Monthly Archives: February 2013

Wasn’t it grand!

Wasn’t it grand!

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Colmers of Union Street in 1970.

Colmers of Union Street in 1970.

Who amongst our Bath and district readers remembers the department store called Colmer’s which graced Union Street for over a hundred years! My thanks to Mr John Sartain for coming across ‘The Colmers Story’ – a specially produced booklet published in 1970 to celebrate the centenary of the struggling  drapery and furnishing business acquired by James Colmer in 1870. It was to bear his name until 1973 when it was taken over by Owen and Owen. Both stores are no more but the building IS still in the retail business.

An image from the 1920's

An image from the 1920’s

An advertisement from the 1920’s has an amazing list of departments on display. Everything from furs, ribbons and wools to shawls, skirts and corsets. There was stationery and toys, flannelettes and flannels and kid and fabric gloves. James Colmer was a Devon boy who learned the drapery trade in London before diving in to the department store business in Bath – a city which also had Jolly and Son and Evans and Owen up and running for James to compete with.

So successful was he – and his son after him – that shop after shop along Union Street came into the Colmers embrace. In 1914 a new shop front covered all the property under one name. In the 1930’s a complete re-build got underway. Though pitted with shrapnel the store escaped serious war damage and emerged to prosper and grow with new branches in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. There was also more growth at the Bath store with an extension and two new floors. Another branch opened in Taunton.

Union Street today. The Colmer's building with new occupants beneath!

Union Street today. The Colmer’s building with new occupants beneath!

The 'famous' Saturday menu from 1963.

The ‘famous’ Saturday menu from 1963.

Tucked into the anniversary brochure was a copy of a menu for a ‘Colmers popular 5 shilling luncheon’. The store was also well-known for its restaurant. Lamb and haddock amongst the delights on offer for Saturday, February 2nd, 1963.

Moore for Bath

Moore for Bath

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A touring exhibition of Henry Moore’s inspirational work from the Arts Council Collection will make its only stop in the west of England at Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Victoria Art Gallery, from 13 April to 23 June 2013. Under the new proposals agreed upon at the recent B&NES Budget Meeting you will be charged £3.50 admission to this exhibition too.

MOORE, Henry Women winding wool 1948 drawing Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

MOORE, Henry Women winding wool 1948 drawing Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London

Henry Moore (1898-1986) is one of Britain’s most celebrated and pioneering modern artists and a key figure for the Arts Council Collection; with sculptures and works on paper spanning five decades, Moore was an important advisor to the acquisitions committee during the early 1950s, shaping the sculpture collection by advocating the acquisition of a significant group of post-war British sculpture by artists including Kenneth Armitage, Lynn Chadwick and Barbara Hepworth.

The show at the Victoria Art Gallery brings together the Collection’s complete holdings of sculptures and works on paper, spanning four decades. Seen together, for the first time in their entirety the works provide a succinct history of Henry Moore’s practice between 1927 and 1962, with key creative developments and themes visible in both two and three dimensions.

Councillor Cherry Beath (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, said: “Bath & North East Somerset Council is proud that the Victoria Art Gallery is able to offer this rare opportunity for people in the west to appreciate such an incredible exhibition of Henry Moore’s work as it approaches the climax of its nationwide tour.”

In the 1930s Moore was a member of Unit One, a group of advanced artists organized by Paul Nash, and was a close friend of Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, and the critic Herbert Read. From 1932 to 1939 he taught at the Chelsea School of Art and became an important force in the English Surrealist movement.

Moore became an official war artist in 1940 and was commissioned to produce drawings of life in underground bomb shelters. In 1943 he received a commission from the Church of St. Matthew, Northampton, to carve a Madonna and Child; this sculpture was the first in an important series of family-group sculptures.

He won the International Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale of 1948 and produced several important public commissions in the 1950s, among them Reclining Figure, 1956–58, for the UNESCO Building in Paris. In 1963 Henry Moore was awarded the British Order of Merit.

Henry Moore's Stringed Figure 1938

Henry Moore’s Stringed Figure 1938

Admission to the Moore exhibition, from 13 April to 23 June 2013, costs £3.50. Alongside the exhibition, the Victoria Art Gallery will also be showing artworks by the Bath-based painter Charlotte Sorapure and Warminster-based artist Julia Atkinson.

