Yes,the pub looks better,it would have looked terrible with orange tiles.at least they kept the Woodman name,the silver whatever it is on the windows I am a bit surprised at because they are an Estate Agent but you cant see inside,unless they change that when the door finally opens for business.
Okay, don't shoot me, but I like the silvered windows. The way it has been done looks (to me) antiqued rather than messy. Reminds me of the lovely old silvered glass that shops used to use in Victorian times.
Driving up Dartmouth Road and appraching the roundabout, the building looks eye-catchingly attractive.
I'm with you on that RSdunlop. I kinda like them too, although I don't know why they don't want people to look inside and worry that it will make it dark inside.
Personally I don't think it looks "antique". We had real antique with the original glass. Shame it survived two world wars only to have this done to it.
In my opinion, this is cheap and tacky looking. To me the windows are like the eyes of the soul of a building and the Woodman's been blinded.
It's also strange that an estate agent doesn't want people to look inside. Normally, they have pictures in the windows of the properties they're selling. I suppose they'll just keep the existing W&S as an estate agent's, if only to have the window display. In any case, judging by what they've done to genuine antique window glass (let alone what they wanted to do!) even if they did keep to their promise of turning their current building ino an antique shop, they wouldn't be selling real antiques anyway, just nasty repros or badly restored pieces.
Just how many estate agents/financial services and so called antique shops can a small area like Upper Kirkdale support? They're rapidly outnumbering the useful shops.
Here's an article i found, which relates almost exactly to this sort of proposed development. Sorry it's just 'cut and paste' , but the article is genuine, and you can google it.
I have referenced the article in my submission to Lewisham
Local councils get immediate powers to end garden grabbing
Decentralisation minister Greg Clark announces measures to end rising practice of building new homes in back gardens
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 June 2010 11.17 BST • Article history
The song thrush, which has suffered a huge decline, will benefit from gardens not being given over to building plots. Photograph: Rex Features/BYB
The government is announcing new measures to stop the practice of "garden grabbing" which has seen swathes of urban green space swallowed up by new housing developments.
The decentralisation minister Greg Clark is giving local councils immediate powers to prevent the building of new homes in back gardens, a practice on the rise in recent years.
According to the communities and local government department, the number of houses being built on gardens rose from one in 10 to a quarter of new properties between 1997 and 2008.
The problem is particularly acute in places including Guildford, Croydon, Southampton and the New Forest in the south-east, Poole and Dorset in the south-west, Sheffield and Solihull in the Midlands, Leeds and Wakefield in Yorkshire, South Tyneside in the north-east and Norwich.
Town halls have struggled to stop the trend as gardens have been classified as "previously residential land", making them brownfield sites in the same category as derelict factories and old railway sidings.
Mr Clark said he would be changing the designation of gardens from brownfield land to make it easier for local authorities to stop unwanted development, allowing them to reject planning applications for new houses and blocks of flats that local people oppose and that would ruin the character of the area.
The step, which he said would not affect people who wanted to build extensions on their homes, was welcomed by garden and wildlife organisations.
The move to stop garden grabbing, promised in both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat manifestos ahead of the general election, is the latest by the government to implement coalition pledges to hand more power to local communities.
Unveiling the plans, Mr Clark said: "For years the wishes of local people have been ignored as the character of neighbourhoods and gardens have been destroyed, robbing communities of vital green space.
"It is ridiculous that gardens have until now been classified in the same group as derelict factories and disused railway sidings, forcing councils and communities to sit by and watch their neighbourhoods get swallowed up in a concrete jungle.
"Today I am changing the classification of garden land so councils and communities no longer have their decisions constantly overruled, but have the power to work with industry to shape future development that is appropriate for their area.
"This is just the start of whole-scale reform I want to make to the planning system, so councils and communities are centre-stage in a reformed system that works for them, and is not just a tool of top-down policy."
The Royal Horticultural Society, which warned at the Chelsea flower show last month that gardens were under threat from development, said it welcomed any measures that would protect the "vital resource".
Simon Thornton-Wood, the director of science and learning at the RHS, said: "Gardens, like parks, are the green lungs of cities, improving air quality, controlling air temperature and flood risk and providing a haven for wildlife.
"Beyond these very practical benefits of gardens, we know that gardening is great for physical and mental health.
"That's why we would like planning measures to go further than protecting existing gardens, to guarantee high quality green space and gardening opportunities in all new building developments, wherever they are."
Ross Cameron, of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading, said: "Research has demonstrated that gardening can improve self-esteem, communication skills, attention span and even educational performance.
"In essence, protecting gardens is important to improve quality of life, and particularly for people in cities."
And it is not just people who benefit from green space in towns and cities, according to the RSPB.
Richard Bashford, project manager for the conservation charity, said: "Gardens are mini nature reserves on our doorsteps and vital habitats for all sorts of wildlife.
"Many much-loved species rely on green spaces like gardens, such as the song thrush and house sparrow, both of which have suffered massive declines in the last few years.
"We hope that the new measures will protect the habitats of species that have become synonymous with English gardens and demonstrate a rich ecosystem in our own back yards, such as frogs, toads and bumblebees."