With some go the hording coming down you can get a glimpse of the way the Pav will look from the sea.
For me the main bit is that it looks like the upstairs
balcony wosisname is going to raised up with a glass fence around the edge,
this means that when you sit down in a chair up there the railing won’t obscure
the view. In layman’s terms this means I will be able paint pictures of the
café culture and harbour from it.
I went to Maidstone yesterday partly to look at some books
but this really turned into looking at Maidstone a town one famous for its
treacle mines (papermaking factories). Maidstone has a fairly industrial
history which is based on the water mills in the area, pretty much everything
from paper mills to gunpowder mills.
Maidstone is Kent’s county town so there is a sense in which
even in far away Thanet it is of interest to us, decisions made in Maidstone
impact on our lives in Thanet.
As an outsider I suppose its town centre is a bit like
Ramsgate’s and Margate’s were before Westwood or perhaps would be without it. I
suppose the largest surprise to me is the lack of economic exploitation of the
riverside particularly in terms of café culture. Another surprise to me is the
museum which is time warp in many ways and something like county tows museum’s
used to be back in the 1960s.
There is a sense in also in which Maidstone is a bit like
Canterbury would be without the cathedral, or that it is a bit like a small part
of some areas of London. In truth though I haven’t really built my priori
concept for Maidstone so I popped my head up in the maze and took the
occasional photo,
Here are the links to the pages of photos:-
In the bookshop we are in the busy time of the year, so lots
of books going out. See http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/
With the architect having resubmit changes to the original planning application, sadly the glass copula domes are not going to be reinstated, at least at this current time.
ReplyDeleteThis will permit the 'upstairs balcony' as you say to become an expansive garden terrace. Not certain that the terrace is going to be raised up however. The seamless glass weather screen has been installed for safety, as the original balustrade is too low to meet modern standards. It will also provide some protection from wind exposure, but not so much from the gulls!
Despite disappointment for the missing cupola glass domes, it is commendable that the company have paid to completely repair and re-roof the building in a brand new zinc-titanium rebuild that is assumed for a life of 60 years. Meanwhile brought in experienced talent to reinstate 10 of the original 12 oriel dormer windows that were removed and blocked up in a re-roofing contract following the large fire in the 1950s. Also a rebuild in some form of the original porch dome that until recently had been replaced with a poorly executed cheap and unfitting counterpart.
Genuinely look forward to the opening and seeing the building back in use, which is more than can be said in the neverending story that is the disgraceful site a stones throw away.
OttoMarina,
DeleteThank you for such encouraging news. It sounds as though the Pav has been given the TLC it so much needed. I wish it were still a theatre, but those days are gone. I am sure Wetherspoons will take very good care of the building.