How much is your cultural and industrial heritage remembered, reflected and playing a part in your town or city centre today…?
Excited to be out & about in what is now the 45th location we’re supporting on tackling highstreet vacancy since starting The Vacant Shops Academy…
…and learned a lot on our visit to Cinderford.
It was fascinating to dip into Forest of Dean history, after seeing the mining references at the heart of the town, including the awesome Antony Dufort sculpture in the lead image and the traditional miner’s lamp-design clock tower in my second.
Our walk-see also took in…
- a strong group of independent shops and hospitality venues;
- a number of striking wall art examples which also had a strong local heritage theme;
- the historic, family-run independent cinema;
- the former bank conversion into a state-of-the-art, community-led music hub;
- The Triangle – its main town centre dwell-time and performance space – which also features a neat way to incorporate local dialect.
Oh and the “Unbelievable” bit…?
…that’s a reference to the blue plaque recognising hometown nineties band EMF and their big hit single (which if you’re like me, you’ll now have humming around your head for the next few minutes).
Cinderford also has an intriguing mix of buildings and we’re very much looking forward to working with the local team there on options and opportunities.
Watch this space…
