Tag: St Pauls

March 4th – A horrid, horrid day: a very cold, icy commute to work, a bad day when I got there, and then caught in the rain without waterproof trousers on the way home. I got in cold, tired and soaking wet.

Walsall is hard to love in such bad weather. I was glad to be going home.

December 2nd – I came through Walsall early evening, having resolved to pay more attention to the place after yesterday taking pictures in the Civic Quarter. Tonight, I noted how nice the Christmas lights were this year, and how for once, we had a decent Christmas tree. 

Although we seem to be hurtling towards Christmas at a rate of knots at the moment, I haven’t felt very festive so far – until tonight.

Of course, Christmas means the winter solstice and the end of the darkening days, and the start of another season’s promise.

I’ll have some of that.

December 1st – Coming through Walsall early evening was oddly festive. Although I loathe the striped paving and out of place lighting columns, I love the ‘Civic Quarter’ at night.

Such a combination of architecture, surface, artificial light and mature urbanness. A very photogenic, under appreciated corner of Walsall.

January 22nd – I returned from Walsall early evening, in a better frame of mind. It was cold, for sure, but it wasn’t a bad night overall. Station Street and it’s taxi rank always looks good at night, with surprisingly good architecture if one looks closely. 

The Square outside the crossing at St Paul’s is also good in the dark, the lights of the bank and The Imperial Pub look welcoming and warm.

December 7th – I keep seeing complaints on social media about the state of Walsall’s Christmas tree this year. Since the tree has faced a bit of an uncertain future in recent years, I’m surprised we’ve got one at all; and so I thought I’d take the opportunity to check it out. I don’t think it’s too shabby at all, to be honest. Sat in front of The Crossing at St Pauls – the church cum shopping centre by the bus station – it seems to fit well in what is possibly the only public square in Walsall that works architecturally. Seems decent enough to me…

November 29th – Walsall is an odd place architecturally. I love The Crossing at St. Paul’s – the former church cum shopping centre, and the wee piazza outside it where the Christmas tree sits. I don’t mind the bus station – at night, you can see what the architect was getting at. It’s all beautifully lit up… but the paving, the mixture of slate and pale grey granite composite blocks, arranged into stripes, to me at least is horrid. Further into what’s now known as ‘The Civic Quarter’ – ‘We ay pretentious, we’m not’ – there are the most horrid street lighting columns I have ever seen. I think the street furniture and paving – which clash, eye-jarringly – were purchased and some kind of urban designers fire sale. Walsall, on a civic level, does this sort of thing with alarming regularity. Weird.

October 6th – Walsall was eerily quiet. I’ve spotted lots of potential night shots around here – I’ll need them for when the nights close in and I’m coming home in the dark. This is the only bit of Walsall’s risibly named ‘Civic Quarter’ I like; the Crossing at St Paul’s – a former church transformed into a shopping and faith centre. I like the square in front and the view of The Imperial – itself a former cinema turned into a pub. I like this square – such a shame that the Leicester Street area looks like an uncoordinated architectural mess.