The old alleys of St Peter Port #14

This is right in the heart of Guernsey's Finance Centre, or The City and I'm always intrigued why these two old houses remain in their derelict state. Maybe a family dispute, an old miser holding out for more money, what do you think?

Although it has some nice leading lines this photograph isn't particularly remarkable (well actually pretty ordinary) but it can tell a few stories. 

In common with many buildings here these had cellars and on the right just beyond the leading lines, one was opened up to become the Cellar Club. THE place to be in the sixties. It was never licensed so people either nipped across the road to The Swan (in the left foreground) or smuggled their tipple past Slim, the doorman and his German Shepherd. For a while they even opened at lunchtime so we used to spend our break dancing, drinking coffee and pretending to be sophisticated.

The white building in the middle of the pic is States Insurance (Social Security) but I remember it as houses and my great aunt Alice had a room on the ground floor for a while.

In the middle of the road you can see an arrow, which is actually yellow. This indicates that you are coming to a yellow line but not a yellow line painted on the kerb; this one is across the end of the road and is our equivalent of a STOP line. 

This is all just across the road from where I live.