General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

The present demolitions work on the the now former galleries has revealed something rather intriguing. No, nothing Roman, Saxon or Viking... not even mediaeval. But surprisingly it has revealed the tiles wall of the old arcade (the Smiths newsagent side). Amazingly this must have been built over (rather than removing) during the earlier 1970s centre precinct build. I do hope that someone is recording all this and every other aspect of the town's history. My dad's cousin (Frank Ryding) managed the Smiths newsagent back then in the arcade (he later opened his own stall in the market hall). The old arcade was a bit like Woolworths - you could buy virtually anything there in the tiny shops and stalls. It is very sad that we lost such a historic feature. Looking at old maps there was a pig market to lower end where the bottom Legs of Man was later built. It is worrying that these historic features are fast disappearing. I do hope that what we have left will be saved and favourably conserved.