Gotta See The Show

Don't forget about the Christmas at Steam event this weekend at the Steam Museum. The Kentwood Show Choir will be singing on the Saturday, making a good reason to post this photo taken during rehearsals at the Wyvern Theatre last year.

Shiny Pictures To Let

From a perfect day in March at Kembrey Park

New & Old History

It's only been two years since these photographs were taken and already the regeneration has taken a bite out of the past. Some places and views have changed markedly, and others are exactly the same.

For New Falcon House, time stands still.

Whalebridge with the roundabout slowly vanishing. This view is no longer possible as the first stage of the Kimmerfields development sits in the wasteground at the front of the picture.

Don't trip over the kerb.

Broadgreen.

1980s Brutalism

1980s Brutalism (with shoulder pads)

Rail, Retail & Rubble

The former Clares site at North Star use to be a carriage works building before turning to making retail equipment. Although the buildings were demolished, the ground still yields lots of recent history.

This Isn't Just Any Shopfront... This Is An M&S Shopfront

One of the most decorative shopfronts on Swindon's Regent Street.

Firework or Palm Tree?

The Lost Streets of Swindon

When Ed Howell and I photographed the demolition of Swindon College at Regent Circus, we didn't expect to find an entire street hidden on the site.

As we walked on a soaking wet day around the front of the site, passed the flat roof library, at the back of Byron Street, the mud had been churned up by the bulldozers. 

They'd scraped away the top layer of soil and just a few inches under the surface was the brickwork of the houses of the now (nearly entirely) lost Byron Street. 

The flat-roofed library building, which the original line of Byron street went through from left to right.

The double-brickwork of houses from the 1960s-demolished Byron Street.

Byron Street now exists as a small stub at Regent Circus, but the original street went north to south through the former Swindon College site.

How Byron Street use to look in 1957. This is looking south towards Old Town.

For more details on the photograph above, visit the Swindon Local Flickr account here.

The Hidden Tunnels Just Beneath Our Feet In Swindon

We've got the well-known Old Town Tunnels, we've got the slightly less known GWR Tunnels underneath the former rail works site and we've also got our 1960s subterranean additions beneath Theatre Square.

Say What You See

Cranes, Coffee Chatter, Contractors and Churches

"Slightly more to the left, that's it."

Join the dots.

Duck impression!

Something is being planned outside Costa.

I'll Leave The Outside Light On For You

From the top of Swindon's Signal Point building on a chilly evening.

Baby On Board!

A cheeky little shoot with the 'Roundabout Babies' this morning to promote the Magic Roundabout t-shirts now available from Swindon Central Library's Visitor Information Centre.

Swindon's Regeneration : Last Year at Regent Circus.

It's a year ago this week that demolition work finished at the old Swindon College site at Regent Circus. Here's a selection of images, some not seen before, of the demolition from inside and out.

The main entrance onto the Regent Circus Car Park

Through the dust of demolition, the David Murray John building hovers in the background.

Building R4, or better known as the Victorian Technical College building.

The next generation takes a closer look.

The tiles of the kitchen are the last thing to be demolished.

The view from the rooftop. 

Demolition starts on the workshops at the back of Edmund Street.

Classrooms on the 4th level.

The final week's timetable for room 4.9.

A flyer for Soda nightclub on the 4th Level. Did you go that November night?

The quiet study area in the ground floor library.

The library.

The careers office.

Demolition starts on the main tower.

A piece of the main tower's flat room comes down.

The remains of the careers office amid the rubble of the main block.

The site manager makes one final walk across Regent Circus in the last week of work.