hill from Walsall town centre, I noticed the Old Clinic in Bradford Street. Clearly vacant, it seems to be doing nothing except acting as parking-clamper bait. I know nothing of this building, or its history. But it is rather handsome. I love the leaded lights. Wonder who owns it? Let us hope that Walsall’s Municipal Arsonists haven’t spotted this one yet…
January 25th – I’d like to claim credit for noticing this, but I didn’t, so can’t. Great pal [Howmuch?] spotted this and told me a few weeks ago. Today, as I rolled down Hatherton Street in the Butts, near Walsall Town Centre, I recorded a fascinating little relic of the past. These buildings are due to be demolished to make way for a new factory, being moved in from elsewhere in the borough. Formerly offices and workshops, they’ve lain derelict for some years. As I took these pictures, construction workers were erecting hoardings around the site prior to its clearance commencing. Before they did, I had to photograph the above small sign, situated next to one of the boarded-up doors.
I know nothing about the Umbrella Manufacturing and Repairing Company, or what happened to them. But the thought crosses my mind: how long has it been since such a business could be economically viable in Walsall? A curious, odd little piece of history. Glad I caught it before it was lost forever.
January 24th – Sadly, there’s another derelict building in Kings Hill, Darlaston that I’ve as yet not recorded. The Scott Arms has been empty and boarded up for a long tome now, and like the other lost pubs in the locality, I doubt it will see life as an inn again. I don’t know what it was like as a pub, this isn’t my patch, but it’s clear to see that the decline of local industry and a change in social habits have sealed the fate of many a backstreet, blue collar boozer like this. A tragedy.
January 22nd – Still forlorn, abandoned and decaying to dust is The Rising Sun, at Brownhills West. One of Brownhills’ oldest pubs, it’s sad to see this place slide away. It doesn’t even appear to be for sale. Survivor of several arson and vandal attacks, the building clearly has some pride left. Can nobody be found to do something – anything – with it?
We’re gradually losing our history and culture, and it breaks my heart.
January 20th – Like most folk in Brownhills, I use the local Tesco from time to time. I hate doing it, but there are few easy alternatives. The store has no cycle provision whatsoever. It is housed in one of the grimmest 80’s sheds I’ve ever come across, with no natural light. It’s impression is tatty, untidy and gives the feeling of careless grubbiness which makes products you buy there feel secondhand and mauled. It is, however, usually rammed with people, and this Friday was no exception.
Tesco promise to change all this – we are, we are assured, soon to get a new Tesco, built on the site of Brownhills’ now derelict shopping precinct. However, having prevaricated for years, and clearly getting a good return out of the old store, one can but wonder if the retail behemoth will not bother now their share price and profits have taken a pounding. A new CHP power plant was recently installed on the roof, and the toilets have just been refurbished. A company as sharp as this don’t throw money at buildings they plan to demolish.
Tesco destroyed this town. It could at least look like it cares for us.
January 12th – I noted back before Christmas that following another of Walsall’s infectious arson attacks, the Miners Arms pub in Rushall was being demolished. Well, operations appear to have ground to a halt and work stalled. The formed pub sits truncated to the first floor, debris littered around it and on the lawn of the health centre next door. The people demolishing this building seem to have got bored and wandered off. Hardly professional.
What an eyesore.
December 6th – Another lost pub appears to be going down the dust pipe. Since proving itself just as readily combustible as other closed pubs locally, the Miners Arms at Rushall has sat forlorn, with scaffolding half erected around it. This once lively, popular boozer used to have great live music and a decent pint, but like so many, couldn’t make enough to survive. Closed for a good while, then subject to the inevitable arson attack, it now appears that the demolition crew has moved in. I’m sure another block of highly individual apartments awaits.
October 29th – Highfield House Farm is still decaying silently. Robbed of anything of value (including it’s roof tiles), the derelict farm is a haunt of bored teenagers, explorers and the curious. When I was a kid this was a functioning farm, with a dog that used to bark and snarl violently as you walked past the yard, now it’s quiet, a ghost of a past that seems very distant now. Planning applications to replace this grim welcome to Chasewater come and go, yet this haunting building seems determined to cling on until it collapses into it’s own cellar. A sad landmark.
October 10th – a bit of a grim landmark – this is my first normal-time homebound commute of the season on which I needed lights. A depressing milestone indeed. It seemed fitting, therefore, to feature this odd, unsettling landmark. I’ve been passing this derelict, abandoned and decaying house for several years. Situated in the plush, posh hamlet of Mill Green near Little Aston, it’s a huge house that would, at one time, have been worth at least £500,000. It’s rotting away, unloved and not evidently for sale. I have no idea how it came to be in this state – you surely can’t just forget or abandon a house of this value – yet someone has. This former home, between other, occupied houses of a similar value has lain like this for years. Does anyone know the story?
August 25th – an oddly depressing day. A quick spin out to get some shopping in took me to Brownhills. This wasteland is what used to be Silver Court Gardens – once one of the most deprived housing estates in the UK – now demolished over six years ago. Nothing has replaced the homes of the hundreds of people who lived here. Is it any wonder the town is dead? How long will Brownhills have to put up with huge tracts of desolate wasteland?
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