The Victoria Art Gallery, near Pulteney Bridge in Bath, is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sundays 1.30pm to 5pm and closed on Mondays.The standing collection upstairs is still free to view. For more details call 01225 477233 or visit the Gallery’s website www.victoriagal.org.uk.

Goodbye to the old ‘Destructor’ and hello to a new Victoria Bridge.

Goodbye to the old ‘Destructor’ and hello to a new Victoria Bridge.

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The 'doomed' Destructor Bridge across the River Avon.

The ‘doomed’ Destructor Bridge across the River Avon.

Bath’s old Destructor Bridge – which links the Upper and Lower Bristol roads into the city – is due to close for demolition, as part of the Western Riverside. It is going to be replaced with a new structure big enough to take two-way traffic with a cycle-way and pedestrian access.

How the new 'coat-hanger' bridge will look.

How the new ‘coat-hanger’ bridge will look.

A new exhibition has opened at the Museum of Bath at Work – close to the Assembly Rooms – which features an illustration of that replacement bridge. For my money the new one – a new steel arch truss bridge – will soon have a nick-name of its own as it looks like a giant white coat-hanger.

This new exhibition, however,  is much more about the Victoria suspension bridge nearby and about the man who designed it – James Dredge – but let’s just finish talking about the Destructor Bridge first.

Seems this ‘unlisted’ structure cannot be economically strengthened, refurbished or widened to fulfill the need for a vehicle lane in each direction – plus improved access for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Destructor Bridge with the last remaining - and soon to be demolished - gasometer behind.

The Destructor Bridge with the last remaining – and soon to be demolished – gasometer behind.

The old iron truss bridge dates back to the 1870’s and was originally an integral part of the Midland Railway – and installed to provide road access to the Bath terminus at Green Park Station. It was sold in 1905, when it was deemed unsuitable for Midland Railway purposes, and moved to Midland Road.

It was named the ‘Destructor bridge’ as it then joined the city’s recycling yard to a giant incinerator situated across the river. The incinerator was known as a ‘Destructor’ thereby providing the bridge’s new title.

A wonderful three-dimensional model at the Museum of Bath at Work shows the bridge in relation to the incinerator and the old gasworks behind.

The three-dimensional model showing the Destructor Works and gasworks beyond.

The three-dimensional model showing the Destructor Works and gasworks beyond.

The last standing gasometer, which still makes its substantial mark on the sky-line behind the old bridge, will also disappear soon as part of the riverside ‘regeneration’.

The new bridge – to quote the written information on the exhibition boards –  will be ‘understated and forms part of an overall environment that is balanced and well-mannered, respecting the natural landscape setting of the river corridor as well as the new architecture of the Bath Western Riverside development. This is achieved through the clean simple lines of the new design, it’s spare detailing and structural features like the steel plate hangers, whose proportions echo the deep window openings of the new Bath Western Riverside vernacular, itself a contemporary interpretation of the much-loved Georgian style.’

View of the exhibition at the Museum of Bath at Work.

View of the exhibition at the Museum of Bath at Work.

That’s quite a sales pitch and this is actually quite a detailed exhibition which celebrates the successes, and often the failures, of James Dredge  – the Bath brewer who built the nearby Victoria Bridge to carry beer from his brewery across the Avon without using a ferry or having to detour through the city centre.

This bridge – which is  150 feet in length and  cost £1,760 to erect – features Dredge’s unique ‘Taper principle’ which is based on using wrought-iron suspension chains rather than cables.  It apparently made a bridge cheaper and quicker to build.The cables are slung from Bath stone towers and the road deck is joined to the cables by iron rods which, unusually, are not vertical. The deck is made of wooden planks.

The Victoria Bridge under refurbishment.

The Victoria Bridge under refurbishment.

This one across the Avon went up in 1836 but seven years earlier Dredge was one of several civil engineers competing to build a new bridge a little further down river at Clifton in Bristol. A Mr Isambard Kingdom Brunel got that job!

While Brunel turned also to building ships and railways,  James Dredge went on to design over 50 bridges and piers in his life – including a contract to link Birnbeck Island with the mainland at Weston-super-Mare.

