Dear Mrs Battle and family,
Having a nice time here, but wet weather now. Hope you had a nice time in Ireland.
Cheerio, Mr & Mrs Williams
PS HOW'S JULIE?
Any city will, naturally, change with the times, new buildings will emerge in place of old and so-called 'modernisation' will take place. Carlisle has had it's fair share of this with many of it's older buildings and streets 'updated' or demolished but, despite some doom-laden accounts of the city's descent into 21st century homogenisation, the city still teems with history. Probably the most recognisable change that has taken place over the last century was the building of The Lanes Shopping Centre in 1984 (and the later expansion) but a close second are the massive changes made to the town centre around the same time.
The pedestrianisation of Carlisle city centre is possibly the largest and most dramatic change to the landscape of the city in my lifetime. Although I'm a nostalgic at heart I'm old enough to remember dodging the buses on English Street and the city centre shops being choked up with exhaust fumes. In this card, from 1965, you can see just how busy it could get, with the historic Guildhall and Town Hall looking out onto a glorified bus station! Bring back the Routemasters...but don't let them into the town centre again!
Also in the picture you can see the entrances to the Victorian subterranean toilets, something which is sadly missing, not just in Carlisle but across the country: public lavatories. I'm led to believe these toilets are still in existence but now bricked in - wouldn't it be great if they could be opened up again? There is some criticism that Carlisle has descended into a 'clone town' and the pedestrianistion seems to be the start of a slippery slope to many, but I believe that high rents and lack of local shops is responsible, not the paving. The town centre is now much more open and much more likely to be a place for shoppers and diners to stay rather than just a junction of three or four busy thoroughfares and is so much nicer for it.
One more thing... who is that schoolboy and where is he running to? Or is he being chased by that copper?
Postcard info:
Publisher: Valentine and Sons Ltd., Dundee & London
Postmark: 28th July 1965
