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Monday 7 October 2013

King Street: the new and the old

 

King Street 1013 030

King Street 1013 040

I DON’T think I’ve walked down King Street at any time in the last 20-odd years and not seen signs of life in some quarters and old-fashioned decay in others. The road vies with Colegate for the tag of most interesting street in Norwich, but blimey, the promised gentrification is slow coming.

So while there are trendy designers at Nether Conesford in the top picture, the lower one shows the old Utting’s garage supplies shop now in urgent need of some TLC. The writing scrawled over the gaffer tape on the red front door reads “no mail please, house subject to court order”. Enough said. Elsewhere on King Street the combination of scaffolding and boarded up wasteland must make it harder for Dragon Hall to pull in the punters.

The new developments on the site of the old Morgans Brewery (Polypin Yard, Fuggles Yard etc) were meant to be the trigger for regeneration, so too the new bridges across the Wensum. Both have played a part, together with the lively Kings Community Church where the Lads Club once flourished. But we’re not there yet. Will it be another 20 years before it’s job done?

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