Important Milestone in Future High Street Fund Plans
The Peel Café section of the FHSF programme has entered into it’s ‘build stage’ and represents an exciting time for our Town. As a Conservative Group we are futureproofing our Town with a focus on Leisure, Tourism and Heritage. We want to protect as much of our Town’s extensive heritage as possible, whilst also ensuring it is fit for the future.
Since the start of this project the Peel Café building was due to be partially demolished, due to extensive damage caused to the building in the 1960s/70s. Only the front first floor façade and an internal floor were actually from the original building. To allow machinery in and due to floor levels being uneven, the floors had to be removed. The brick façade on the first floor was rendered over around 60 years ago; rendering which damaged the original brickwork. In recent months it became clear that the front rendered façade on the first floor was unfortunately not in any fit state to be saved either. As that was the last original element of the building, it meant a full demolition took place. We believe comms were slow here, so we are changing some of the Council’s processes to ensure any FHSF planning requests from now on, no matter how small, will be put in front of the public facing Planning Committee.
To deliver on our commitment on Heritage and Tourism, the building will now be sympathetically rebuilt so that the first floor, roof and upper windows all match the original design we know from those old 1820s photos of Market Street – it will be put back to it’s Georgian glory to stand proud on our Market Street for the next several hundred years. For the even older properties on the opposite side of Market Street, from the 1700s, we have already approved additional spend to ensure these buildings are made to be safe and protected for the future.
With the new college build moving at pace, the Peel Café being built back to it’s orginal design, and demolition soon to start on the buildings on the corner near to Middle Entry, residents will start to see the fruits of all the hard work being put in.
Photos:
1) Plans for building to be out back in original style
2) Old photo showing the facade and roof before it was rendered in the 60s
