Settling down

Despite appearances this blog hasn't been abandoned, it's just been resting. Ruby over at Living in Bury St Edmunds has inspired me to start blogging again, thanks Ruby.

For the last year I've been shuttling between Bury and Hertfordshire, but have now decided to relocate full time to Bury. Am on the lookout for a small office to rent in the town centre. Preliminary research suggests I'm in for around £10 a square foot, and there seems to be a fair amount of vacant commercial property at the moment. I will have to sort out the best way to get to London for occasional meetings - last time it cost me 55 quid on the train from Stowmarket. Ugh.

And I'll need to join some clubs, meet some people. Exciting times ahead I hope.

Wheelchair training

Did the obligatory back care and 'wheelchair skills' training at the hospital today. It was good. There's more to pushing someone satisfactorily in a wheelchair than you might imagine, and it's amazing how fast ordinary walking pace seems from the passenger point of view. Anyhow, now I'll be able to wheel patients around if required. West Suffolk Hospital has about 300 volunteers doing different stuff from gardening to hand holding to neck massage to taking the lunch orders. Co-trainees in the wheelchair class were mostly retired but included four Young People - three considering careers in the NHS and one deciding what to do next after graduation.

Buddhism in Bury St Edmunds

Salut tout le monde! Back from lovely holiday in France - Chateau-land near Tours in the Loire Valley. No more hols now till next year.

Returned to the Monday night meeting of the Bury Buddhism group, in the Quaker meeting hall, St John's Street. This is an FWBO group, although there are other flavours available in Bury on occasion. The group has just commenced its Autumn programme exploring 'Aspects of Freedom'. Bury seems to be well placed for Buddhists, with a retreat centre down the road in Walsham-le-Willows and other centres in Cambridge, Ipswich, Colchester and Norwich.

Abbey News

The newsagent at the bottom of Abbeygate Street will no longer open on Sundays, because of competition from Smiths etc. Pah! But there is a new shop to report: the Hatter Street Picture House is where the sewing machine shop was. It sells framed pictures and arty greetings cards. BFP article here.

Chanced upon some more vintage cars in town this morning. The Suffolk Car Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a run and picnic lunch. A hundred years ago members' cars were photographed in front of the Angel Hotel, and they tried to replicate this today, causing a fair amount of good natured chaos on the car park that is Angel Hill.

Didn't have the camera with me, sadly, but saw (all pre-war) cars made by Rolls Royce, Vauxhall, Rover, Morris, Alvis (my favourite, this was lovely), Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Sunbeam, Austin, Amilcar.

Hot news

The town was really busy today. Couldn't find a single free bench in the Abbey gardens upon which to sit and read my paper. Nice to see so many people enjoying the hot weather in such fine surroundings though.

Another Hatter Street business is closing this week - number 14, the organic sandwich bar at the Churchgate St end. It hasn't been open long. The young proprietors are selling off their jacket potato oven and other gear. Maybe it was too far from the main drag to get enough custom; certainly I couldn't fault their grub.

Berliet

Unusual sight in Angel Lane this afternoon, a 1913 Berliet car on garden rubbish collection duty. This is a French make, and the car was apparently owned by the French army in the First World War and used by army staff.

Street drinking

Why is it OK to drink alcohol whilst sitting outside a licensed cafe, but not OK if you are sitting on a public bench in the Butter Market? The council wants to change a local byelaw that would give police new powers to confiscate alcohol from people who are or seem about to, drink in the centre of town (in an area defined in the exisitng byelaw). At the moment the police can only ask people to stop drinking (and fine them if they disobey). Presumably the council want to get rid of the Woolworths drinking school.

The Bury Free Press published a letter this week from a reader who wrote:

"I am not a hardcore drinker even though I sit on the bench [outside Woolworths] . I, like many other people after a hard day's work, like to have a drink to unwind. As I live in a bedsit in the town centre, I look on that bench as my back garden. So please remember that not everybody is fortunate to have a back garden."

Independent shop goes under

Disastrous news. Hatter Street's Brayebay is closing tomorrow. Probably the Buryblogger's favourite clothes shop. Apparently it hasn't been making much money for a while; the lease is up, so the owner is off (to do an Art degree and look for a part time job). She says business has been poor for most retailers recently.

Begonia carpet

Back from hols at lovely Lulworth Cove in Dorset to find the Abbey gardens resplendent with a 'begonia carpet' , complete with viewing gantry and £2.50 admission fee.
This strange thing was organised by the Lions Club of Stowmarket and District to celebrate its 25th birthday. The flowers came not from Stowmarket, but Belgium, by the way.

Moreton Hall Tesco

The Tesco mentioned in the previous post is the Express shop in Lawson Place, Moreton Hall. I should have noticed that. Presumably the big Tesco in town will be selling alcohol 24 hours. Don't know yet but will keep an eye on the situation.

23 hour drinking in downtown Bury

Been looking at the licence applications for town centre pubs, clubs and off-licences. There's been so much talk in the media recently about '24 hour drinking' when the Licensing Act 2003 kicks in in November, but the reality for Bury appears a little more mundane. Of the premises applying for a variation to existing arrangements, and whose application is awaiting decision, most of the pubs are going for 11, 11.30 or midnight closing Monday to Thursday and Sunday, with 12.30 or 1am closing on Fridays and Saturdays. Some examples: The Dog and Partridge has applied for 11pm Mon-Thurs and Sun, and midnight on Fri/Sat - which seems pretty modest despite residents (in Hatter Street, bizarrely - not particularly near the D&P) complaining. The Mason's Arms has gone for 11.30 every night except midnight on Fri/Sat. Similarly, the Old Cannon Brewery application is for 11 on the quiet nights, and midnight on Fri/Sat.

