The Flax Mill and the Canal Tavern

Apart from hitting my head against an iron beam (which was my own stupid fault for not looking where I was going), my visit to the Flax Mill earlier this year was enjoyable. Yes, yes. Since you ask – I was wearing a hard hat (thank goodness) but it still hurt.

The visit was also educational and enlightening. For one thing it taught me to look ahead and not down at my feet.

The tour also succeeded in illustrating just what an extraordinary structure we have over there in Ditherington. It also reminded me of how many schemes, projects, proposals, suggestions (call them what you will) relating to the Flax Mill have come and gone over the years.

Over the past few decades we've heard at various times that it's going to be turned into luxury flats, high-quality offices, an art gallery, specialist shops, an exhibition area, cafes and restaurants which may or may not spill out onto a revitalised canalside yard. The list goes on.

Currently, bosses behind the latest plans to regenerate the Flax Mill are preparing to stage a number of extra tours around the historic site in response to increasing public demand.

This comes after more than 1,600 visitors flocked to the building in May just days after the revamp plans received an initial £12.1 million in support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Tours are planned for July 28, August 11 and August 25.

So if you get the chance, do pop along and see what all the fuss is about.

If you didn't already know it, the Flax Mill is, as the world's first iron-framed building, world-renowned as the great grand-daddy of New York's skyscrapers. Funnily enough, we, as children in the 1960s, thought of the place as just a terrible wreck, rat-infested and falling to bits. We called it The Maltings because that is what it was for many years after ceasing to be a flax mill. If the regeneration finally does go ahead, this once half-forgotten and largely ignored place could become a fascinating attraction for locals and tourists alike; another jewel in Shrewsbury's already generously jewel-encrusted crown.

“Some 1,600 attended our open days in May but we are still receiving many requests for visits,” explained Stephen Crosland, co-ordinator for the Friends of Flaxmill Maltings. “We can offer tours for organised groups, but this offer provides opportunities for anyone to come along whether they be local residents or occasional visitors.”

The 90-minute tours will start at 2pm, and interactive activities will also be held to keep youngsters busy.

In case you've lost track (and who could blame you?) of what the latest scheme is all about, it's something like this: The Friends group is busily campaigning to restore the old mill buildings, creating a mixture of businesses, art groups, bars, restaurants and homes. All this, it is hoped, will start in 2014. Funding of more than £460,000 has already been pumped into the project.

Alan Mosley, chairman of the Friends, said: “There is great interest in the site, particularly after the success of the Flaxmill Maltings Partnership in receiving initial support for the £12.1 million Heritage Lottery Fund bid.”

It seems to me that it's been a very long time coming, but, finally, regeneration of the old girl is starting to look like a reality.

So, yeah, do go along on one of these tours – but please don't bang your head.

And talking of old canalside buildings in Shrewsbury, a word now about the Canal Tavern in New Park Road, Castlefields. 

Being an old Castlefields boy myself (and a pupil at the Lancasterian School just a stone's throw from this lovely old pub), I have a real soft spot for the Canal Tavern, and very fond memories of meeting my dad there (when I was old enough to do so) for a pint or two. I can recall a piano in the corner of the bar and a cosy little snug. I also remember a sheep which grazed in a small grassed area in front of the pub.

The Tavern dates from around 1820 and was near the old canal terminus at The Buttermarket. Originally it drew its customers from the passing barges, as well as attracting people working on the wharf, and of course railwaymen from the nearby station. It had stabling for five horses and its entertainment included the game of bagatelle. Needless to say, all that was somewhat before my time!

Anyway.

I hear that the canal preservation people would very much like to incorporate this pub into its own highly ambitious projects. How wonderful it would be if the currently-closed and rather sad-looking Canal Tavern could live again as perhaps both a pub and a museum.