WHO CARES?

Buildings left to rot
And the council does nothing
Typical these days! 


© Maureen Iles
08/04/18

This wonderful Listed Building, in Old Town, Swindon, was built in the mid 19th Century and known as The Corn Exchange and Town Hall and it was used for agricultural purposes until about 1910.  After that the name was changed and it was then known as The Rink and The Locarno and has been a cinema, a roller skating rink and also a dance hall.  Many well-known pop groups held concerts there and it was also used for wrestling matches and then as a bingo Hall - interestingly, the inscription above the door reads : "Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits"!

The building has been in a state of disrepair - and now dereliction after it was left empty for many years - since about the late 1990s.  Things got even worse when it suffered two fires in 2003 and 2004, both accidental, we are told.

Hopefully it will soon be restored to its former glory - but time will tell - we've heard it all before!

“Some ruins of ancient times 
     are much more beautiful 
          than the best buildings 
               of modern eras!” 
Mehmet Murat ildan