Pix of the day. Tuesday, February 10th

Richard Wyatt

[library picture]

For years l have championed the idea of promoting Bath’s ‘hidden’ retail corridors as ‘The Lanes’ in the same way as they do in Brighton.

A signposted guide into a group of narrow pathways that gives some idea of how the city’s pedestrian routes would have looked in medieval times. Lined today with shops, cafes and pubs.

The Bath BID and Parks Department do their best to bring flowers and foliage into this area and its disappointing to see shrubs deliberately uprooted and left to die on these planters’ troughs.

Published by Richard Wyatt

Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath. Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.

4 Comments

  1. ………with your first image also being a great example of how A-signs can often impede rather than attract footfall. Perhaps that might be a subject for BID to get involved with for the benefit of visitors, residents and our important independent businesses alike (who often just don’t seem to recognise that particular issue!).

  2. I agree with Malcolm. Try getting through that lot on a busy day in a wheelchair.

  3. Bridewell Lane is a disgrace used to be a popular walk in the Good Old Days of Bath but now nothing to be proud of!

  4. Two things to add here.
    First of all – A-boards. When I was in Bath Central Townswomen’s Guild, we were very active in trying to get things done. We got bottle banks into the city but more public toilets was a fail because the parties (then Labour and Conservative) took party lines over it. Butdespite our best efforts, no one in the council seemed interested in doing anything about A-boards. So we took to folding them up and putting them out of the way. It worked for a time but it needs persistence. There used to be an enormous one at the Broad Street end of Green Street which we targetted because it was so dangerous, and they eventually got the message.
    Secondly – flowers in the lanes. When Eileen’s plant shop and Leslie’s – men’s clothes shop – were there (a long time ago) they organised all the shops into providing funding for flower displays. At Christmas, there were lights. So how about it, traders? I’m sure the independents would be up for it, as they were then – but will big business? How about approaching firms like Caffè Nero, Skechers, and Route One for a donation?

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