Then and now. Miller Arcade.

With humble apologies to SparkyMarkie. This is harder than it looks. The problem I had was in getting the card and the building in focus. It is so dark today that I had to push the ISO up to 800. I will try again on a better day. Meanwhile, this is the Miller Arcade in Preston. it came into being because of a competition to design "the best planned, fireproof arcade" and this was the winner. The site had been bought by a wealthy dentist Nathaniel Miller, who wanted to sell the site to the council. The council did not and so Miller developed the site himself. The building housed a coldstore and Turkish Baths in the basement, shops on the ground floor and a hotel on the 1st floor. The building designed by Edwin Bush, was modelled on the burlington Arcade in London. It was a flamboyant, ornate quality build, and still looks remarkable today with many Art Deco features. As a child I remember that buses terminated around the arcade, and then when the iconic bus station opened in the late 60's, the arcade regretably fell into disrepair. However, it was tastefully restored to coincide with the 1972 Guild. At the current time the arcade is once again struggling to survive and a lot of the shops are empty, and the arcade is up for sale for 10.5 million I believe. The building is beautiful and in its time was a very popular meeting place. It was featured in the film "A kind of loving" and even today offers the chance to sit quietly in contemplation amidst the very pleasant surroundings. The building manager has told me that it was being considered for student accommodation, and the grade 2 listed building has outline planning permission to convert the empty 1st floor offices into flats. In the image you can see the clock tower of the gothic town hall. It was arguably the most beautiful building in the town and reminiscent of the splendid buildings one sees in France and Belgium.