Sabotage Times, We can't Concentrate so Why Should You?Sabotage Times, We can't Concentrate so Why Should You?


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A Love Letter To Preston's Brutalist Bus Station

by William Routledge
5 October 2013 8 Comments

The crumbling bus station may have concrete cancer and be an eyesore to many, but the sights the eerie landmark have witnessed make it too precious for Preston to lose...

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn – C. S. Lewis

Life’s experiences, eh? I’ve had a few of those over the years!

Brutalist architecture, which is more commonly known has ‘Brutalism’, is be’ton brut raw concrete structures cast in-situ out of rough, finish concrete between the 1950’s and mid- 70s. These constructions range from vast educational facilities to towering tower blocks and bus stations. In Sheffield city centre there is the Park Hill ‘streets in the sky’ council housing scheme nicknamed ‘San Quentin’ by some residents. And I’ve walked past the estate many a time on the way to Bramall Lane. Luckily, I’ve never had the pleasure of being chased through the estates maze of pathways by the B.B.C. and encircled in a multitude dead-ends. Down that London, there’s Thamesmead, Tavy Bridge Estate – a futurist flagship project back in the day along with its shopping centre; which are both featured in the classic flick ‘Clockwork Orange.’ Thamesmead is awash with Cubist/Brutalist/Modernist buildings and high-rise social flats that contain a labyrinth of dark underpasses, elevated walkways and sinister subways. There was also Trinity Square shopping centre and multi-storey car park situated in Gateshead that featured in the film ‘Get Carter’, which is sadly no-more, because it has recently been demolished. Only on my doorstep is Preston Bus Station.

Preston Bus Station was cast/built in the late 60’s, and is the largest bus station in the UK and has both been a delight to alight onto from a blue & white council bus over the years but, a bane too!  The station also it incorporates a multi-storey car park which has distinctive curved walls. These curve walls were designed due to cheaper costs rather than vertical ones and they stop you driving into the structure too. But sadly, many a heart rendering successful suicide has taken place off the highest level of the car park. Someone even tried to drive off the exit ramp once in a vain attempt to end their life – he bounced off a lower ramp and survived. Also, over the past 40 odd years, several pensioners have been rundown and killed by buses reversing after taking a shortcut across the apron because they feared for their lives if they used the connecting subways. The station has also been plagued by muggings, alcoholics and drug dealers as well. So, you could say, the station isn’t top of folks list of places to visit list, would it? It is though.

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I’m walking home tonight, I only walk where there’s lots of lights, In alleys and the doorways, Some throw a bottle right in your face… - The Specials

The concrete bus terminus could have featured in a Stanley Kubrick films due to its eerie, awesome magnitude. Because lurking in shadows, behind its slick corners, or lying in wait down one of its dimly lit subways, or stairwells, could be Droogs, waiting to dish out a bit of ‘ultra-violence.’ Fact fans may know, Anthony Burgess, the writer of the famous novel Clockwork Orange, taught at Bamber Bridge Teacher Training College following WW II – Bamber Bridge is situated less than three miles south of where the bus station was later constructed.

I’ve had several experiences on the busie over the period of its existence too: I titted-up one of my first girlfriend as I threw my tongue down her throat at the tender age of 12/13 while we waited for different last buses home at 11pm. This after attending an under eighteen disco at the adjoined Guild Hall by overhead walkway and subway. I’d umpteen scraps with lads from different parts of town while waiting for buses too – years later we would become mates at the match. You had also to be on your guard for a group of guys of varying ages who would dish out beatings if they didn’t like the look of you or you wouldn’t ‘lend’ them 10p. The station also had a connecting late night black cab taxi rank too, which is now closed. And if anyone dared to jump the queue at three in the morning at the taxi rank, there would usually be a drunken mass brawl, whether this be lads in shirt and tie, or girls in miniskirts. It didn’t half make good viewing in the moonlit sky, through one eye, as you tried not to drop your takeaway as the early hours entertainment ensued all around you.

Over the years the station has suffered with concrete cancer – the reinforcing iron bars would have expanded due to rust setting in after water penetration through weak concrete batches when constructed - which has been rectified and a new coating added to the main structural frame. Plus other internal remedial work is taking place, though nothing too major and there have always been issues with access to the station too. Though the main aim over recent years has been to create better access, which the council have, this leaves the stations facade looking rather shabby and in a sad state, to say the least.

But the primary reason for my rant is the ‘brut’ of a construction may be demolished! Redevelopment project plans have been submitted for the centre of Preston which would see the bulldozers erase the landmark from the heart of the city. The 20th Century Society have took up the fight to save the iconic building and want it to be listed, only the council have applied for a Certificate of Immunity from the Government to block such a bid. What will happen to Preston Bus Station in the future, I cannot comment at the moment, but boy, did I have quite a few life changing experiences in and around the place, that’s for sure.

If you like it, Pass it on

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David Burgess 12:01 pm, 20-Feb-2012

I had the unfortunate expereince of seeing a dog jump off the top of the car park. I will never forget the thud.

Bob 4:26 pm, 20-Feb-2012

IMHO - Shit hole, knock it down, a by-gone building from a by-gone age.

Doktorb 6:16 pm, 20-Feb-2012

It does not have concrete cancer - that has never been proven and is an untruth spread around by a biased Council who are desperate to knock it down. The Bus Station is a splendid building, a prime example of its kind of architecture. But more importantly than that, it is still fully functional as a station. It must not be demolished. We have to fight to keep it.

Richard Crookes 5:41 pm, 22-Feb-2012

great post - I too remember some adolescent fumblings on the bus station. For any enthusiasts out there - we have a special fb group for 'The Legendary P5'.... http://www.facebook.com/groups/223400964378239/

jp sutcliffe 6:06 pm, 19-Mar-2012

what ho! ironic this... i knew someone i think who wrote for the p.i.m.p project - which did feature soem musings upon said artiface... you should have a look at the preston is my paris website... you may find kindred spirits...????? ironic this for me in that i attempted to (forgone conclusion that i should fail in that it was a contrivance that i should fail...)i attempted to achieve some so-called university study in preston... though not having visited the bus station to survey the demic state it is in - one wouldn't even look twice at it... though, photographically speaking, it may be as brutal a construction as many of the other bus stations scattered about the region - say rochdale or the old arndale of manchester....

Rebecca 8:30 pm, 5-Oct-2013

Great article, suspect there's masses of material about this place. Took a load of photos of it for an exhibition - prob 10 years ago now. I've stuck one of my favourite images on my wordpress site.

Some Guy 3:21 am, 6-Oct-2013

There is something interesting about it in a sinister kind of way. It is iconic even if it is ugly. When i think of Preston that bus station is often the picture that comes to mind. My only worry is that it gets replaced with some bland modern attempt to look like everything else. I used to get my haircut there when I was very young.

Some Guy 3:50 am, 6-Oct-2013

I've been checking out loads of examples of brutalism after this article and It's just so hard to decide if I love it or I hate it. I think I feel both at the same time! They seem like buildings that evoke a strong emotions - often ones of grim unsettling intrigue. On the one hand they seem unnatural, grimey and bluntly overpowering. On the other they seem mysterious, experimental and strangely compelling. Like a spark of wild imagination and vision that turned out badly.

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