The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Hole in the skyline

Directly opposite the bus station
there's a hole. 
A gap in the long familiar skyline.

There used to be a pub there,
a chunky two storey block of a building
with many rooms.

Fifty years ago it was a proper pub,
two bars downstairs, an off-sales hatch,
the landlord's living accommodation upstairs;

Then it went bad...

Renowned for drug sales and fighting,
The police parked there of an evening,
the mesh-screened riot van,
carrying a dozen burly coppers,
waiting for closing time.

The council fought a running battle
over who, exactly, owned the licence,
and the physical premises for that matter.
A constant change of owner,
on paper, thwarted any closure orders.

In the upper rooms, 
cold-eyed men on the doors,
drugs passed around, traded freely,
and the security film was always 'lost'.

Downstairs the massive bouncers kept order,
and suffered a great deal of injury themselves.
A few weeks there without injury, 
or bring dragged into court,
looked good on your CV.
Clearly a  man, or in some cases woman, 
'not to be messed with'.

Eventually, one of the transient 'owners',
who spoke no English,
and had no idea of his legal status,
was found and dragged into court.

The whole legal 'house of cards' collapsed,
the pub was closed, locked down tight.
and, before even squatters could move in,
the council, and police, inspected the premises.

Declared unsafe the entire building,
an electrical disaster waiting to happen,
a mares' nest of health and safety violations,
was demolished with indecent haste.

Not quite overnight, but within a few days.

The site was levelled, tarmacced,
and is now a useful car park,
which the locals still avoid using.

I wonder if others still feel it, 
a looming memory of what was, 
in the hole in the skyline.

Gyppo
 

Enjoyable slice of urban history.