So it's come to this

[Greybeard]

Whilst I'm not old enough to remember this building as a cycle shop in Beverley's Saturday Market, it's a tradgedy that it's now become yet another wine bar of the type that's taking over the shopping areas of our old market towns It used to belong to Akrills for many years - a Gun Smith and Country Outfitter. Much more dignified than it's current guise, eh?


As far as I know that CTC Repairer sign is one of only a handful left. I don't' believe they were issued after 1900.
Not many residents of the town know that the area to the left of the shop is called, rather splendidly, Butterding Flags and the short street opposite is 'Old Waste'. Some of the shops to the right are amongst the oldest surviving commercial properties in the UK, with parts of them dating back to the 1600's
If only we could turn the clock back - even for a day or two would do

Steve

[GrahamNR17]

Whilst I'm not old enough to remember this building as a cycle shop in Beverley's Saturday Market...

Well you look old enough

...with parts of them dating back to the 1600's...
If only we could turn the clock back - even for a day or two would do

Lovely, maybe we could all enjoy a dose of plague or black death while we're at it

[NUKe]

sometimes thngs go full circle. I visited Morley recently my old home town. I was delighted to see that there was a new cycle shop in the same place as the one where most of my childhood bikes came from, the roiginal shop had closed down in the 80s. So maybe one day

[hubgearfreak]

it's a tradgedy that it's now become yet another wine bar of the type that's taking over the shopping areas of our old market towns

could be worse steve. might have been a global food retailer such as subway or worse, cash converters/paydayloan shop or like in many towns now empty and collecting dirt on the glass.

don't bother going in though, you just know that the tea will be made with none-boiling water

[hubgearfreak]

Some of the shops to the right are amongst the oldest surviving commercial properties in the UK, with parts of them dating back to the 1600's

1600's eh? them's whippersnappers. we've got some from 1550, above the glory hole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge,_Lincoln

[Tonyf33]

don't bother going in though, you just know that the tea will be made with none-boiling water

Never a truer word said! I've known people to make a brew by heating water in a cup with tea bag in situ in the microwave....uuuuggghhhhh
The amount of times I've also had burnt coffee in so called coffee shops isn't even funny.....


I used to love drinking in Beverley in my college days, proximity of the pubs to each other make a full on pub crawl little more than a 100m dash Though it's sad that many old buildings are taken over by what some deem almost blastphemy, it is at least getting some use and employment for a few even if that only turns out to be short lived.
Must have a ride into Bev next time I'm up,

[pete75]

Some of the shops to the right are amongst the oldest surviving commercial properties in the UK, with parts of them dating back to the 1600's

1600's eh? them's whippersnappers. we've got some from 1550, above the glory hole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge,_Lincoln

Older than that even in Lincoln - 12th Century - half the Jews House is a shop. Other half a restaurant....

[eileithyia]

Should we not rejoijce that such a beautiful old property is in use, being cared for and hopefully a profitable business in this day and age. It could be empty and falling apart, it could be ( as someone else said) a cheapo second hand shop / pawn shop with tacky horrible signage.

Buildings of this age will have had a variety uses over the years and I am sure the original owners/builders would be glad that the building is going on into the future, how many of today's buildings will still there be in 100 years let alone 3-400

[hubgearfreak]

half the Jews House is a shop. Other half a restaurant....

that's where i start walking on my way home from work

[Goosey]

Whilst I'm not old enough to remember this building as a cycle shop in Beverley's Saturday Market, it's a tradgedy that it's now become yet another wine bar of the type that's taking over the shopping areas of our old market towns It used to belong to Akrills for many years - a Gun Smith and Country Outfitter. Much more dignified than it's current guise, eh?
If only we could turn the clock back - even for a day or two would do

Steve

Hasn't it always been thus?

I've just finished reading George Orwell's 'Coming Up For Air', written about 100 years ago and the character in the book is complaining about exactly the same things. Things change. Things move on. Not always for the better, granted, but there's no stopping it.

[JohnW]

............I've just finished reading George Orwell's 'Coming Up For Air', written about 100 years ago...............

Didn't he write it just before the war? Although it was about Edwardian times, wasn't it?

[Goosey]

"Coming Up for Air is a novel by George Orwell, first published in June 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. It combines premonitions of the impending war with images of an idyllic Thames-side Edwardian era childhood. The novel is pessimistic—commercialism and capitalism are killing the best of rural England, "everything cemented over", and there are great new external threats. The themes of the book are nostalgia, the folly of trying to go back and recapture past glories and the easy way the dreams and aspirations of one's youth can be smothered by the humdrum routine of work, marriage and getting old. It is written in the first person, with George Bowling, the forty-five-year-old protagonist, who reveals his life and experiences while undertaking a trip back to his boyhood home as an adult. Bowling decides on a 'trip down memory lane', to revisit the places of his childhood. He recalls a particular pond with huge fish in it which he had missed the chance to try and catch thirty years previously. He therefore plans to return to Lower Binfield but when he arrives, he finds the place unrecognisable. The social and material changes experienced by Bowling since childhood make his past seem distant. The concept of "you can't go home again" hangs heavily over Bowling's journey, as he realizes that many of his old haunts are gone or considerably changed from his younger years.

Throughout the adventure he receives reminders of impending war, and the threat of bombs becomes real when one lands accidentally on the town."

From Wikipedia

[Freddie]

I've seen one CTC repairers sign on the Isle of Wight and a couple around Hertfordshire. I don't know exactly how many are left, probably (hopefully!) more than a handful though.

Is Coming up for air worth sticking with?, I found the context interesting, but it was a little slow at first, so I called it off.

[Goosey]

Is Coming up for air worth sticking with?, I found the context interesting, but it was a little slow at first, so I called it off.

Yes. Especially the descriptions of when he goes fishing (I love fishing!). There are so many things in the book that he complains about; rubbish food, jobs, pubs and villages disappearing etc, it's like it was written yesterday, hence me quoting it as relevant to the OP.

[Manx Cat]

I have only so far seen one of these old CTC signs the once.

Last year, while on my LEJOG ride, we stopped for the evening in the Scottish town of Tomintoul and it was high up on the wall of a shop - tea shop if I remember right. I fully intended to photograph it was we cycled off the following morning and forgot all about it.

Not seen once before or since.

Da da! I might not have a photo of it, but thankfully some one else has....

http://www.wingedwheels.info/wwgra2.htm

I was there in summer not all snowy like this.