A former neighbourhood electrical repair shop is set to be turned into two homes.
Electrical Motor Rewinds on Islingword Road has been empty now for a couple of years.
Its owners Mr and Mrs Boyle have applied for permission to turn it into a three-bedroom maisonette. The one bedroom flat above will remain as it is.
In recent years, Islingword Road has lost several of its shops and pubs. The London Unity and Horse and Groom have both been sold by Enterprise Inns, although the latter has just been listed as an asset of community value.
The pianola shop and the second hand boutique The Changing Room and sports equipment shop Bee on the Jack have also closed in recent years.
Sounds like the community here is ignoring its local assets and shopping too much on line, drinking too much from supermarkets etc and so forth. They have reaped what they have sowed. And now they would like to reimagine the past and recreate the future. We need housing desperately and those people comfortably ensconced in their homes with nostalgic/romantic views seem to be immune of the needs of young people or immigrants [shock horror for some – I support immigration and what it adds to society, the economy etc] or people otherwise in need of housing. Save old electric shop, abandoned pub etc is a familiar theme which is chafing on me. Use it or lose it. Once it’s gone that’s it, over.
What a tragedy that the pianola shop has been lost – pianolas play a vital role in the community and without a local shop to service the needs of pianola players in the Muslei Mountain area, many of them will have to eat chips or take up drinking instead. Why oh why can’t someone start a petition to save these things?