Cottage in Thornhill Lees
Demolition of a cottage near Dewsbury:
Such an elegant cottage in the heart of the of the Heavy Woollen District. When school children draw a house, this is what they think of.
An impressive 4 to 1 replacement ratio is planned for this site. Quite a bold application, and would naturally the loss of this very handsome building that is unmistakably English and even identifiable as West Yorkshire stock such is this window into the pre-globalised world. The patina that darkens up the elevation is perfection, as are the weathered harris’ of each stone roof tile.
Somehow Victorian stone cottages meet a grass lawn in way architects have yet to reproduce. Lets hope we keep a few dotted around. Make the right decision Kirklees, please.
Shoulder of Mutton, Morley
Pub in Morley to be Demolished:
6 houses with 15 parking spaces to be built out in Morley, which continues to be a thriving housing market for the new middle class of West Yorkshire.
Formally serving the people of Bruntcliffe, any notion of a village life has slowly dissipated with motorways and industrial parks replacing the colliery and the mills.
A quick glance at the building footprint, and 4 dwellings could easily be accommodated here, with 2 more in the curtilage.
What further astounds is the roaring trade the Toby Carvery is doing down the road. I think that says more than I ever could about suburban Yorkshire life in the 21st century.
Wagon and Horses Inn, Leeds Road, Huddersfield
Formally Ricky’s Bar, formally Wagon and Horses Inn, to be demolished to make way for a car showroom forecourt:
So sad to see this pub go, which I believe was snapped up at auction following the bankruptcy of the eponymous Ricky. Particularly tragic is the loss would be to create a car sales forecourt, of which there are already so many on Leeds Road, making this corridor more so an exposed and dull place.
This would represent further erosion of the street front of Leeds Road which has slowly disappeared over the last century to be replaced by miscellaneous uses found on the fringes of towns that require cheap and ease of vehicular access.
In spite of there now being a premier league football team playing home games a stones throw away, I imagine arguments about viability would still militate against the retention of this building. I hope Kirklees can somehow block this application, but I somehow doubt it.
We demolish public houses next to football stadiums. That is the modern state of land use planning.
