Tag: UK city breaks

What the HS2 decision means next for Crewe’s fledgling tourism industry

 

What does the HS2 decision mean for rail-heritage-central Crewe?

That’s the question posed by this article, a postcard from East Cheshire for Telegraph Travel.

The story went live today but behind the paywall, so here’s my full, unedited draft, including an interview with former railwayman Brian Bailey [pictured above].

Please post your comments below.

And read the story via Telegraph Travel: How Crewe went from railway hub to an HS2 ghost town.

Coming soon to Crewe: Ruby Wax, a night of Halloween ghost stories and a tribute to Rod Stewart. That’s according to the posters outside the town’s charming Lyceum Theatre, where the red-velour interior and cherub-adorned balcony evoke the theatre’s Edwardian heyday.

But a far bigger name is no longer coming to Crewe. The headline act? HS2.

The decision last week to scrap to second phase of the high-speed railway line from Birmingham to Manchester enraged Mancunians awaiting news outside the Conservative Party Conference. The Prime Minister offered funding for northern rail but made no mention of Crewe, the East Cheshire town synonymous with railways ever since the first train arrived in July 1837.

Crewe had been earmarked as a major interchange between HS2 and the existing rail system yet, in a heartbeat, the rail gateway to the Northwest of England was erased from the high-speed tourist map.

The project would have acted, according to Cheshire East Council, as a huge catalyst for regeneration, providing a £750m economic boost to the town. Crewe has lost out, it says, on 5,000 new jobs, 4,500 new homes and a major upgrade to the Grade II-listed railway station, dating from 1867.

The Department for Transport subsequently pledged to improve the station for the existing network.

So, what now? I’ve come to Crewe on a warm October afternoon to seek out the town’s hidden heritage, its 33 listed buildings and proud tradition of working-class history often lost amid the boarded-up shops.

I start by crossing Memorial Square with its statue of Britannia to visit the Grade II-listed Crewe Market Hall, a former cheese market and cattle auction now reborn as the in-vogue venue for street food, craft ales and evening live events. I find Ruth Jackson, barista at Mini Bean Coffee, still pondering the implications of the HS2 decision.

“There’s a huge amount of disappointment across town,” says Ruth, who swapped Frappuccinos at the Crewe branch of Starbucks for a plucky coffee independent.

“The irony that Crewe is famous for its railway heritage is not lost on us.”

Indeed. It was the Grand Junction Railway Company that first established Crewe at the height of the Victorian railway boom. The Crewe Works, opened to build and repair locomotives, completed its first train, Columbine, in 1843. The new town grew up around the works and Crewe went on to produce over 8,000 locomotives for Britain’s railways until 1991.

By the 1870s, the town’s population had swelled to more than 43,000 steam-loving locals, while King George V and Queen Mary came to inspect the new Royal Train in April 1931.

The former Crewe Works is now the Crewe Heritage Centre, a family attraction celebrating 185 years of rail heritage with an exhibition hall and behind-the-scenes visits to trainspotter heaven — the 1938 North Junction Signal Box.

“I spent my childhood standing at my local level crossing outside Crewe, watching the steam engines.”

So says Heritage Centre Trustee Brian Bailey, who started his railway career as a 15-year-old apprentice and served 34 years on the railways.

“Crewe would have built the new bogeys for HS2, the work invigorating the town. Now,” he sighs, the thunder of trains on the Westcoast Mainline just beyond the viewing platform, “it’s all gone.”

Despite the setback, however, there are green shoots around the town centre. A new History Centre is earmarked for 2025, incorporating the new Cheshire Archives Service. There are two new self-guided heritage trails around town and, at Betley Street, a row of railworkers’ cottages from the mid 1800s have been lovingly saved, the neat rows with pea-green doors and hanging baskets arranged around a courtyard of autumn-colour beach trees.

New independent businesses are also moving back into the town centre with The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) recently championing the Crewe Beer Crawl, five independent craft-beer pubs within staggering distance.

“We need to get more people, such as beer nerds, to get off the train here,” says Sean Ayling, head brewer at Tom’s Tap and Brewhouse on Thomas Street.

“Going forward, I’d like to see more independent places to eat, such as the Holy Bun on Ruskin Road, and shuttle bus connections between the different parts of the town.”

I finish my exploration with an autumnal stroll through Queens Park, the Victorian public space designed by the landscape architect Edward Kemp and gifted to the town by its wealthy railway owning benefactors.

The boating lake and bowling green hark back to a more genteel period in Crewe’s history, while the iron gates feature the town’s original coat of arms with ‘Never behind’. The revised coat of arms of 1955 has the unintentionally ironic motto of ‘Semper Contendo’ or ‘Ever pressing forward’.

