The talk by Robert Wharton on Old Wellingborough demonstrated to all present just how the town has changed since the turn of the century. Wellingborough, once a small market town with a make up of households and farming families, slowly gave way to what could be termed ‘progress’. As the decades passed the pace quickened rapidly, with past history, buildings, shops and green fields being sacrificed to ‘the modern way’. Wellingborough was then a town where the consumer could source all their needs within the town centre itself, from its energetic, bustling market, to shops selling clothing, linen, stationery, large furniture, small furniture, pet needs, high class confectionery establishments, bakers, butchers, wet fish merchants, high class grocers, even a newspaper office, the list could go on. Older residents of Wellingborough will remember that on visiting the town it was usual to run into family, friends or acquaintances on every visit. This in no way detracted from the progress inevitably craved for the town itself, in fact this forward looking community, it could be suggested, contributed greatly to it! The needs and aspirations of the residents then were probably much the same as now, reasonably secure employment, somewhere to live, to shop without travelling too far and surrounded in an environment which engendered a degree of pride. Old Wellingborough had all this, along with past buildings that had made the town what it was. Let us now move along the decades! Post war the town remained very much the same, with the market still energetic, shops all functioning and a marked absence of empty premises. Property within the town centre was intact but old, especially in the area of Cheese and Pebble Lanes. Streets were beginning to show signs of increased motor traffic, a very significant change to all lives during this period. Pace really quickened with the onset of the sixties and seventies following demolition of all Cooperative buildings on Midland Road, warehousing behind and grievously the Lyric Cinema all to make way for the ‘Arndale Centre’. At this time the overriding attitude prevalent was driven purely by success for owners of this new centre and inclusion for the remainder of Wellingborough town given no consideration whatsoever! If lock up shops had been included on Midland Road there would have been integration between new and old, but sadly it was not to be. This sparkling new centre in the middle of Wellingborough, which could have been a distinctly positive flagship which inclusively complemented the town centre, was and still is, an inward facing entity ensured by an absence of outward facing windows onto Midland Road! As a result the excellent variety of shops, which existed then, began to diminish, as did the wonderful, lively market which, it could be suggested, invited the town centre to dwindle into its current state. The Council, through the Lottery-funded Townscape Heritage Initiative, is trying to restore Victorian features to the shops and other buildings in the town, but this is voluntary and requires financial input from the traders concerned. Plans were recently put forward for new shops in the refurbishment of the Avon Insurance building, but this has fallen through. The Civic Society would like to see some shops and community buildings in the proposed development of the High Street/Jacksons Lane site, but the Council seems to be set on housing only in an area the development of which with some foresight could be a turning-point for the viability of the town centre. A glimmer of hope can also be seen with work being undertaken with buildings in the town such as Victoria Schools and the British Legion but this community minded team can only do so much. Developers and architects who work within the town centre need to seriously consider reuse and not demolition to preserve integrity and history, which also should be required by council planning. Much more is needed and quickly, to make Wellingborough into what it once was an energetic, vibrant market town!
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:06:26 +0000