From Black to White

7 Market Place was until recently Black Inc. It was a shop selling clothes for young Goths. In Abingdon there are groups of young people like townies (who dress fairly smart with sportswear and caps), and Goths (who dress in black and usually have hair dyed to match). Black Inc was a shop for Goths, run by Jan (pronounced Yan), who had a family of young Goths to support him.

However the Abingdon Goths did not have enough money to keep the shop Black, and now as is the way of such things, it has all been repainted white.

On Monday it will open as Scuffs - a shoe shop for kids.

Glendales

We are not talking about the Yorkshire home of Postman Pat, but Abingdon's very own Glendale. It is a shop that sells electrical goods in West St Helens Street.

(This picture borrowed from Abingdon Walks). You can go in with a problem, and they'll know just the part you need, and have it in one of the little drawers or boxes behind the counter. Or if not, they can write it down in their little order book, and order it, and phone you when it is in. It carries on in an old fashioned sort of way.

Life is difficult at present because the Co-op next door is closed for rebuilding, and so fewer people need to come down their way. More people nowadays order electrical goods on the internet. They appear to be a couple of men, who are buying and selling the things that interest them, but really they need somebody to help make the window display sparkle, and get more punters in.

Saxton Road

Saxton Road was built from the Drayton Road end to the River Thames. It was built to rehouse people from the Ock Street area of Abingdon during a 1930s slum-clearance. The work on the new houses was not very far advanced when, in 1934, the remains of a Saxon cemetary was discovered - around about the grey shaded area of the plan above.

The road however is not Saxon Road, but Saxton Road, and is named after Sir Charles Saxton who lived for some time at Caldecott House.

Saxton Road grew into a long straight terrace of Council Housing, with side alleys.

It changed recently when it was designated a home-zone. There had been too many children hit by cars, and so about two thirds of the road was redesigned, and lots of central government money spent to beautify it and slow down the cars. Now it no longer looks like one long road.

The one big complaint after the redesign was the white powdery substance used to coat the pavements. For months afterwards it was getting trodden into the houses.

There are pavement tiles designed by local residents. The mound in the foreground is used by BMXers - prehaps not its intended use. But its 20 MPH, or should be safer...

It is the road in Abingdon where you could set a TV soap opera, and not need to bring in new characters every few weeks to make it interesting.

Bury Street Shopping Precinct

The precinct runs from the Market Place to an area called the Charter. The precinct was built in 1970, replacing demolished building such as the old fire station, the Corn Exchange, and Bury Street School.

Whereas many other shopping precincts have had a revamp, the Bury Street shopping centre maintains its original functional design.

The precinct belongs to a group called Threadneedle Properties, and being an investment company, they will need a fair return on any investment. There have been discussions between Threadneedle and the District Council, but no definite plans have emerged yet.

By the way, this map is a couple of months out of date. Clays Butchers has closed down. I'll remember them for the cold storage unit outside the shop full of cellophane wrapped meat. Woolworths and Superdrug are chopped off the map, otherwise it would have been too big for this blog.