Rootes Planner

Today's image is of the old Rootes car showroom and workshops in Mill Road, Maidstone and is now Grade 2 listed for the following principal reasons (according the Historical England website):

 The building is of architectural interest as an example of a Modernist motorcar showroom and workshops which retains a significant proportion of its original fabric. The building is of architectural interest due to its grand scale, town-centre location and picturesque setting adjacent to the Len mill pond, which distinguishes it from other buildings associated with the motorcar industry during this phase of early motoring. The building is a prominent manifestation of a hugely successful British car manufacturer, built in a period when the expansion of car ownership was having a the revolutionary impact on the physical and social fabric of the nation.

It was built between 1938 and 1939 and had previously been the site of a tannery. 
Rootes itself was started in 1895 by William Rootes Senior, who owned a cycle and repair shop in Goudhurst, Kent but the business soon moved into motor cars and by the 1920's Rootes had become Britain's largest motor retailers.
When the new showroom opened on Mill Street it prided itself on offering "models for the masses and millionaires".
By the 1930's the motor industry had embraced modernist architecture with new materials and technologies. The size of the showroom floor, which has no supporting columns, combined with an elegant streamlined exterior and, at night, 700 feet of neon tubing outlining the frontage and spelling out the name "ROOTES" on the tower above the entrance must have been an impressive sight. I would love to have seen it in it's heyday.
The current plans are to convert the showroom and workshops into 159 apartments with high interior spaces, a roof extension and on the ground floor a restaurant, shops and a boardwalk which will jut out over the mill pond. It has the potential to look incredible.

Our local pub, The Chequers in Aylesford, has now reopened for drinking and dining on it's new outdoor heated terrace (with riverside view). Me and my sister decided to give it a try and went for brunch. My sister had Huevos Rancheros (crispy corn tortilla, smashed avocado, mixed bean and chorizo salsa, two fried eggs and Monterey Jack cheese) and I had a full English (two fired eggs, two sausages, two hash browns, beans, a large tomato, mushrooms and sourdough toast). Both brilliant value at £8.00 each and absolutely delicious!