A survival - a photo on Flickriver

A survival

            Some years ago ...according to the "Properties" of the file, the photograph was taken in February 2007... I was thinking of the Dolcis store in Broadmead, a stylish design by Ellis Somake.  It was about the most distinguished of the shops of Bristol's postwar shopping centre.  Admittedly, considering the company it kept, this was not saying much.  I hadn't noticed it recently, which probably meant it had been remodelled and was now indistinguishable from the rest of the Broadmead tat.  I determined to have a look next time I was there.  My conjecture proved accurate and the building's elegant recessed entrance, with its fine incised lettering, had disappeared behind a new frontage at the building line, designed to maximize retail floor space.  Greed again.
While I was there I noticed the shop three doors down, in the centre of this view and now occupied by Clinton Cards.  It was nothing to write home about, but the fenestration was a little superior to that of the neighbouring shops, and it had a rudimentary cornice.  It looked almost 30s rather than 50s ...but then, I'd always had difficulty telling the one from the other.  Anyway, I popped off a photo.
This morning, over my Kellog's Just Right, I was browsing through Reece Winstone's Bristol As It Was, 1940-1960 and came across a photo (Plate 228) showing this rank of shops in 1953.  The caption mentioned "Alexandre, the tailor, in the only building that survived the blitz and redevelopment".  It had been an ARP headquarters throughout the war.  Well, I'm blowed!  I remember Alexandre and, in the late 60s, used to deliver to the shop for my first employer.  Our drivers found it embarrassing to pronounce the name correctly and just said "Alexander".  This, then, was a leftover ...and the only one (excluding the deliberately preserved Greyhound Hotel)... of the prewar Broadmead.  It's a pity it's a relatively new building, but if it had been older it would not have survived.  Perhaps this interesting little factoid is fairly generally known, but it came as news to me.
   

Taken on: March 5, 2007

Tags:

Bristol

Broadmead

shop

shopping centre « less

Groups appears in: • Bristol • Shops and Shopping!

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9500, f/2.9, 1/480 sec, 6.8mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm FinePix S9500
Aperture:	f/2.9
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/480)
Focal Length:	6.8mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 Windows
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