But here in Langport, if you're old enough, this is known as the 'Pre-VG era' 😊
Until the late 1960s this waterway flowed from North Moor, behind the town hall & through this patch of land and down to the river.
Only when a storm/flood swept through and brought down part of the wall you can see in the picture, did a handful of Langporters put their heads together, scratch their chins, have a pint or 5 in the town's 8-9 pubs and decide that 'hey - maybe cover it over and build a line of shops?'
Building began in 1968/69....
With several Langport youngsters having to relocate their eel and minnow catching efforts [including you Malcolm] building got underway.
The precinct, or as many Langporters simply referred to as 'The Carpark' was finished in November 1970 when a handful of locals opened up their shops.
The businesses, in those early days, included Frank Pengelly, AJ Rule's fishing rod and gun shop, Mrs Body's Chocolate Shop Bow Cards [with the exceptional help of Jenny Knight who later took over], fruit & veg shop Country Fayre at the end down where Pendra's is today, VG, Vanessa's and Jaqueline's and Richard Body's men's clothes shop.
Maisie's bakery [not sure about spelling!] was also a huge part of Langport life there in the precinct as was, in one of the older original buildings, Cyril Head - the man behind the project, who always fixed your television set when you were getting Westward instead of HTV [or Mr & Mrs instead of Tales of the Unexpected]
Apologies to the many stores that have come and gone that we've forgotten!
And as many of us remember, there was no 'island' with trees and benches back in the 70s, 80s and 90s....back then you parked wherever your car stopped:
[I blame British Leyland]
and here we are today in 2024:
That's your little trip down memory lane folks!
So if it hadn't been for that storm back in the late 60s this may never have happened!
Food for thought eh?
Thanks for reading and thanks for the contributions Malcolm Head, Barbara Mills, Steve Pengelly [and his Mum] and Brian Hunt 👍
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