Re: Re: Shopfront race to the bottom

The recent improvements to buildings on Dame Street are ongoing. I see the scaffold up above Toni and Guy and the adjoining vacant shop. Toni and Guy has a lovely decorative oriel window and it will be great to see it painted and the facade improved. The last occupier of the vacant unit was a kebab shop (one of many along Dame Street). Hopefully something more upmarket is planned.

And there are a few other notable additions to the streetscape about the city. Exchequer Street continues to retain a very high standard to shops and shopfronts. The latest additions to the street include The Green Hen (a very nice new French style bistro) and a very attractive use of green tiles further down the street for a new bakery and coffee shop (cant remember the name). They both add greatly to the quality of this street

Another noted building (though not really a shopfront) is the Bookend building (or at least its neighbour) on Essex/Wood Quay. This building was one of the more impressive new buildings in the city in the early 1990s as part of the Temple Bar development. Since then the constant traffic along the quays (including buses and lorries) had left the frontage dirty and worn. The shop/office units at street level are occupied by a solicitors but hardly make an impact on the street. The building was under scaffold for a few weeks over the past months and has now been revealed. The render facade has been cleaned and metalwork cleaned and repaired. Of interest are the new cyan coloured windows. I quite like them.

Further down the quays the former city council office at Wellington Quay are being remodelled with a rather bland and standard facade. Still, the original building was a bit of a blight on this section of the quays (a smaller section occupies a prominent point on Essex Street) and the remodeling is welcome. It would be good to see some improvement to the public realm along the quay here. Maybe some trees and greater width to allow for more life along this stretch.