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Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Brutalism, buskers and birds


Shipley Market Place was bathed in sunshine at the weekend. Its Festival of Britain-style concrete clock tower, built in 1960-61 above the indoor market, was recently denied listed building status. Historic England, the body that oversees listing, said it lacked 'the design quality' and 'use of high-quality materials' of comparable listed examples. It is a bit of a 'Marmite' thing.  (You either love it or hate it.) 

I was prepared to love the buskers playing as part of Busk BD 2026, a busking festival across the city. I thought they were quite good, though sadly their audience, in Shipley at least, was almost non-existent.  


The chap above was, I think, called the Bus Pass Busker, and he was followed by a young lad called Ryan Swift (below).


Also enjoying the sunshine, the many market place pigeons were being fed from a big bag of sunflower seeds by a gentleman rather conspicuous in a high-vis vest. (Not sure what that was about. Maybe he had a bike somewhere). I'm pretty certain feeding them isn't encouraged but at least it was seeds and not dry bread. 

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