For most of the 20th century Dainite Mills (aka "The Rubber") was one of the major employers in Market Harborough. Then, a couple of years ago, most of the buildings were demolished so that flats could be built.
When they started to go up, the taxi drivers told you - half wonderingly, half indignantly, that they were being advertised in London but not Harborough. This wasn't wholly true: one of the flashier local estate agents promoted them as ideal but-to-let properties, available for purchase off plan.
Then the credit crunch arrived. Suddenly the prospect of loft living in Market Harborough, even with a fast, non-stop train service to London on the doorstep, ceased to tempt buyers. I started to hear stories about the amazing discounts being fruitlessly offered on the many similar properties up the line in Leicester.
So a new plan was needed. Now these same flats are being promoted as a retirement village. Whether this will succeed in reviving St Mary's Road, the ugly sister of Market Harborough's shopping streets, as the developers originally intended, remains to be seen.
One thing is for sure: these flats' vestigial balconies will mark them as dating for the dishonourable buy-for-let era for as long as they stand.
And what will become of the one remaining original building on the site, which was intended for conversion into a restaurant to attract all those London commuters?
1 comment:
Bingo Hall? Tea Rooms? (Although I think Harborough has enough of the latter).
Either way, I still can't believe that the flats were allowed to be built as high as they are. They're a very prominent blot on the landscape.
Post a Comment