The Old Lady's ex residence

Derelict Thursday
 
“My daddy was a bankrobber
but he never hurt nobody
He just loved to live that way
and he loved to steal your money
 
Some is rich, and some is poor
that's the way the world is
But i don't believe in lying back
sayin' how bad your luck is”
 
The Clash – Bankrobber
 
These are the remains of the Bank of England’s Bristol office at Castle Park.  The old Lady of Thredneedle Street’s western outpost if you like.  Its been empty for a while now, but was quite an impressive building in its time.  Although there is some paint spray the building itself is largely intact still.  There have been attempts to break the windows (see the ground floor to the right of the door in large), but given its function, they clearly built it with security in mind.
 
It was built following the destruction of much of this part of Bristol in the Second World War.  As I have mentioned in a pervious journal entry, this part of Bristol (now a bit of a no-man’s land) was once the heart of Bristol’s historic shopping area. A bombing raid in November 1940 caused tremendous destruction – apparently the fires could be seen from 160 miles away.
 
After the war, Bristol’s planners moved the main retail area to its present location.  The plan for Castle Park involved a new museum and art gallery, there would be arts centre and a riverside hotel on the nearby bank of the floating harbour.  The remainder would be for cultural professional and exhibition purposes.
 
In the event it never happened.  The Bank of England and Norwich Union established offices, and the rest of the historic (flattened centre) was buried under what is now an open green space.  These offices have long been empty and are now a local eyesore
 
Proposals for the redevelopment of the area come and go regularly.  They have all been mired in contention.  Most recently the Mayor consulted on proposals to redevelop the area occupied by the empty offices but made the mistake of including some of the grassland around those buildings in his consultation documents.  Grassland that was pre blitz a very highly developed part of the City, but which is now described by the anti-development lobby as a vital part of the City’s lung.  As an architect by profession and formerly an extremely vocal objector to many central Bristol developments you would imagine that he would have known better.  Biter bit, as they say.
 
   
As ever thanks to Freespiral and Himself for their hard work in curating Derelict Thursday, a great unofficial Blip challenge, and (perhaps) all the better for being unofficial.