He didn’t get very far before his  pier construction works were swept away in a storm in 1847. Dredge was accused of being incompetent and was sued for the £1,450 he had been given up front! He was declared bankrupt in 1849 and his claimants got back just £23 3s and 11d of their investment.

How the Victoria Bridge should look when work is finished.

How the Victoria Bridge should look when work is finished.

It is good to know that his Victoria Bridge in Bath will be retained and refurbished. It was closed to users in 2010 because of safety concerns but now – after much uncertainty – an internal structure has been fitted to render it usable during restoration work which will hopefully soon have it back in working order.

Referring once more to the written accounts now featured on the highly-visual boards on display at the exhibition, it is interesting to read just how important the much-ignored river through the city has now become.

I quote: ‘The majority of Bath’s key future development sites share a relationship with the river. The re-integration of the riverscape will help to re-invigorate the role of the river, its bridges and adjoining buildings as spaces within the city’s public life.’

The 'regeneration' of the riverside.

The ‘regeneration’ of the riverside.

‘The River Avon, through the ages has been bridged and the chronology of bridge construction is played out through the structures that have existed on the river through the city. The regeneration of Bath Riverside will mark the next chapter in this story, replacing the Destructor Bridge with a new structure and contributing to the refurbishment of Victoria Bridge. As Bath Riverside progresses west, the removal of the Pipe Bridge and replacement with a pedestrian footbridge will open up new public realms and parks along the river.

Possible new bridges may also be added to extend this chronology into the future providing the city with a celebration of continued engineering, design and innovation.’

Another view of the exhibition.

Another view of the exhibition.

Wow. It’s impressive language but go judge for yourselves. The exhibition ‘James Dredge and the Victoria Bridge – Past, Present and Future‘ is on from March 1st to May 31st. It is open from 10.30 am until 4pm and admission is free!

In the meantime l am hoping that  a use could at least be found for the decorative ends of the old Destructor Bridge on the Upper Bristol Road side.

Using these in some way as a memorial to the old Destructor?

Using these in some way as a memorial to the old Destructor?

Some way of using them as a memorial to another  passing of what is left of Bath’s industrial age. This is an old bridge that has served a railway and a city well. The exhibition has a suggestion box and l would urge you to use it!

A press release on the subject has now arrived from B&NES and l will add it for you to consider.

Take part in history – comment on Victoria Bridge proposals

People are being invited by Bath & North East Somerset Council to view and comment upon the proposals for the refurbishment of Victoria Bridge and proposals for the replacement of the Destructor Bridge from 1st March – 24th March 2013.

The plans follow the Council approving its budget which approved funding that took the investment in Victoria Bridge to £3.4 million. They are being displayed as part of an exhibition at the Museum of Bath at Work on celebrated engineer and designer of the bridge, James Dredge.

Extensive research by the Council into the history of Victoria Bridge, including the life and work of James Dredge will present many historical illustrations of the bridge rarely seen at the Museum of Bath at Work, Julian Road alongside the designs. The research has helped shape the refurbishment which takes into account the heritage of the bridge.

Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Transport, said, “The engineering expertise of the past is shaping the future refurbishment of this important bridge. Bath & North East Somerset Council has delved into history to support our aims of making the city more appealing for people on foot and who use bicycles.

“Victoria Bridge is a vital connection between communities on either side of the River Avon. It supports sustainable travel to Bath Riverside that in the coming years will support thousands of new homes and jobs for local people.

“The structure has a high heritage value which played a significant part in the story of the city’s industrial development and advanced bridge engineering through the Victorian era. The exhibition is a unique opportunity for people to explore history and have their say on these multi-million pound projects.”

Get involved – exhibition details

The Victoria Bridge Exhibition, including proposals for the replacement of Destructor Bridge with a two way traffic bridge with pedestrian and cycle ways is open Friday to Sunday only, 10.30am – 5pm. Anyone who cannot attend the exhibition can view the plans online at www.bathnes.gov.uk/victoriabridge

Although the opportunity to comment closes on 24th March, the exhibition continues until May 23rd – more details at www.bathatwork.org.uk

Nothing to look up to?

Nothing to look up to?

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What is it about Bath and public statues? Pop down the road to Bristol and have a quick look around College Green and the centre by the Bristol Hippodrome. Take a stroll around Queens Square or dodge the traffic to take a peek at what is displayed at the top of Queens Road. You will see example after edifying example of notable figures –  royal, military, mythological or locals who have done well in business, politics or show business – immortalised as public statues.

