That was also in the days before mobile phones. Not a single mast. The BT tower is now just a platform for hordes of phone masts so that we can all walk about with a phone glued to our ear. I'm sure our town planners must have spent a lot of time searching their souls to find the answer to whether they should allow the planning applications to go through. I think there could just be room up there for a wind turbine which may satisfy the wind generation brigade which would save them planting a tree.
Maybe once Parkway is finished and the KC becomes just a den for the great unwashed to knife crime each other inside. It could be demolished (with said undesirables locked inside) and returned to its former pretty-ness?
It is perhaps worth remembering that this was an area devastated by a major fire. The demolition of the charred remains left this open space that was always going to be built over. The Borough Council (I assume) prettified it while those involved went incredibly slow process of getting round to building anything. Unfortunately they came up with the Kennet Centre and hence demolished a large swathe of historic Newbury - to the delight of some and the despair of others. The best that can be said of it is that the process was so slow that we did at least miss out on the worst of post war architecture (except in the south east corner above Monty's).
This is the opposite side of the road but with your back to the two shops to the right of the Regal that would be the view. Those two shops with that roofline remain almost unchanged by the way.
It is perhaps worth remembering that this was an area devastated by a major fire. The demolition of the charred remains left this open space that was always going to be built over. The Borough Council (I assume) prettified it while those involved went incredibly slow process of getting round to building anything. Unfortunately they came up with the Kennet Centre and hence demolished a large swathe of historic Newbury - to the delight of some and the despair of others. The best that can be said of it is that the process was so slow that we did at least miss out on the worst of post war architecture (except in the south east corner above Monty's).
I don't remember this "major fire" Blackdog. Are you able to elaborate?
There was a major fire in Newbury in the latter 60's. It encompassed Bartholowew Street from the Bricklayers Arms to the alleyway through to Market Place, and spread right through to Cheap Street by the launderette, which was next to the Catherine Wheel pub, almost opposite the P.O. There were many old cottages and buildings between Bartholomew Street and Cheap Street, behind the shops. The fire was on a Monday afternoon, and it is thought that people got into an empty ironmongery/builders building to watch the carnival and dropped cigarettes on the floor.
I recall there were at least 8 fire appliances in Bartholomew Street at the time.
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