Janet's Adventures in Waterstones

Wokingham – Monday 6th May 2019

Our final Waterstones on this trip was in Wokingham, another market town. We were there on the spring bank holiday and there was a May Fayre taking place with a variety of stalls and an open-air music venue where we watched a really good Steel-drummer! The town is pretty and it was nice to see it so busy, but due to the number of people there we weren’t really able to explore it fully. The Waterstones is in a modern, airy building and only opened in December 2018

Wokingham map

The present town was built to replace the old Guildhall which had fallen into a state of disrepair. It opened in 1860 and is a popular wedding venue.

Bracknell – Monday 6th May 2019

Bracknell in Berkshire was declared a new town in 1949 – as part of this it absorbed lots of small villages. A funny feature of the outskirts is that streets were given names in alphabetical order (and just as a single name – no Road, Street or Close), so in one area off the central road of ‘Ringmead’ you’ll find streets called Pembroke, Prescott, Pendlebury, Ollerton, Octavia, Orion, Oakengates, and nearby are Northcott and Naseby, Nutley…!

The Waterstones is located in a modern open-air shopping centre which opened in 2017. The store is on two levels – the upstairs of the store was very empty, as though they didn’t have enough stock to fill it! I think there must be older parts of Bracknell but we didn’t have time to explore further afield.

Bracknell map

The Lexicon Shopping Centre

Horsham – Sunday 5th May 2019

We stopped at Horsham for coffee on our way to our next destination – it’s a market pretty town in West Sussex. The town grew up around the square called Carfax, which is the location of the Waterstones. The striking building has had an interesting history. A medieval building known as the Red Lion which later became George Duke’s Emporium – I’m not sure when this opened, but in 1898 it was taken over by corn and coal dealers Chart and Lawrence who were there for just over 100 years! The building then became a bookshop – Hammicks. Ottakar’s acquired that chain in 2003 before being taken over by Waterstones!

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Horsham map

There are plenty of beautiful buildings in Horsham. One of the prettiest streets is called Causeway and leads from the town to the church and then onto a small park area.

Let sleeping cats lie…!

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Crawley – Saturday 4th May 2019

After leaving East Grinstead we went to Crawley where we were staying for the night. There has been a settlement at Crawley since Saxon times. In 1947 it was designated a New Town and work started to create businesses and homes, the idea being to move people out of London. We didn’t have time to explore the town so we only saw the new town and the modern shopping centre in which the Waterstones is located.

Crawley map

The picture below is called Family Group and is by sculptor Richard Browne (1921-1990). When Crawley was designated as a New Town its population stood at around 9,500, within twelve years it had increased to 50,000! This sculpture was commissioned to represent the growth of the population

East Grinstead – Saturday 4th May 2019

East Grinstead is a small market town in West Sussex with more of its fair share of medieval buildings. In fact, it is said to have the longest continuous stretch of timber-framed buildings in England. It is also known as ‘The town that does not stare’! The reason for this is that pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe was based here during World War 2 and was instrumental in developing surgery techniques for soldiers who were badly burnt – he also encouraged the townspeople to interact with these wounded men until seeing the was so commonplace that no one stared. The Waterstones here is in a modern building – London Road was badly bombed during a raid in 1943 and the current buildings were put up as replacements so I think it probably dates from the late 1940s or 1950s.

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East Grinstead map

East Grinstead is the home of Sackville College, which is an Almshouse founded in 1609 by Robert Sackville for the poor. It is still a charitable institution today, providing affordable sheltered accommodation for senior citizens. Outside it stands a statue to Archibald McIndoe.

The inscription at the foot of the statue reads:

East Grinstead inscription

Currently reading: A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood and listening to The Hanging Garden (Inspector Rebus #9) by Ian Rankin

Windsor – Sunday 21st April 2019

Windsor is a market town in Berkshire probably most famous for its castle, the fire in St George’s chapel and its royal weddings! We’ve visited a few times before and it’s a town we really like. Every day of the week except Sunday you can watch the Changing of the Guard take place. The parade goes through the town (the traffic is stopped for this purpose) and into the castle accompanied by a marching band or drum corps and is well worth watching. The Waterstones in Windsor is in a modern building situated in the heart of the town’s large shopping area.

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Windsor map

Windsor

The Castle, including the Long Walk

Chesham – Saturday 20th April 2019

Our final stop of the day before heading to our hotel was the market town of Chesham, where the Waterstones is located in a modern building. We didn’t have a great deal of time to explore the town but it was market day so there were some stalls along the main shopping area selling all sorts of goods to browse. Because of the market it was difficult to photograph the outside of the shop, which is why the picture of the front is not great!

Chesham map

The clock tower in Market Square is a reproduction of the tower from the original Town Hall, which was demolished in 1965. It was built in 1992 using local bricks.

Amersham – Saturday 20th April 2019

Amersham is divided into two distinct areas. Old Amersham which is the older part of the town and has a 13^th century church and many old buildings – and the newer area, known locally as Amersham-on-the-Hill which grew in size with the arrival of the train. The Waterstones is located in a modern building in the new area. It was originally an Ottakar’s store before the chain was taken over by Waterstones.

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Amersham map

After popping in to photograph Waterstones we drove down to the old part of the town for a drink in the King’s Arms hotel, which is a gorgeous timber building dating from the 1400s and which has been used in films and TV programmes, including Four Weddings and a Funeral where it featured as the outside of the ‘Jolly Boatman’ hotel! It also serves one of our favourites – Unfiltered Hells Lager!

The Market Hall, which dates from 1682!

High Wycombe – Saturday 20th April 2019

High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire is a town of two halves. We arrived and parked in a modern shopping centre full of the usual High Street shops, including the Waterstones – outside of the shopping centre is a more traditional shopping centres with some attractive buildings including the Guildhall and the Little Market House.

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High Wycombe map

The Guildhall

The plaque on the Guildhall reads:

Plaque

Note the now obsolete spelling of the word expense!

The Little Market House

High Wycombe 20.04.19 Little Market House(12)

This statue below appeared above the entrance to the Red Lion Hotel (demolished in the 1960s) but it is not known when it first appeared. The earliest photograph it appears in dates from 1832. It now stands above a row of shops!

Reading – Friday 19th April 2019

Reading is situated where the rivers Avon and Kennet converge and is the county town of Berkshire. We stopped overnight on our way to Buckinghamshire where we were spending Easter. We had visited the Waterstones in Reading before I started my quest to visit every store but it is in such a stunning building that I was happy to go back! It is situated in a Grade II listed building which was formerly the Broad Street Independent Chapel until its closure on 15^th January 1984. The building inside has been sympathetically redeveloped inside to incorporate the shop and still retains many of its beautiful features, together with a couple of cabinets containing items of history and memorabilia of its former life. There are lots of photographs, but I think they’re worth it!