Queen Victoria on Bristol's College Green.

Queen Victoria on Bristol’s College Green.

Many of these are expensive bronzes, sitting on top of impressive  marble plinths, and there for us to express the emotions of admiration and respect. Past examples of citizens who are still able – beyond the grave – to  lead by example, to inspire and  certainly give us something to look up to.

Queen Victoria on College Green may constantly get her marble fingers broken off and Edward Colston – in the Centre – suffer the indignity of ‘slaver’ written in red paint about his person – but these are familiar examples of street furniture that are still interacted with AND visible – if only to make a political point or entertain vandals.

Edward Colston in Bristol.

Edward Colston in Bristol.

You will find bronzes in Bath but only as name plaques attached above doors to lodgings and other places where notables may have only just popped in for a cup of tea! Fair enough, Thomas Gainsborough the artist did live in the city for many years. Pitt the elder was here for a while – as was a rather reluctant resident called Jane Austen – but the point l am making is why has Bath not celebrated its own celebrities with the full ‘marble monty?’

Queen Victoria's niche at the Victoria Art Gallery

Queen Victoria’s niche at the Victoria Art Gallery

I have only lived here for a year, and may well have missed something, but  – with the exception of Rebecca at her fountain promoting the city’s main liquid resource – l cannot think of a single long-standing statue on a plinth in a public space? There are statues but they all cling to walls or stare down – like potential suicides – from the edge of a roof. Queen Victoria does not exactly get pride of place at the Victoria Gallery. To find her you have to go around the corner and she is half way up a  shade-covered wall. ‘Justice’ is another one of those suicidal sculptures, this time teetering on the edge of the Guildhall – though thankfully held on with an iron bar.

Are we doing 'Justice' justice?

Are we doing ‘Justice’ justice?

Roman generals and Caesars line the Victorian stone ballustrades added to enhance the original and ancient Great Roman Bath but you cannot call that a real public space. Nor would l call them good examples of public sculpture. More stone images – of saints and a king – peer down from the West Front of Bath Abbey and l spotted some allegorical figures in niches on a building in Quiet Street – including what looks like Mercury about to end it all by jumping off the top.

Maybe we have to accept that the two cities had their own individual ways of  publicly expressing themselves. Bristol with its history of self-made men and merchants trying to out-do each other in wealth, impressive residences and patronage. England’s once proud second city out to discover and conquer the world.

Beau Nash in his Pump Room niche.

Beau Nash in his Pump Room niche.

Here in Bath all the effort was in turning the city into a major tourist attraction and providing the facilities for outsiders to find good lodgings within; to be roundly entertained and encouraged to spend, spend and spend. The city then appears to have beoame a giant retirement home while Bristol was busily building ships, railways and planes.

A 'bronze' of Jane Austen.

A ‘bronze’ of Jane Austen.

Outward looking city versus inward looking? Maybe – but in Bath’s case no less a community, displaying no less a talent for enterprise. So l ask, where are the statues to celebrate the men who created that Georgian period of  incredible expansion. Sorry this is not meant to sound sexist. Why aren’t the trees in The Circus felled to make way for  a plinth to support both John Wood – father and son? John the Elder – a son of Bath –  had wanted an equestrian statue for that location anyway.

Meanwhile our illustrious Georgian host Beau Nash, has found immortality of sorts, but don’t we owe him something better than spending eternity on display in another little niche  half way up the wall in the Pump Room?

English: Crane at Floating Harbour, Bristol On...

Yes – Bristol seems to have more of them than we do! Crane at Floating Harbour, Bristol One of four landmark cranes at the waterside,made by Stothert & Pitt, in Bath, 1951 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bristol, of course, now celebrates its industrial as well as its more muted but varied architectural past. Everything from Brunel’s Great Britain to Concorde are on display in the city in which they were built. We at least have a Bath-made  Stothert and Pitt crane on display in our city – down the river-bank  somewhere near Sainsbury’s. The former docklands of Bristol have even more of them ! Ours is a worthy if  less-prominent memorial to a period of  home-grown industrial energy.

The Southgate 'swimmer'.