The smallest pub in the world, or is it just in England, The Nutshell (pictured here during the day, when it's mostly frequented by abstemious tourists), has applied for midnight every night except Fri/Sat, when it wants to close at 1am. That'll please the eight punters crammed in there at the time then. The same hours have been requested by The Rose and Crown, The Fox, and The Tollgate. The Linden Tree is similar but they have asked to close a bit earlier on Fri/Sat, at 12.30. The Ipswich Arms has requested 11.30 most nights and 12.30 on Fri/Sat, and the King's Arms midnight every night.

The Grapes has the latest hours - 2 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Some pubs have already had their licences granted, and the council has removed details from the website. These include The Bushel, Benson Blakes and The Black Boy; don't know what they have been allowed.

What of the big, young-crowd pubs like the Queen's Head (below) and Ye Olde One Bull? They don't appear to have submitted applications to vary their hours yet. The Queens Head has applied for a conversion of its exiting licence (and hours), but according to the council's public register Ye Olde One Bull hasn't, which means it won't automatically be granted the same opening hours and conditions it enjoys now. It probably also means that, should they request vaired hours, their applications will recieve more scrutiny from interested parties - they've missed the 6th August deadline for automatic licence conversion, and hence the busiest period for council licensing officers and other authorities that review applications.

The only nightclub whose application is viewable on the council website now is Bar3 in Risbygate, which has requested 2.30am closing Monday to Weds and Sunday, 4 am on Thursday and 5am on Friday and Saturday (ie on Saturday and Sunday mornings).

Tesco has requested 6am to midnight everyday. That means you'll be able to buy alcohol somewhere in town at the weekend at all times except 5am to 6am. What are the implications for violence, disorder, nuisance and health? Analysis to follow. Drink up now ladies and gentlemen.

Cinema news

Odeon Cinema, Hatter Street. Must get some photo-editing software.

Good news from Hatter Street. According to rather cagey report in the Bury Free Press today, the Odeon won't be closing down when the new 1350 seater, nine-screen Cineworld multiplex opens in December in Parkway. An East Anglian company (with an intriguingly small web presence), Hollywood Cinemas, is said to be taking over when Odeon withdraw their franchise, or whatever it is. Hollywood Cinemas have cinemas already in Norwich, Fakenham, Dereham, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. They also seem to sponsor Football in the Community's Bryan Gunn Goalkeeping School, which is a bit too Norwich if you ask me.

Still, according to the BFP, the new company will offer a mix of mainstream and arthouse films. Arthouse!? Is Bury ready for this? I'll be there, with my organic popcorn, can't wait.

West Suffolk Hospital

Reception duty, fairly quiet. Nobody complained about the state of the toilets tonight, a hot topic for the Bury Free Press (which costs 45p incidently). I did clear up a load of soggy paper towels left by the sinks though. Why do people do that? Why leave paper on the floor and all over the place? Mr Disgusted of Stowupland should moan about that before having a go at the hospital management.

Thought I might see the Samurai sword wielding nutter from Haverhill who got shot by the police (with a stun gun) and brought here last night. There was a guy with a police minder who came out for a smoke, but he looked pretty harmless to me. What is a man without his sword, eh?

One cheeky middle-aged chap came down from his ward for a fag outside dressed only in his surgical gown, the short flimsy thing that does up at the back with three bows. Gave the old ladies waiting in reception for their transport home something to smile about. Occassionally you see patients still attached to their gravity-fed intravenous drips, wheeling the pole carrying the drip bag (don't know technical term) beside them, out the front door and into the fresh air so they can smoke.

Trickiest query tonight: where can I get a pump for my partner's wheelchair tyres?

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in West Suffolk, East Anglia. The centre of town is set out on a medieval grid of streets, with an abbey and extensive gardens on its south- east side.

The abbey tower is a new creation, designed and built by local people. Visitors think it's just been cleaned; but it looks clean because it hasn't had a chance to get dirty yet.

Prince Charles was in town a couple of weeks ago with Camilla to declare it open.

The abbey gardens always look fantastic, but to coincide with the tower celebrations the current display looks particularly sprauncy.
There's been some agg about the tower, with critics wondering why we need a new gothic structure in the 21st century, and others arguing that local council tax payers shouldn't have to pay for spotlights to glorify a building owned by the wealthy Church of England. But anyone with a soul must concede it's a magnificent thing. You can't go up the tower, though, for health and safety reasons it seems. Don't get me started on that.

Market day in Bury. Here's the flower stall at the corner of the Butter Market and Abbeygate Street. Think it's called 'Pick 'em out where you like, two pound a bunch or three for a fiver'.

There's been a lot of debate in recent months about the fate of Bury's old Cattle Market. Town councillors have decided that the land once used by the market should be developed into new shops and housing. I will elaborate on this in time, but for now here's a shot of The Traverse with its small independent shops - surely at risk if the big chain stores come to town.

The new Licensing Act comes into force in November, liberalising English licensing law and relaxing pub opening hours. Another controversial issue - few believe it will reduce alcohol-related disorder like it's supposed to - I'll come back to that. Anyhow, the longed-for European style cafe culture can be found in Abbeygate Street on warm Saturdays, and people are not drinking beer.

Abbeygate Street manages to be the main shopping street without actually having too many shops you'd want to use, but that's OK. It's the best looking street and central to everything. Perhaps I'll review the shops later. Meanwhile, the beating heart of the commercial district is St John's Street.