Next year (2007) the Market Place is to be redesigned. So here are a few pictures to show the way it looked back in 2006.

The notice board and Abingdon map are likely to move from the present position at the junction.

This service road, by the Nat West bank, will move over a foot or two to allow the pavement to be widened. The current woodern bollards, looking towards Costa Coffee, will be replaced.

This step will be no more, as there will an incline from the road, plus bollards. The fence behind may also be removed and replaced with a raised flower bed and seat.

The cross pathway will be relayed in York Stone and the path leading across from the precinct will end up nearer the County Hall. Ultimately this will be an Abits crossing point.

The four quadrants will be relaid with the same black granite blocks – which everybody seems to like – but reset with stronger resin / cement because currently they keep need resetting and patching.

The current seats and trees will be replaced with new seats and trees. The trees will may be either London Plane or Liquidambar.

And the pavement will be laid in York stone and widened around the edges near La Baguette and Stroll-In, and round by the Robert Gatwards the jewellers…

Inbetween the brochures and the fire extinguishers, this wll known view of the Thames in Abingdon takes up much of the side wall at the Nationwide Building Society in Abingdon.

Do they do this in all towns?

There are a number of old pubs in Abingdon, although few of them have Ye Olde-Worlde feel. The Black Swan on Bath Street has been trading under that name since at least 1854.

It was sold to Morland in 1869. Back in the 1869 Abingdon directory there were five pubs in Bath Street:

• The Blue Boar (considerably older and still trading)
• Black Swan
• The Cow (no more)
• Three Tuns (no more)
• Horse and Jockey (also older but recently converted to housing)

The Black Swan is near to the shopping precinct. It is a distinguished building, but with an undistinguished supply of billboards advertising Sky Sport big screen, karaoke and the like. A notice in the window says “smoking throughout.”

Like most “Black Swan”s it gets called “Mucky Duck”.

For more on Abingdon pubs there are various pub guides.

The cranbrook was done by a local enthusiast. There are also stufield and beerintheevening and one where the Black Swan management give their own view and lots of information: pub-explorer.

By the time you see this sign at the top of Bridge Street it may well be too late.

There have been some long queues over the last two days. Somebody got out of their car outside our house and asked “Is it always this bad?”

This evening, looking across to The Dil Raj on Ock Street, there is a brand new surface to the road, and not just bits and pieces as has happened up to now while utilities were positioned and islands recreated.

At the junction with Stratton Way, the new tarmac meets unfinshed road. So there looks about as much to do again.