please empty your brain below
Brilliant!

NLW | 15.05.21 - 7:10 a.m. | #

"nothing says The Bell End like a rampant protuberance"! Coffee meet keyboard. Outstanding.

THC | 15.05.21 - 7:19 a.m. | #

A campaign should be launched to ensure an economic boycott of this unwanted facility. This should involve persuading all the online companies who book for such enterprises to shun it at the risk of themselves losing business. It is time that people fought back against companies in the way that they do now against football clubs and pub 'redevelopers'.

Brian | 15.05.21 - 7:52 a.m. | #

A great piece of writing, but my heart is sinking at losing something so original. They should have turned it into a museum with an educational side to learn traditional skills and crafts. The grubby greed of short-term thinking is erasing so much potential.

Jayne | 15.05.21 - 8:05 a.m. | #

This is sad news indeed (and brilliantly reported!). Some decades ago, I was involved in commissioning a bell from them. It rings beautifully.

Tim W. | 15.05.21 - 8:40 a.m. | #

Superlative skewering. Made me laugh, cry and fume in the space of a couple of minutes. If only there were no cause for it.

Sarah | 15.05.21 - 9:23 a.m. | #

A tragic tale, perfectly rendered. I echo Sarah’s words. I never managed to get a viewing there and I am so sad to miss seeing the foundry. A special place with specialist workers, it could have been supported given different attitudes and political foresight.

Herbof | 15.05.21 - 9:34 a.m. | #

I’ll less keen on this piece of yours, DG: I’ve long been a fan of yours, but I feel you’re overdoing the cynicism this time. I agree it’s not the best use of the site, but if the only alternative is dereliction, I’d rather have some new investment, even this.

Phil SW11 | 15.05.21 - 9:35 a.m. | #

The level of sarcasm in this post is spot on. Brilliantly written. Just wish it could have been saved.
Well done to those who fought for it so valiantly, but money usually wins in the end.
Just as Dangleway has slipped into common parlance this shall forever be, in my mind, the Bell End!

Cornish Cockney | 15.05.21 - 9:44 a.m. | #

Gone, but not forgotten, you can still get a "Whitechapel bell" from Taylor's:
http://taylorbells.co.uk

I was a change ringer for many years, personally I've always favoured the sound of Gillett & Johnston bells, there are some sets in London churches, the ones I enjoyed ringing the best are at Petworth.

Joho | Homepage | 15.05.21 - 10:01 a.m. | #

Perhaps I've become too cynical, but the only thing that amazes me is how the campaigners thought it would end any other way. I'm grateful that someone at least tried - if you don't ask, you don't get - but it was a foregone conclusion the moment the original owner decided to sell to a developer secretly rather than put it on the market.

Chz | 15.05.21 - 10:20 a.m. | #

Jenrick sure loves messing about with Tower Hamlets. Does he ever call in projects outside of London?

Also fascinating how a party called conservative can be just the opposite. Everything's very important and heritage value until suddenly it isn't and it's gone and we're all sentimental opponents to change. Whenever they make a big noise about the importance of saving the Palace of Westminster I just think about how they've sold off The Old War Office where Churchill worked during WW2. Literally selling off Whitehall.

MK | 15.05.21 - 10:31 a.m. | #

This is, of course, as good as it’s going to get. With luck, the boutique hotel will prosper, and all the pesky bell-making references can be quietly stripped away over the next few years to create a couple more lettable meeting rooms. With less luck, the whole enterprise will go to the wall over a single economic cycle, it’ll get bought and sold and bought and sold, stripped out, knocked about, and end up as a propped up facade, no more.

Philip | 15.05.21 - 10:35 a.m. | #

Although the original owner did indeed sell privately, it's hard to see how that had anything to do with the Bell End outcome. He did so in a laudable attempt to avoid bankruptcy with its collateral damage to workers and suppliers.

Malcolm of Kent | 15.05.21 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Once again, I am not quite sure whether to laugh or cry at this!

cau1khead | 15.05.21 - 11:45 a.m. | #

Seeing that Tower Hamlets (Labour) approved this scheme in 2019, why aren't THEY getting the stick. And as Historic England have also approved the scheme, it's not as if everyone has been against it.

Mikey C | 15.05.21 - 11:53 a.m. | #

Fun fact: the building was previously a coaching inn called the Artichoke which the foundry business only moved into in 1739, as it needed more space at the time. So the site will effectively be returning to its former use.

Iain | 15.05.21 - 12:08 p.m. | #

Once again we see that the Conservatives know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Tones | 15.05.21 - 2:11 p.m. | #

It must be difficult to find something new to wings about every day.

Messiah | 15.05.21 - 3:14 p.m. | #

We attended the protests. Loved the involvement of the mosque. Hadn't heard the news until reading this. Jenrick (and the whole government), what a piece of scum. Depressing news. And there was a viable alternative proposed. Could have been interesting, exciting even. Money, money, money, for the few not the many. Like Whitechapel needs another bloody hotel.

Colin | Homepage | 16.05.21 - 9:01 a.m. | #

The, dare I say it, tone of this was as appealing as usual.
The key to the problem is a lack of inbuilt obsolescence, not the perceived lack of concern of the Labour local council or Conservative central government. Only one foundry with the capacity to forge large bells survives, and even that's asking for public donations and lottery funding. Maintenance contracts don't keep enough fires burning.

JP minimus | 16.05.21 - 11:59 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy