Hertford blog Archives - John Barber, Author

Hertford Saved! – Doomed!

So, after 6 years a development on the Bircherley Green Shopping Centre site was given the green light on 25th June 2020.

I sat through 2 hours of the Development Management Committee and frankly learned nothing that I didn’t know already.

It confirmed two things. One it was not viable to offer affordable housing and two, there would be no Section 106 monies.

On the other hand some of the discussion centred around points that had already been explained in the planning application and representations from consultees.

That is apart from Folly Island which will now be overlooked by a four storey edifice about which there was little comment on the design.

I don’t know what I was expecting – I tell a lie. I knew exactly what was going to happen.

A 1961 film – The Day the Earth Caught Fire – made during the height of the Cold War reflected common fears about the nuclear arms race and possible harmful effects of nuclear weapons testing.

It was set in a newspaper office and the newspaper editor prepares two headlines: “World Saved” and “World Doomed.”

Here is my take on things:

I wasn’t sure which one to use so printed both.

I am not convinced that two large residential blocks are going to regenerate Hertford town centre as a destination.

The one underlying theme about the meeting which became more consistent as the evening wore on was this: ‘anything will be better than what we have now’.

I can’t say that I subscribe to that view which was aired by many councillors.

Since 2014 many designs have been discarded by the conservative elements in town who have wrung their hands over the destruction of the Hertford Town Centre Conservation Area. There was no mention of that last night.

So, if the original application had been approved instead of being chipped away by those that had our best interests at heart we would have a development built by now and operating.

I shall revisit all this in three years time. Meanwhile I am going to retire. Again!

In the meantime you can browse at your leisure through all my previous Hertford posts.

26th June 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Fore Street – Solved!!

I spent more years than I can remember at the Hertford Transport Forum discussing the vexed question of Fore Street.

Or more precisely the western end of Fore Street which connects it to Parliament Square.

There was no argument that this small section of road created more questions than answers. It also created a rat run through the town for motorists wanting to avoid the eastern direction on Gascoyne Way.

It was noted in the Hertford Urban Design Strategy that ‘traffic entering from the west creates a conflict between pedestrians, cars, buses and cyclists.

‘Furthermore, the western end of Fore Street is two-way for buses but not wide enough to allow two vehicles to pass without either mounting the kerb or using the designated give way area, which is often ignored by motorists. This in turn creates damage to the footway which is costly to maintain and repair.’

They failed to mention that although it was two-way for buses it was only one way for all other vehicles including taxis. They also overlooked that at one time it was home to the country’s shortest cycle route – about two metres! Perhaps the shortest in Europe – or the world!

Then as if by magic Hertford County Council solved the problem overnight by blocking Fore Street just before Church Street.

Now no vehicles be they buses, cars, taxis or forty foot pantechnicons can access Fore Street from the west.

As we all knew at the Transport Forum there was a problem with denying access to Fore Street from Parliament Square. How do you police it in the softest possible way? Not now. You just can’t drive through it.

Even the HUDS report saw the odd drawback. ‘Restricting the use of the western section of Fore Street to buses, cyclists and pedestrians would also limit access to the town centre and Folly Island for those travelling from the west. This could result in additional vehicle miles and an increase to journey times for residents, visitors and servicing vehicles.’

What they were trying to say was that there would be an increase in traffic along Gascoyne Way leading to traffic jams, high density of traffic and fumes, delayed arrivals and shorter tempers.

However the general consensus formed from various council and public consultations was that overall people were in favour of it. See graph below.

The HUDS study thought that permanent closure should be a long term aim but HCC have smashed that theory.

It is no time to be rejoicing as this was as a result of the pandemic but it will be interesting to see what the effects of closure are and if they are going to be made permanent.

All my previous posts archived here.

27th May 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Seed Warehouse

The Seed Warehouse houses the Mill Bridge Rooms which are owned by Hertford Town Council and can be hired by small groups for meetings.

