I intended going to a Town Council meeting for this evening’s blog report, but it has been postponed. So this is a very short report.

Town Council staff will soon move from Old Abbey House to the building above the Registry Office in Roysse Court – its back view is still covered in scaffold. Those upstairs offices have been ‘To Let’ for some years, while owned by the Vale of White Horse District Council, and are being brought back into use by the Town Council, as recent planning applications show.

On 5th November there was a planning application to remove lath and plaster to allow treatment of common furniture beetle, and death watch beetle in the timbers.

On 10th December another application was put in to remove and replace the existing chimney.

The window at The Beaconsfield has been hidden behind scaffolding for almost a year. The Beaconsfield Working Mens Conservative Club once occupied part of this building.

The window has been transformed.

The Earl of Beaconsfield, the Marquess of Salisbury and Sir Stafford Northcote look much the same as before.

A year after the first residents moved into the new apartments next to the Old Gaol, work has begun on refurbishment of the buildings on Bridge Street …

including: the Old Police Station, the one time tourist office and music centre, and some cottages.

The Old Gaol itself will then be converted into 10 rented apartments, with groundfloor restaurants and riverside gardens for the public.

The Abingdon Bridge young people’s centre will move into part of the Old Police Station from one of the cottages.

Thanks to Steve for these pictures he took, of Stert Street, before new Abbey Court was built. A few days ago on this blog you may have seen developers want to demolish the new buildings.

Steve says “Originally it was the Cinema, fondly known as the Flea Pit. The two shops on the right are now Thomas Merrifield…

The old coach house building at the rear is still there, access via Abbey Close. Beyond, the small building was I believe the parcel office for the station?”

Steve adds “… shop to the right was Carter’s Toy Shop.”