The view from our back bedroom window is not the most scenic. Basil Fawlty summed it up perfectly: ‘Well, may I ask what you expected to see out of a bedroom window on Folly Island? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically … ?’ Until last Monday we… Continue reading The Fall and Rise of Bircherley Green
Category: Hertford blog
Hertford Lockdown Blues
Well I woke up this morning; things to do.Need a haircut; barbers are shut.Push ups in the gym; they won’t let me in.No Americano; bad news on the radio.Shed a tear; pubs with no beer.Man! I’ve got the Hertford Lockdown Blues again. I rarely comment on national politics here, but at my stage of life… Continue reading Hertford Lockdown Blues
Regeneration – sort of!
Like daffodils shooting through the winter sludge yellow signs have appeared in Bircherley Green. This is a bit of a blow. I now have to walk up Bull Plain, turn left and left again to get to the Bus Station. The service road was a welcome short cut although of late I have considered wearing… Continue reading Regeneration – sort of!
A Time to Remember
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;A time to mourn, and a time to dance. Yesterday Sunday 11th October marked the fifth year since the passing of my grandson Zach on 11th October 2015. He would have been eight years old this year. During those last five years it is still not easy… Continue reading A Time to Remember
Premier Inn Checks Out
It should come as no surprise following Whitbread’s announcement of job losses earlier this week that they have now pulled out of building a Premier Inn Hotel in Bircherley Green (see full story in Hertfordshire Mercury). It is fair to say that few people in Hertford saw the need for a hotel. Except for Whitbread… Continue reading Premier Inn Checks Out
Pub – not as we know it
As anyone who has read these blogs and other pages on this site will know, I have a love affair with pubs. The guidance laid down by Government to pub landlords has made visits to my local hostelry a total anathema. My first memory of pubs was when I was not even five years old. My… Continue reading Pub – not as we know it
The Village Inn
THE VILLAGE INN by John Betjeman “The village inn, the dear old inn, So ancient, clean and free from sin, True centre of our rural life Where Hodge sits down beside his wife And talks of Marx and nuclear fission With all a rustic’s intuition. Ah, more than church or school or hall, The village… Continue reading The Village Inn
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… Continue reading Hertford Saved! – Doomed!
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… Continue reading Fore Street – Solved!!
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… Continue reading Seed Warehouse