Phil Gillam: Getting used to changes faces of county town

And so it is with bland architecture.

I've written many times in this column about my dislike of Shrewsbury's 1960s market hall, Crown House in St Mary's Street, and of course Princess House in The Square.

But you kind of get used to them after a few decades.

Eventually, you don't even notice them anymore.

And eventually, in a strange old way, you almost get to like them.

Very much like some particularly catchy pop songs that you always swore you hated but which get under your skin until you find yourself singing them all day long without even realising.

Kung Fu Fighting? Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree? Billy, Don't Be A Hero? And what about Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz?

Yeah, okay, enough of that.

Councillor Andrew Bannerman and I found ourselves chatting about all this this week (architecture, that is, not annoying pop songs), and he had some very interesting insights into the latest plans for the aforementioned Princess House. Yes, that's right, the controversial forthcoming revamp of this universally disliked building in one of the loveliest parts of the town centre.

"I heard someone say the other day that whatever they do now to Princess House would have to be better than what's there now," Andrew told me.

"But I had to say: You are wrong. Judging by the plans I've seen, it won't be better than what's there now. It'll actually be worse."

There are of course plans afoot to alter the look of this large early-1970s structure, but - by many accounts - the revamp is unlikely to be an improvement, and many see the scheme as a huge missed opportunity.

"However difficult it is for us to believe now," says Andrew, "the architects behind Princess House did make some effort to be sympathetic to the historic surroundings."

"What? Really?" says I.

"Yes," says Andrew, who then goes on to talk about the overhangs on Princess House, the cunningly designed concrete slats which ventilate the car park but which also echo Elizabethan details, the articulated windows that break up the mass of the building.

"All those three elements will be lost with the new design. The big problem with the new design is it's a face with unarticulated sockets. In my opinion, it's a poor design."

Andrew said he had called for the plans to go before a design institute before councillors agreed to the go-ahead, but his suggestion was rejected.

"We, as councillors, have no expertise with the design of buildings and we hardly ever look at a building on a key site like this and ask what we really want."

So, not for the first time, it looks as if beautiful and historic Shrewsbury could end up with another unsympathetic building - and this time right in the heart of the town.

Every other building in The Square is a gem. Not for nothing was The Square used in the 1984 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. It was the perfect setting for several scenes.

But here we go again with something that threatens to dilute the townscape.

Oh dear. Will we never learn?

Never mind. Just like toothache or recurring hiccups, I suppose we'll get used to it.

You can contact Phil Gillam by emailing philoncloudbase@gmail.com