Back at the Lyceum Theatre, meanwhile, I learn that Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel are amongst the famous acts to have trodden the boards. Today there are Phantom of the Opera-style tales of backstage hauntings and former X-Factor winner Matt Terry leading the cast in this year’s pantomime, Cinderella.

Crewe, however, is still waiting to go the ball, thwarted by those ugly HS2 sisters, and the Fairy Godmother is stuck in a railway siding. The renaissance remains a work in progress, yet Crewe still believes one day its prince will come.

Visit the Crewe Heritage Centre (adult/child £7/5; open weekends until end October; www.crewehc.co.uk). More from: Visit Chester and Cheshire (www.visitcheshire.com).

 

Why Shropshire is the place to be this spring for foodies and poetry lovers

A recent trip to Shropshire for Telegraph Travel reminded me how this lesser-visited region is a little gem for country walks and fine food.

Read my guide to the region taking in Ludlow [pictured above, right] for its slow-food producers and Bishop Castle for a consultation at the Poetry Pharmacy [pictured above, left].

Here’s a taster of my feature:

Pub snacks are not the typical culinary delight in Ludlow.

This is, after all, the Michelin-starred Mecca that once boasted the most stars per capita, including one for Shaun Hill, now of Abergavenny’s Walnut Tree.

But while the Shropshire market town remains known for its food and drink, it’s the artisan independents who now grab the spotlight at the annual autumn food festival and a new spring festival from May 12-14 this year.

Tish Dockerty, co-chair of the Ludlow Marches Slow Food group, says:

“Ludlow was the original food festival — even before Abergavenny. The Michelin chefs have gone but the new focus has shifted towards local provenance and slow-food events.”

Read the feature via Telegraph Travel  Is Shropshire the proudest county in England?

How to spend St Davids Day in St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Britain’s smallest city

Something is stirring in Britain’s smallest city.

Green stemmed and canary-yellow-hued, the daffodils are emerging in the grounds of St Davids Cathedral, the holy site founded by St David [see images above], known locally as Dewi Sant, as a sixth-century monastery.

The daffodils herald the arrival of spring, releasing the close-knit Pembrokeshire community from its winter slumbers.

They also signpost St David’s Day today, celebrating the hairshirt-sporting Welsh patron saint, who is embraced by Wales but with revered with prodigal pride in St Davids.

What’s more, this year’s celebrations mark a significant anniversary: 900 years since 12th century Pope Callixtus II decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome.

I was in Pembrokeshire last week to preview events for St Davids Day, chatting with the locals for a feature with Telegraph Travel. The story was published on March 1st.

“Dewi was known as the water man,” says The Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, Dean of St Davids Cathedral. “To this day, he embodies the idea that, if you live a disciplined life, then you will enjoy the riches money can’t buy.”

Diminutive St Davids had its city status reaffirmed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 in recognition of its early Christian heritage.

The westerly peninsula is bordered by the Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail and a bracing stroll from the cathedral leads to the ruins of St Non’s Chapel, where folk legend says Dewi was born around 500AD.

The waters of the nearby holy well, which gurgled up from the earth at Dewi’s birth, are said to possess curative powers, while the view stretches over St Brides Bay to the RSPB bird reserve of Ramsey Island.

Read the full feature via Telegraph Travel  Welcome to St Davids, Britain’s smallest city.

Why the Chester Mystery Plays should be on your cultural radar this summer

Players, makers and stitchers of the 2023 Chester Mystery Plays Company (image: Chester Mystery Plays).

The Chester Mystery Plays return to Chester Cathedral this summer, the season coinciding with the Chester Heritage Festival.

The production comprises a huge cast of professional and non-professional performers (pictured above), many volunteering for roles on stage, in the choir, or behind the scenes.

I wrote a preview of the production, based around an interview with the actor Nick Fry, who shares the role of God with a female actor this summer.

The 24 plays, based on Bible stories, form an overarching narrative from The Creation to The Last Judgement, and are performed on a five-year cycle in Chester.

They originated in the city in 1300s, with small-scale church productions and a script in Latin. By the 1400s, the plays had been adopted by the Crafts Guilds, bodies of local tradesmen like a modern-day trade union, to be staged and performed in Middle English.

The plays formed part of the three-day Feast of Corpus Christi Fair with the players performing on pageant carts and the audience standing at fixed points around the city, such as The Cross and Abbey Gateway — locations still there today.

The Plays became associated with bawdy crowd behaviour and were banned after the Reformation, with last performance in Chester in 1578; making Chester home to the longest-running cycle in medieval times.

But the plays returned to the city as part of the 1951 Festival of Britain, and have been performed at Chester Cathedral since 2013.

Nick Fry, says:

“The Chester Mystery Plays reflect the history of both the cathedral and the city. And it’s a living history. The plays are steeped in history, yet remain of the community and for the community.”

Read the full article via The Church Times, The play that unites the city of Chester.

More info and booking: Chester Mystery Plays.