The truth is that the Seed Warehouse is a Tardis.

You could almost walk past it, unaware of its existence down a narrow alleyway, squeezed between a newsagents and a fast food shop in Mill Bridge, almost opposite Castle Hall and next to the bus stop.

The Seed Warehouse stretches down that alleyway in Maidenhead Yard about a hundred yards or more to the left down to the River Lea.

The ground floor houses almost 90% of artefacts belonging to Hertford Museum. There is more here than in the Museum in Bull Plain. It is not open to the general public except on special ‘open days’.

On such an event take the opportunity to walk around and view things abut Hertford you didn’t know existed. My office was on the first floor and I always took advantage of those times when Museum staff were working in the stores to mooch around.

This was when I was Town Centre Manager. I had to relocate as the Museum needed space to house all the items in Bull Plain as well as staff and volunteer helpers, whilst the redevelopment of that building took place.

I was sad to leave. My office looked out over the Lea on to the Riverside decking of the Woolpack pub.

One of the tenants I introduced to the Seed Warehouse was City Water.

They worked from the top floor but before doing so cleared an inch of dust from the skirting boards and wooden beams, laid carpet, installed lighting, toilet blocks and a kitchen amongst many other improvements. The walls were re-painted heritage cream and the wooden beams stained dark brown.

The left hand photo shows kitchen mid-right and the dining area/IT space at the back. The right hand photo was taken a few yards back showing a small re-furbished office.

Unfortunately we didn’t think of taking a ‘before’ photo but here are two shots of how the top floor looked before furniture was in place.

The Directors tried to make the interior of the Seed Warehouse reflect the building’s past.

Over the front door a large reproduction of a photo taken when a World War Two bomb hit Mill Bridge was mounted against the wall with branches, an air raid siren and hopefully a defused bomb.

On the right as you walk in is a Roman corn drier preserved in a temperature controlled and air conditioned room and once again , only opened to visitors on special occasions.

There is a large antique photo enlarger set on the space by the stairs, rescued from the Museum stores.

All this may still be there. I haven’t been inside for a long time. You may ask what this is all about. Well, Chase New Homes have submitted amended plans for Bircherley Green.

They claim they are trying to re-create Hertford’s brewing past. The Seed Warehouse is but one building on the old maltings area and here were sited the wharves Chase mention.

However you will notice that these are not high rise buildings:

The new plans as submitted by Chase maintain the previous height; ground floor commercial units and four floors above for apartments.

The one interesting added feature is the false walkway between Buildings A and B. I am sure they are identical to those found in busier and more industrial locations such as the Thames where much of the barley and malt from Hertford was bound during the heady days in the nineteenth century. (see my article on Brewing in Hertford)

They do not fit too well here.

There is not much more I can say about this planning application but to refer you to the page where you can view all the amended plans and documents and links to register your own comment:

Here is my own letter registering my objection.

letter of objection Download

The one thing I am beginning to hear more and more is that residents would have anything built rather than Bircherley Green left to rot any further.

The photos of the Seed Warehouse and Adams & co are from ‘Our Hertford and Ware’ chapter on Hertford’s Riverside Yards.

All my previous posts archived here:

18th May 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

A Message of Hope

If you wish you can scroll down to the end of this page to understand what this is all about.

In common with another 1.5m people I have been instructed to stay at home for 12 weeks as I have an underlying health problem.

Like other people I have resorted to hobbies to pass the time. One has been to re-write my web pages. This page like all of my website is coded on WordPress with the new Gutenberg block editor. This has been a steep learning curve so apologies if some pages still look odd.

One project has been to place my 13 scrapbooks of newspaper clippings on line. This is in itself a challenge as after 40+ years the type is fading fast and difficult to read. Even the best OCR programmes translate the words into a language last seen on the walls of the pyramids.

I keep in touch with family and friends by phone. The last conversation I had with a friend of over 60 years ended with a resolution to mark the end of the lock down with a drink.

