Rooftops of Shrewsbury: Pride Hill, Then and Now

(Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. Under UK law, trespass without force is a civil offence. I never break into a place, I never photograph a place that is currently occupied, as this would be morally wrong and intrusive, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building.

This is just a quick rooftop blog.

It's been nine years since I started doing silly things and going to silly places, and much to everyones disapointment, I'm not dead yet. I've been neglecting the local blog though, to work on my international one. In fact I recently published my first blog post that wasn't in the UK. Best of all, I funded the trip through the blog. In fact I renewed my passport solely on funds generated by people leaving negative comments. It's my way of taking the negative and turning it into a positive. I simply decided that when someone wants to piss on my picnic, I'll just get a bigger picnic. The truth is, I do what I do for my own enjoyment, and it's never at anyones expense. Its great to be at a point where I can do it internationally.

Meanwhile back in Shrewsbury our most-traveled central street, Pride Hill, has had some cosmetic changes, and while everyone was complaining about it, I realised that with my nine years of rooftop photographs, I suddenly have a bunch of historic shots that show the town as it was. And since people are big on nostalgia, I thought I'd showcase a few rooftop views of Pride Hill as it is now alongside rooftop views of Pride Hill from 2010-2012.

The criticism that was aimed at the Pride Hill revamp was both confusing and hilarious. Some people seemed to think the world was ending. Among the many complaints were that the bins were too close to the seats, and also that the seats were too low down, and had sharp edges, so people would get injured. So I might as well start with this photo of people writhing in agony on Pride Hill-

Here's a shot from the same location, a few years prior-

You know, I actually prefer the new look, with the grey floor rather than the red brick. I understand the comparison in the pictures isn't perfect. The truth is, I very rarely go rooftopping during the day anymore. It's far too likely that I'll be spotted during the day. I'm six foot two and look like a Disney villain!

Having said that, I took this one recently. It depicts the front of the Pride Hill Shopping Centre and a bunch of people getting on with their day.

Hmm... One thing that does occur to me is that between 2010 and 2019, all of the anti-pigeon spikes have gone.

These shots are great. I pretty much got them from almost the exact same position, and look, the bottom one has Maccies in it!

If you notice on the "before" pictures, Pride Hill has a couple of circles in the brickwork that mark where these big circular brick flowerbeds used to be. I'm not sure why those were taken away. They were quite nice. Sadly they were taken away before I started taking photographs from the rooftops so I don't have any old shots of them.

As you can see, the curved benches that people said were too sharp are replacing pointy hexagonal ones.

I actually really love the seating area beneath these trees. I haven't got an old shot from this angle, but I do have one from the roof of Waitrose across the street.

I wonder what they did with that lamp...

Oh, there it is!

This shot from 2010 shows Waitrose as a big derelict Burger King, and Burton where Cotswold is.

And in this shot, from around 2011 shows the Burger King being fixed up to become Waitrose, walled up from the world and looking a bit hideous. Similarly run down is the hexagonal bench, which has had an entire chunk of it removed.

An additional little something that I had not noticed, because it's pretty insignificant, is that in my rooftop shots from 2010, Barclays actually has "Barclays" written on it in big blue lettering.

Why was that taken down?

By far my most favourite shot to get of Pride Hill has always been overlooking the entrance to the Darwin Shopping Centre, and I've been up to get that same shot numerous times over the years.

As it appears today.

As it appeared about a year or so ago, maybe.

As it appeared prior to Waitrose and Cotswold opening.

And here's how it looked in the Christmas of 2010. This was before they had a giant reindeer called Shrewdolf, and instead stuck a statue of a creepy snowman there to smile menacing at everyone to faciliate a fast digestion of their Christmas dinner.

To conclude, I think the changes to Pride Hill aren't that bad. I think a lot of people are change resistant, and ultimately this leads only to making oneself miserable because we live in a world of impermanence. Pride Hills flooring aside, these pictures show the changes of businesses occupying these buildings, the completely missed removal of the Barclays sign, and much else that the keen of eye will see. That's not to say that it isn't fun to look back with nostalgia. There are future generations who won't know it as it was, in much the same way I have no memory of it before it was pedestrianised. I'm pretty fortunate to have been doing this over a period of time, and to live in the era where such things can be documented.

Next blog post is a cold war facility in Germany, and then after that it will be a nuclear bunker. In the meantime, share the blog, like my Facebook page, Follow my Instagram, and Follow my Twitter.
Thanks for reading!