The Southgate ‘swimmer’.

The only statues on the ground appear to be the street artists who ‘freeze’ in their spray-painted poses to entertain the summer tourists. Though l have to say,  on one corner of the new Southgate Shopping Centre, the first  real plinth has appeared. Upon it – a mixture of classical physique and abstract form celebrating an Olympic swimmer -and no doubt the fading memory that Bath had something to do with hosting some of those competing in the London Olympics of 2013. The torso – unsurprisingly in Bath stone  – has not commanded much respect. It is already looking both scuffed and shabby.

Of course such objects of public display are not cheap. There are ‘organising committee minutes’ a plenty to show us that the Victorians in Bristol often found it difficult to raise funds for their little-bursts-of-public-veneration energy. In the midst of today’s  economic doldrums there won’t be many supporting street art as a sound  financial investment for the future.

Ultimately, I raise this subject to promote debate and argument. It is but a personal opinion and l stand ready to be corrected or supported. Over to you Bath!

Amongst our chandeliers.

Amongst our chandeliers.

Posted on by • Posted in history, The Gallery

I wonder how many people know how a faulty chandelier in a Bath ballroom came close to ending the career of one of Britain’s greatest artists?

The chandeliers in the Ballroom at the Assembly Rooms!

The chandeliers in the Ballroom at the Assembly Rooms!

The ballroom in question is set within the Assembly Rooms – a place of entertainment opened in 1771 – to cater for all the people rapidly filling the new homes being built on Lansdown HIll.

People danced, gambled and drank tea beneath a set of nine crystal chandeliers from the Whitefriars Glassworks in London. Today they are considered to be one of the finest sets to have survived from the 18th century and each chandelier is valued at £500,000.

The Bath Season – the agreed time on the  Georgian social calendar when people came to take the waters – ran from October to June. Spanning the dark winter months, and with so many events organised for the evenings, it was obviously important to have good illumination.

Grand ballrooms demanded grandiose displays of lighting. Originally the ballroom contract was given to Jonathan Collett and the tearoom to William Parker – both from London.

Thomas GainsboroughA 'self-portrait' 1759

Thomas Gainsborough
A ‘self-portrait’ 1759

Our Mr Collett originally provided a set of five chandeliers for the ballroom which opened in September  1771. The Assembly Rooms designed by John Wood the Younger – by the way.  Shortly afterwards the arm of one of the newly hung chandeliers fell off and narrowly missed the artist Thomas Gainsborough – who lived nearby in The Circus – and must have been dancing below.

The lustres were taken down and the ballroom contract offered instead to William Parker. The Council had wanted to demand  all their money back but – as this would have bankrupted Jonathan Collett – he was allowed to rescue glass from the dismantled chandeliers in the ballroom to construct a single drop to light up all the card games in the Octagon.

The chandeliers in all three very impressive rooms are each an average height of eight feet and were, of course, originally lit by candles. Each chandelier in the ballroom and tearoom held 40 candles and the single drop in the Octagon 48. During evening functions in the 18th century eleven-hour candles were used. This meant they burnt for 7 hours on a ball night but still had four hours for a three-hour concert the next day – allowing for time to arrive and depart.

In Victorian times they were converted to gas and were fixed to the ceiling but, when converted to electricity, they were fitted with a steel cable so they can be lowered for cleaning.

Lowering one of the ballroom chandeliers. © Heritage Services, B&NES

Lowering one of the ballroom chandeliers. © Heritage Services, B&NES

Twice a year they are carefully brought down to floor level and the firm of  Brotheridge Chandeliers of Skelmersdale  – who have looked after the crystal for more than 20 years – has the job of removing each piece of cut glass and dipping them into warm water to which a small amount of mild detergent has been added. They are then dried with a soft cotton cloth and replaced.

The company has fitted new winches which are designed to hold a weight ten times greater than each chandelier. There is no chance of the Assembly Rooms seeing one fall as happened in the classic British television episode of ‘Only Fools and Horses- which many visitors mention!

The exquisite crystal is dismantled for cleaning. © Heritage Services, B&NES.

The exquisite crystal is dismantled for cleaning. © Heritage Services, B&NES.