My wife is mildly active on social media and messages always conclude with the same wish: ‘when this is all over, we’ll meet for a coffee again’. Words repeated every time I manage to speak to a near neighbour over the width of several low brick walls.

How strange that this reminds me of a letter written by folk singer Tom Paxton on the rear of the album cover to ‘Ain’t That News’ in 1965.

It was a message to his own friend of long standing – John Cherry, a coloured American, although not actually stated. It was about another deadly virus then sweeping America – namely racism and the efforts of the civil rights movement to overturn it. The freedom he mentions is not the lifting of the lock down but something more basic.

His words need no more explanation from me to see how they resonate in today’s difficult times.

They’ve been fighting for years and they’ve won some very important battles. We owe them a great deal, more than we can repay …. it looks like now we are going to be free. And even though there’s much more to freedom than a cup of coffee; still, that’s one cup of coffee that is going to taste just fine.

All my previous posts archived here:

16th April 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Hertford East Station

School for Scoundrels

I was pleased to discover that I am not the only person to watch old black and white films on Talking Pictures TV.

They recently broadcast School for Scoundrels; a typical 1960 British comedy that even Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas and the legendary Alastair Sim cannot raise over the ordinary.

My wife was looking through social media posts and it seems a few others had noticed that in the opening credits Hertford East was used to portray Yeovil Station.

So here are a few clips from those opening scenes. My apologies for the quality but taking grainy photos of old films from a hi-tech TV screen with a so-so camera phone is not the height of technological brilliance. But maybe it adds to the flavour of the times.

The film may well come round again -as they do these days so you may be able to capture a better screenshot. If not you can still buy the film – in DVD.

The film is based upon the One-Upmanship books from Stephen Potter available in one volume: The Complete Upmanship

All my previous posts archived here:

8th April 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Isolation for Folly Island

Strangely enough Folly Island is not a natural island. I always thought so until I was doing a bit of research using Rosemary Bennett’s excellent ‘Folly Island’ and discovered that until 1772 the island was connected to the mainland at Dicker Mill. A strip of land was dug out to make it easier for barges to navigate to the town centre.

In these difficult days living on a island should make it easier to self-isolate. Not so, obviously. See Google map below with arrows pointing to the bridges connecting us to various parts of the town.

The devil in me says we should demolish these bridges like a medieval Lord of the Manor pulls up the drawbridge and fills the moat with hungry fish. That would truly isolate us all.

Many many recall my failed attempt to stand for Hertford Town Council at the last local elections. If you were to read my manifesto it does offer a plan towards isolation and protection.

I am once again confirming to those who know me that I still lapse into flippancy and am often irreverent. I am guilty as charged.

I have several titles concerned with local issues at Smashwords.

The Tunnels of Hertford – the real secret of the tunnels beneath the streets of Hertford

The Mysterious Death of Sarah Stout – the true account of the daughter of a Quaker brewer found drowned in the River Lea in 1699 by what is now Priory Street; and Spencer Cowper, the man accused of her murder.

The Wicked Lady – Katherine Ferrers, was she really the highwaywoman of legend, or been harshly treated by history.

Thank you.

All my previous posts archived here:

21st March 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Bircherley Green 2020

As promised in my previous post I am placing my letter of objection to the latest planning application for Bircherley Green as submitted by Chase New Homes.

The full list of documents accompanying the application can be viewed here.

Site map of Bircherley Green — Full Design Statement

My own letter of objection is posted here and can be read as a .pdf file.

All my previous posts archived here:

28th February 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

The Great Wen

But what is to be fate of that great wen of all? The monster called … ?
William Cobbett (1762 – 1835) Rural Rides, 1822.

You may ask what William Cobbett has to do with modern day Hertford. In Cobbett’s time the Great Wen, the monster, was London. Today the great wen (or sore) in the middle of town is Bircherley Green – no more deserved of being called a shopping centre.

