I mostly choose to share pictures on here of the more attractive parts of my world (of which there are plenty). Just occasionally perhaps it's good to show some more 'gritty' bits and this site is as gritty (literally) as they come! Just down the road from Saltaire, near Baildon Bridge, and adjacent to the Victoria Mills residential complex that you can see in the background, Airedale Mills was formerly the HQ of a shopfitting company. That business moved out and the buildings have been razed - although, curiously, a huge pile of debris and one half-demolished bunker remain.
I understand that a planning application has been made for a new Lidl supermarket and a Costa coffee drive through. That is being opposed by the recently formed Shipley Town Council, on the grounds that it would draw custom away from the town centre half a mile away and increase traffic congestion. Shipley already has a large Asda and an Aldi supermarket, as well as markets and other food shops, so I don't know why we need another. I expect the arguments will rage and the site will remain an eyesore for a while yet. What's really needed, I think, is some decent social housing but I expect this is classified as a commercial site. We'll have to wait and see.
I suppose that, having already converted so many Victorian mills into apartments and flats, there must at sometime be a limit on the demand for housing even in Shipley, the city of dreams?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. A theater would be nice, a dinner theater.
ReplyDeleteThere are some commercial lots that have remained vacant here for years!
ReplyDeleteOr a parkland?
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post in many ways. Like you, I tend to present the nicer elements of the places I live, and I ask myself whether to include grittier stuff. And the debate about siting new retail businesses away from the town center is one that rages in so many places. Does society want to encourage new facilities that might offer lower prices for customers, but at the cost of cannibalizing long-standing local businesses that are owned by local people and that support local causes? I'm glad that I don't have to make the decisions.
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