The old brewery wharf beside Wallbridge lock

I met a colleague at the town council offices this morning to initiate the new working group I will be chairing. It is quite daunting and will require a lot of work form five other councillors and two local experts for us to prepare a report by the end of April. Ido believe it is important, so it must be done.

Whilst there I heard that a wall had collapsed at Wallbridge, so I went down to see what had happened. This spot is the site of the junction of the two Cotswold canals, the Thames and Severn and the Stroudwater and is situated next to the lock beside the old bridge where the A46 road formerly crossed the canal before the new Brewery bridge was built two years ago. This area has been part of the regeneration of this local canal system, which is ongoing. The new road bridge was a major undertaking and the section of canal leading to it and also the cut above Wallbridge lock still need to be renewed, where there are major engineering works still to come.
The new name of Brewery Bridge was chosen because it is built just beside the original site of the old Stroud Brewery, which was demolished in 1970. The original Cotswold stone brewery buildings were replaced by this brick office block, formerly the HQ of the Stroud and Swindon Building Society and recently acquired by Stroud's biggest employer, Ecotricity. A road was built in front of the building and a small patch of land separated that road from the quay of the canal which is what I have taken a photo of.

This section of derelict walls was part of the brewery's wharf and the windows were the exterior of the underground cellars which have remained in ruins since the demise of the brewery. No one has been prepared to investigate this problem area or take any responsibility, and so the walls continued to deteriorate. Two days ago a section of it fell down towards the canal. I am not sure who actually owns. It might be the County Council Highways Department, which would explain a lot.

The town council has been commissioned to tend the small garden above the fence, but now that looks in danger too. Oh dear. I fear that we will be hearing more about this at our committee meetings in due course.