About 1,800 people visited the Heritage Open Days event at the Town Hall between 10-13 September 2009 and most visited the Stratford Society display in the Council Chamber. The Society’s display used old and new photographs to show how buildings in the town had changed over the years in response to changing fashions, building technology and socio-economic circumstances. At the end of the display – which covered six A1 sheets – there were two further panels that showed a collage of buildings in the town and five entrances into the town. Those visiting the display were invited to identify what they considered to be the best and worst buildings in the town, and the best and worst entrances into the town.
The survey resulted in 68 completed questionnaires. Roughly 10% of the respondents were visitors, 25% came from the area surrounding Stratford and the remaining 65% were Stratford residents. The results of the survey are summarised in the following table. It shows that the respondents were much clearer about what they did not like about the town, than they were about what they did like. Though there were variations between the three groups of respondents, their views were broadly in agreement.
The four “best” buildings in the town were judged to be the Almshouses and Grammar School, the Shakespeare Hotel, the HSBC Bank and Harvard House. Other buildings that scored high marks included Shakespeare’s Birthplace, the Guild Chapel, Masons Croft and Barclays Bank. On the other hand, the four “worst” buildings in the town were judged to be the NatWest Bank (by a large margin), the Needham & James building (although respondents tended to qualify their ranking by saying that it was a fine building, but just in the wrong place), the Holiday Inn and the Shakespeare Centre. Other buildings that were judged to be awful included the Chicago Rock Café, the Holiday Inn, the Police Station and the Fish & Chip shop in Guild Street (now closed).
Respondents had firmer views about the entrances into the town. They definitely liked the Banbury Road/Clopton Bridge entrance and were strongly opposed to the Birmingham Road entrance. The Warwick Road/Gyratory entrance was also thought to be satisfactory, while the Evesham Road entrance was not. There were of course some outliers. In spite of being voted top, Clopton Bridge still attracted some criticism on the grounds that the entrance was potentially OK, but spoiled by too much traffic.
What lessons can we learn from this survey? Based on the results of the survey, together with the comments written on the forms, the town has a number of very fine buildings that residents and visitors appreciate. On the other hand, we have a few awful buildings that should be added to George Ferguson’s X-list – buildings that should be demolished at the earliest opportunity. With regard to the town’s entrances, the consensus was that they are simply not up to the standards expected of a town with the reputation of Stratford. We need to urgently try to do something about this, particularly in the case of the Birmingham Road. |