Finally Chase New Homes has submitted a planning application for Bircherley Green and the plans have now been published for comment by East Herts Council.

All the documents relating to this case can be viewed and/or downloaded here on the Council Planning pages.

I cannot find much to commend this application and I will post my full letter of objection at a later date here.

This is the riverside view which appears to have been stretched:

My initial reaction is that these apartment blocks A & B, being retail premises with four storeys of apartments above will tower over everything else in the vicinity.

Chase believe that it will not completely overpower the existing skyline. I have news for them. It will hang over Folly Island and cast its shadow deep. At night the lights from all the apartments together will detract from the night sky, the stars and the transition of the moon.

This is not what we should expect of a county town where private developments are allowed to overpower the town’s heritage.

Hertford Town Centre can be defined to the north, south, east and west by the River Lea, Gascoyne Way, South Street and North Road respectively. With very exceptions all buildings within this boundary which is the Hertford Town Conservation Area, are mentioned in the Department of National Heritage Revised List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest (1996).

The overwhelming majority are Grade II but Hertford Castle, The Friends Meeting House and Shire Hall are all Grade I. With help from the Home Office, the County Council restored the building during 1988-90, and the project was Commended by The Civic Trust in 1992.

‘A threat of wholesale re-development blighted the core of Hertford for more than twenty years. Once that threat was removed in the late 1970’s the town blossomed, and the new buildings which have appeared generally rest easily,in scale and detail, with their mature neighbours.’

Russell Moye, Project Architect, Shire Hall. Writing in ‘The Restoration of Shire Hall Hertford, 1990’.

No more do they rest easy; now we have the great wen, William Cobbett’s monster.

In line with previous planning applications this one fails to address the problem of parking. There will be 100 apartments (38 one bedroom and 62 two bedroom) and the hotel will have 68 rooms. Bircherley Green car park has only 188 spaces, of which 40 spaces will be dedicated to residents, 5 car club and 143 Pay and Display.

The new apartments will bring to the centre of town an extra 100 – 150 new residents along with occasional visitors who will need to park their cars; the hotel will need parking even for overnight guests, the patients attending the proposed surgery will also need to park along with all those tourists, visitors, shoppers and leisure seekers who will be coming to this destination (Chase’s word not mine). How can a lego brick be a destination? Then factor in the increase in internet deliveries. It is folly to think that all this traffic will fit in to the town centre. The maths do not add up.

The application does not state how many of the apartments will be affordable; but does explain why the emphasis is on younger, mobile, socially active couples and not much in the way of facilities for the disabled.

Permission is being sought for a NHS super surgery and another large retailer (no names, no pack drill) before they can go ahead to let premises. Retail premises could be large, small or any size anyone wants by adjusting the available space.

There is a new bus station waiting room but not much on a new ‘as it happens’ information board, small catering facility or toilets; although there appears to be three doors on the site plan where the existing ones are now.

With more residents crammed into the centre of this medieval town with few parking spaces, an increase in bars and restaurants and a hotel as well, there is little in the application to explain how other issues like late night noise from traffic and revellers will be addressed. No mention of CCTV or licensing terms.

Enough for now.

I will post my objection in full on this site but in the meantime read the application and all supporting documents and see what you think.

All my previous posts archived here:

21st February 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Everything must go!

Like most residents I was dismayed to learn that three more shops will be closing; Monsoon/Accessorize, Sugar Smith and Botsfords.

Botsfords is almost synonymous with Hertford. It is sad to see such a famous name disappear from our town.

I have written countless reports which have no doubt ended up in the same place as that written by the Retail Group (see previous post). I used to point to Hertford as being almost unique these days as having a haberdashery (Margaret Hart), a diving school (In Depth) and an ironmongers (Botsfords).

