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The only eateries to be found in Preston are "Fish restaurants", which is a shame as it's widely known that eating fish is bad for you. Eventually I found a Chinese that did a less than exceptional Business [hem hem] Lunch for £7.
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But I got to inspect Preston Bus Station and its associated car park at length. Much has been written about this fabulous and threatened building:
- the dedicated website records
... the Brutalist architectural style
... a capacity of 80 double-decker buses
... the second largest bus station in Western Europe
... space for 1,100 cars
...
- A letter to the Guardian is not positive:
If eyesores like Preston bus station are all that pass to make a town unique, it is a sad day indeed
... bold and uncompromising are the stenches of urine and skunk cannabis that fill its many nooks and crannies
... only permanent access is via intimidating, low-lit subways
... a monument to social and economic decay, an asbo magnet
... St Pancras it ain't
... an architectural dinosaur
... a museum of grot
- A showcase of the architects’ work records
Preston Bus Station is part of one of those classically 1960s attempts to redevelop a town through the remaking of its circulation into walkways, underpasses and towers, with people separated from cars
... the Bus Station is the masterpiece
... its glorious sweep is so simple, so confident, so right, that only a churlish antimodernist could fail to be seduced by it
... the Bus Station is held in encouraging public esteem
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The 20th Century Society are understandably leading a campaign in its defence.
- et seq.
There are more pictures of this thing on the web than anyone needs, so I won't add unnecessarily to the load. But for me, the highlight was the long deserted taxi rank at the end. Will you just look at those lovely curves?
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