Preston Bus Station also made the local TV news on Friday morning. Its meda profile has certainly been raised .... that's twice in a week now.
I've been a bit quiet on here lately and was away when the World Monument Fund made their announcement (in fact the website was hit with 2200 visitors in a day as opposed to the usual amount over 50 or so and was knocked offline for a few hours). I'm going to crack on with updating the site and replying to the many many news sites that have featured the story andthat have run a comments section underneath, I'm going to be VERY busy.
Needless to say Preston Bus Station has been all over the media - local, national and international; online, in print, on TV and on the radio. Hopefully I'll get a more up to date list on the site by next week; but as I said on the
PRBusStation Twitter feed and on the
SavePrestonBusStation Facebook page earlier...
"It's only when you look at a Google News search that you realise how much international attention the bus station brought to the City of Preston this week. And the council want to knock it down. Are they mad?"
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External it's okay. Brutalist to say the least.
Internally, it just needs brightening up, decluttering and the nasty news stalls and horrid bus crew / office block taking out.
Preston Council have tried to let it go to rot, in the hope people will hate it, thus allowing them to knock it down. Failed, as the locals know better.
Just in reply to those bold points:
Brightening up, decluttering, modernising and made more accessible for the visually impaired. And a damn good clean. The bus station in its current state has issues but contrary to the words of Preston City Council Leader Peter Rankin, it does actually work as a bus station. You can
hear the shameful interview in this clip from BBC Radio 4. Demolition is an extreme remedy for the current issues, although knocking down your own 42 year old building to replace it with some more that your company has also designed is nice work if you can get it. Others have
different ideas on how to sustainably (environmentally and economically) reuse a building that has has so much energy invested in it.
That couldn't be more evident and blatant - the much needed but horrifically executed ground level crossings are. To my knowledge, and with the exception of the toilets, nothing has been upgraded or updated in its 42 year history. It's also clear that the money hasn't been spent cleaning or maintaining. It's a wonder that the place is in as good as condition as it is and its a compliment to the hard work of those employed in the station and also testament to the quality of the materials used in its construction - from the floors to the woodwork and much more.
Totally agreed. It was voted as the
city's residents' favourite building 2 years ago and is currently in
2nd place as the original architects most popular ever building in their 50 years. That very architecture firm is now in charge of shopping scheme plans that entail their earlier creation being demolished. Furthermore, they were
founded in Preston by a man
born in Preston.
As I've already alluded to, the bus station has managed to get the City of Preston international exposure over the last week in a way that nothing else from the city has. It's chilling that when given this opportunity a leader and a council would choose to soldier on with their existing plans rather than pausing to think how they could capitalise on this asset; even more chilling when a leader presented with the fact of a public poll showing favour for the bus station goes on to state how the majority of elected councillors hate it and how the political parties are united in their hatred....