‘What made Hertford famous made a loser out of me’ – apologies to Schlitz beer, Milwaukee, Rod Stewart and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Quite ironically Mrs B saw a plea on Facebook from a person looking for information on Addis. My curiosity fanned I took a look through ‘Mercury Remembers’. This was a 120 page supplement issued by the Hertfordshire Mercury in 2001 and looking back over the town’s history.

I saw the headline: ‘Shutting up shop after 200 years’. It was a feature on Gravesons which was closed in 2001. Now in 2020 the current tenants Monsoon/Accessorize are also closing down in town.

Inside I had stored a yellowing copy of ‘Hertford Past & Present’; a Midweek Mercury Supplement from July 1983. From this and the above here are three photos showing Gravesons through the century. I cannot give any more credit to the photographers other than they all appeared in those two publications.

An exterior view of Gravesons as it was in 1928

The interior of the shop as it was in 1905 with chairs supplied for customers

Gravesons as it appeared in 1920

The end of an era approaches and we all await with bated breath the future development of Bircherley Green.

All my previous posts archived here:

5th February 2020

by : John Barber Hertford blog

Hertford Retail Check

“They may ring their bells now, before long they will be wringing their hands.”

When the bells were rung in London on the declaration of war against Spain in the 1739 ‘War of Jenkin’s Ear’ , Robert Walpole uttered his most memorable quote as all students of English history will know.

Sir Robert Walpole (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The current Prime Minister would probably like the bells of Big Ben to chime on Friday, 31st January on the UK’s exit from Europe but this will not happen now.

Hertford will not be ringing any bells on the publication of the most recent Hertford Town Centre Retail Health Check commissioned by East Herts Council and presented by the Retail Group.

They describe themselves thus: The Retail Group is a specialist retail management consultancy that provides informed solutions about consumers’ future needs for a wide range of retail and property clients. The philosophy of our business is “to improve our clients’ business through our understanding of shoppers, their shopping habits, businesses and the skills of retailing”.

The report does not make for pleasant reading. If you are feeling so disposed then you can read the Hertford Town Centre Retail Health Check here.

One thing in its favour is that the overwhelming majority of Hertford’s town centre traders responded to the consultation and their response is well documented into readable statistics. Some analysis of these results are below:

This question (satisfaction levels) clearly identifies that all is not well in Hertford Town Centre. Whilst the majority of businesses are satisfied with the performance of their shops /outlets, they are also unsatisfied with the performance of the town centre. Nearly half are very dissatisfied. This is a significant finding and one of the lowest satisfaction responses we have ever received for a market town of a similar size to Hertford.

Town Centre Priority Improvement Areas. Many of the other improvements sought relate to a better consumer experience (safe, cleaner, ease of use etc) or an improved environment (public realm, less traffic congestion). A final consistent theme wanted by respondents was more events that generate footfall (e.g. markets, promotion, online information, better signage etc). Improved food & beverage (f&b) offer is not a requirement.

Views and Opinions. In regards general views and opinions abut the town centre, this question captured quite negative responses. Respondents didn’t feel the markets offer was
good, nor agreed that the town centre was improving each year, nor had many reasons to visit it or was an appealing destination. The good news is that a few businesses would recommend it and most felt it was clean and pleasant. Whilst the tone of the response is clearly negative it does identify aspects for the town to improve.

Despite the report’s findings, there was little discussion when it was presented to the District Council’s Executive Committee on Thursday January 21st. Councillors simply voted to note the contents of the report and recommend that the Council works with other “stakeholders” to agree “the appropriate mechanism to support the improvement of economic and retail performance and environmental considerations within Hertford Town Centre”.

At the centre of all things Hertford is the future of Bircherley Green Shopping Centre. At the time of writing nothing has happened. Chase New Homes had stated that they have submitted plans to East Herts Council before Christmas 2019 as promised but there are still no signs of luminous yellow planning notices appearing on a wall near you.

There is nothing new in the universe as a reading of my previous posts (see right) will confirm.

All my previous posts archived here:

29th January 2020

School for Scoundrels

Hertford Blog