h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's always a bit sad to see another bit of your past disappear, or look like it might. My secondary school, which was built in the late 50s and added to in the 60s, so hardly out-of-date, was pulled down more than a decade ago. The big (also 1950s, I think) pub at the end of our road where we used to go and get glasses of water on hot days during the summer (because it was when some pubs still had a bottle and jug/off licence) is just a big empty space now.

Several of the paces where I used to play have been built on, as have one or two other places where I took part in... more, shall we say, adult pursuits

The cinema where I went to Saturday morning flicks is no more. In fact, it's not uncommon now for me to notice that something else has been torn down when I'm looking at Google Streetview, most of them pubs. Not because I used to spend so much time different pubs, but my job as a driver in London meant that I got to see at least the outsides of a lot of them, and pubs are closing at an alarming rate in the UK. Any government that enacts legislation leading to the demise of licensed premises, or doing nothing to halt the decline isn't going to have my support

And now the Plymouth Grove http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-23635325

It wasn't exactly a regular haunt - there were other pubs much closer. But most of my friends in Manchester were students, it was a student hangout so I drank there a fair bit, and in typical student fashion of the time they nicknamed it The Grovel. It might or might not be the place where I saw The Piranhas play in '78 or '79.

I think "Boring" Bob Grover is one of the best stage names I've ever come across

It certainly is an alarming rate for closures, in recent years... I may not quite be as young as I think, but I'm not exactly 'old' yet, as far as I'm conerned.... My primary school was knocked down, and turned into a housing estate many years ago, now my Middle school is closed, and one assumes to be demolished... I think my high school still stands, but my cultural, philisophical and personal home, the brewery/bar in my home town has also been demolished a few years back (I had planned on having my ashes scattered in that pub... whether they would let me or not ), and another local pub, that has so much history, is turned into a pharmacy of all things ana few other pubs of 'my youth' are now 'trendy bars' Its enough to make a grown man cry if, say, for example, I was, by some fluke a grown man... Strange, thinking about it, that the high school is still there; its the only school I went to made out of paper and cardboard (seriously, it was), the primary school was an old Victorian workhouse, come hospital, come school (with some 1920's additions, plus some 60's additions), and the middle school must have been a 60s or 70s build... late 60s if it was not the 70s...

My primary school is now a torn down and a health centre has been built, My junior is part of the local grammar school and so should be OK.

Luckily my boozer is a 15th building that was the mint during the civil was, so they won't be tearing that down.

The rest of my home town though is virtually unrecognisable from my youth. Some call it progress, some call it vandalism.

Most of the schools built in the great boom of the 60's are being pulled down. Concrete slabs with flat roofs and never ending problems, cold in winter boiling in summer, and unsuitable for purpose.

There have been developments. Or rather, a development. Of apartments for retirement living where the big pub used to be. I hope they've put good double glazing in because that's a particularly busy junction.

I'll say one thing though - it's good to see that the Esso station where my dad used to fill up, where I'd get all the things Esso used to give away to get punters to buy their petrol such as little puzzles, football club insignias (Blackburn Rovers was either the one you could never get or the one you always kept getting, I can't remember which way round it was), a fluffy tiger tail for your bike, Squelchers, and Esso Man key fobs, where I used to buy the paraffin to keep my greenhouse warm during the winter is still there, as it has been for at least 50 years that I know of for sure.

Oh, the horror There was a football insignia scandal! http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/football-banter/Got-Not-Got-The-Great-Esso-Football-Badge-Scandal-of-1971-article840524.html Now I know who to blame for the way I am today

Some things always seem to stay the same... Often they stay the same even when they change; Especially true for certain pubs, which don't* get knocked down, and turned into 'luxary flats', even though the origional landlord/lady is loeg gone, often the pub stays exactly the same atmosphere, even though all the punters have changed too... I guess that's often to do with the area its in...
It'll be very weird up my Dad's road (lived there since I was a kid/born), as the older neighbours gradually all vanish and get replaced... to some extent its happened already, but gradually.... just that one day, none of the origional people up that road, will be left Like the little old lady, by the railway station, who grows and sells plants... she's got* to be in her 90s... and so she's been selling plants there, just the same, since way before I was born things move on... I lost the loverly cafe/bistro downstairs, and gained an Indian takeaway... Mind, still miss that cafe... we lost the old greesy spoon cafe downstairs too... and gained a Chinese takeaway...

Newsagents near my Dad's still absolutely unchanged since I used to buy cigs from it... when I was ... err 14 or 15 I guess Mind, its had several differnt owners since then, but it might as well not have, it just remains unchanged...

There's been a big school pulled down in Harold Hill recently as well. We have to have like a million new homes in the south east, so they're pulling down so much. But we'll have no hospitals or schools for the kids who move in!

Was it Hilldene? I used to go to a swimming pool in Harold Hill a couple of times a month. I reckon it was where the Central Park Leisure Centre is now, but I think it was just called Harold Hill Swimming Baths then. It was brand new, it was Olympic size and it had a five-metre board that scared the willies out of me

Er, it's around that area yes, sort of at the top of Straight Road. Not sure what it was called.

Good grief, The Albemarle Youth Club is still there on Gooshays Drive They used to put on bands like Uriah Heep and Stackridge in the early/mid 70s.