Loathe: Top End Subway

[Monsta®]

plan was to link Bedlington to Ashington by dual carriagway starting at the top end roundabout?

thank god that never happened!

[Malcolm Robinson]

thank god that never happened!

Yeah, it seemed to be going in the wrong direction for me too!

[Pete]

1. 
   

AHHHHHHHHHH

"The Tank!"

or the Tankerville it may have been called.

My Mum remembers it well.

It could have been the Tankervile, Thanks

[Jojo]

I remember the recent Top Club getting built - the one that looks like a space ship. I also remember this subway too - nasty places.

[Denzel]

It was High Alumina Cement that was used in lots of civil engineering projects - motorway bridges, school roofs etc. in the 1950's, 1960's and maybe beyond. It was used because of the strength and rigidity. What no one knew at the time was that it deteriorated very quickly under certain circumstances. Until - one day - things started to fall down! The Top Club was particularly vulnerable because of the way the architect had suspended the outside walls to extend the floor area and give it an "ultra-modern look".

I'm not aware that ground stability was a factor, but if you are building again on the same site then, as an architect, you'd want to be extra extra careful in order not to get sued. Although - thinking back - maybe that's why many of the buildings on the East side of the Glebe Road were missing long before the Coooncil completed the demolition job (for the totally unnecessary dual carriage way)! And, it's from this (unnecessarily isolating part of the west end from the center) that has arisen all the problems.

Now why - you might ask - was the road connecting Ashington to the smoke deemed far more important than any of the other roads going in and out of the Town? Answers on a postcard to the: "Let's Screw Bedlington - Again!" Subcommittee, WDC Council Offices, Station Road, ASHINGTON.

Hehe, I love this guy.