Dirty Old Town

Bristol's Old Gas Works


"I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
 
Clouds a drifting across the moon
Cats a prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl in the street at night
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
 
Heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
 
I'm going to make me a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
Will chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
 
I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town"


Ewan McColl - Dirty Old Town


This great song (originally about Salford) has been much covered after being popularised by the Dubliners, here though is a link to the Pogues version.  It seems rather appropriate for this early Derelict Sunday blip as this is a shot of Bristol's old gas works' wall.  It is currently derelict, and has been for a long, long time.  It is practically the last remaining bit of Bristol's Floating Harbour to be regenerated.  


The site is heavily contaminated inevitable and that combined with the desire of the planning officers to retain as much of the building fabric as possible has perhaps inevitably meant that there have been plenty of other easier and more profitable sites for developers to risk their money on.  Work has still not started on this last pocket of dereliction, although consents for its redevelopment have been in place for a while.


The extra is another shot of the site, this time taken inside the hoardings that prevent access.  To take it, I have had to squeeze camera and hand through a narrow gap and operate the camera single handily.  Inevitably there was not much I could do to improve the framing of the subject.  But it is a rarely seen view of the interior of this old part of Bristol.

With many thanks to Rainie for hosting the Derelict Sunday challenge during the past month