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War the chandeliers were taken down – along with all the valuable paintings within the Assembly Rooms – and stored in the Combe Down stone mines. We have that precaution to thanks for their survival as the buildings were subsequently gutted by incendiary bombs during the Bath blitz of 1942.

During the refurbishment of the building in 1988-91 the chandeliers were restored by R.Wilkinson and Sons of London.

Originally each chandelier must have had the means of being lowered for candles to be lit or replaced. From 1771 winches must have been operated six times a week to light them and probably 3 or 4 times to remove and insert candles. Why the difference between lighting and changing?  There were ll hour candles available. These were recommended for events which lasted for five hours as they could be used on consecutive days. For the Assembly Rooms, with balls from 6pm until 11pm sharp, they probably burned from 5.30pm to 11.30pm and then were extinguished. Perhaps, on the following night, they would have been used for a concert. As such a musical event started at 7.30pm – the four hours remaining would have been enough.

Some of the detail on a chandelier. © Heritage Services, B&NES.

Some of the detail on a chandelier. © Heritage Services, B&NES.

With each chandelier holding at least 40 candles – if all the chandeliers were lit – a minimum of 400 candles must have been burning at one time. The cost of 11-hour candles was 2s 10d for four. So we have £55 plus for lighting and, multiply that by whatever the inflationary figure is today, and a staggering sum is reached!

Just imagine the heat from three fireplaces and all the candles AND the packed bodies of the assembly!

Ms Audrey Woods. A member of the Mayor of Bath's Corps of Honorary Guides.

Ms Audrey Woods. A member of the Mayor of Bath’s Corps of Honorary Guides.

My thanks to Audrey Woods – a member of the Mayor of Bath’s Corps of Honorary Guides – for much of the information contained in this article. Also to the Fashion Museum via http://www.museumofcostume.co.uk/assemble_rooms/chandeliers.aspx  and to Maggie Bone  who is Museums Publicity Officer for Heritage Services and kindly supplied the photographs.

New town development to include mini-museum?

New town development to include mini-museum?

Posted on by • Posted in Breaking news......., history

Another B&NES councillor from Keynsham has commented on the need for the town to have some form of museum to display its historic past.

Cllr Charles Gerrish, Conservative - Keynsham North, B&NES

Cllr Charles Gerrish, Conservative – Keynsham North, B&NES

Cllr Charles Gerrish- a Conservative member for Keynsham North – told the Virtual Museum that the need for a museum  in the town had long been a topic of discussion.

‘However,’ he said, ‘the issue of on-going funding to make it viable has always been the dilemma. The positive news is that, as part of the new town centre development, the library/one-stop-shop will be used to display some of Keynsham’s artifacts – including the (Roman) villa floor that it is proposed will be sunk into the new floor and then covered with transparent material to ensure visability.

New lamps for old?

New lamps for old?

Posted on by • Posted in Breaking news.......

The Virtual Museum has already revealed how B&NES is consulting local residents associations and heritage groups to draw up guidelines ‘on what any replacement street lights should look like and the levels of light produced by them in the City of Bath Conservation area.’

We were told B&NES ‘ already installs heritage lamps and lanterns in some streets in order to uphold the qualities of the World Heritage site’  but that apparently there is ‘no guidance available to communities about what type of lighting they can expect in their street.’

The contemporary lamp now in front of the north side of Bath Abbey.

The contemporary lamp now in front of the north side of Bath Abbey.

Fine so far but can someone explain to me why a strongly contemporary lamp-post has been erected outside the north side of the Abbey? Clearly this is within the conservation area and World heritage site but not too sure it ‘upholds the qualities’ of the historic area it will help illuminate.

Why isn’t the light the same as the more traditional lantern outside the Guildhall just across the road? This morning l asked one of the workmen involved in the new pedestrianisation scheme what he thought was happening. Turns out – in his opinion – the new lamp is only a temporary measure. Maybe this scheme too awaits the outcome of producing the new guidelines.

I took the opportunity of asking what was happening to the old paving – currently separated form the new by tarmac slopes.

The old and the new meet on the High Street!

The old and the new meet on the High Street!

Again – a mind of information! They want to get the new paving in place for people to walk on before seeing to the old. Sounds to me like a ‘proper job’ could be in prospect!

The more traditional street lamp outside Bath Guildhall.

The more traditional street lamp outside Bath Guildhall.