Tag: Marsh Street

May 31st – My unexpected commuting grief did lead to an unexpected visit to the throbbing metropolis that is Walsall. It was quite fortuitous really; it meant the wind was at my back on the ride home, and also that I could check out the damage caused by yet another derelict building fire in the town the previous night.

The fire was in an abandoned, derelict former leather works smack bang in the middle of the Waterfront development area. Immediately adjacent to a new apartment block, the old factory has been derelict for a few years, and I guess this will lead to another hasty demolition and yet another rubberstamped planning application. I circled the former factory, and noticed something about this development area I’ve never noticed before – it’s very shabby, in reality. New blocks of housing, both new build and renovations, are punctuated by derelict, rotting hulks of workshops, dark and forbidding. The planning here has been lousy, and I wouldn’t fancy walking in this area at night. Who’d want to buy a new luxury apartment next to a derelict drugs den?

February 2nd – I’ve been gradually aware that the Town Wharf area of Walsall – formerly the industrial area around Marsh, Station, Charles and Bridgeman Streets, is gradually being gentrified. This is welcomed by many, but I’m apprehensive. There’s much history – and employment – in these backstreets, and I’m concerned at the loss of both heritage and trading space. Buildings like the former BOAC works may not be beautiful, but they’re architecturally and historically important, and currently empty, they seem to be quivering before the arsonist’s municipal zippo.

This chimney is a case in point – already in the shadow of the steelwork skeleton of yet another block of thrown-up apartments, it surely cannot be long before this major part of the Walsall skyline is itself carried to dust. This is a huge local landmark. There has to be a better way, surely.