Made Myself Do Something Yesterday...
Often felt like giving up. But quite pleased. It helps when the buses run as you hope and they stop virtually outside where you are trying to get to.
So first up I was at a lunchtime "Jam" at the Durham Gala theatre watching The Swing City Trio. But I really felt spent afterwards and was to head home. The weather was anything but Summer like, it could have been Autumn to be honest.
But I got back to the bus station and saw that one bus was running approx every quarter of an hour to Gilesgate(a part of Durham)I have never had reason to visit(most visitors to Durham probably only see the city centre or go to the country areas. It is a suburb as any area in any town or city is. A place where many live and has a few little shops that serve the local population.
So I hopped on the bus for what a way to discover the area, how close it is to the city centre and hunt out a new music venue that I have discovered. I'd say its about a mile and a half out of the centre but the buses take longer to get there than coming back from the venue which takes a more direct route. It helps when you don't hit the peak of rush hour.
It has to be one of the most unusual venues for offering entertainment because it is a...Launderette. Yes, you heard correctly...it started off as a cinema and it appears it actually closed in 1958 but no doubt has been used for a variety of purposes since.
But someone with vision and it deserves to survive and thrive has refurbished it, offers a small place to meet for coffee with friends, a place to hold birthday parties and get togethers, offer laundry facilities on a large scale and for the general public and...music entertainment(even recently a play)in the evenings. Yes, you sit in an area surrounded by the washing machines and the performers play there too.
It is an intimate venue but is managing to attract some pretty decent artists and not just from this country. I am hopeful of making the effort now that I have discovered it and as long as I can access public transport especially late at night as without it I would be stranded in Durham, have to leave early or use a taxi to get home which would cost me £35 and that is not practicable.
It really is a jewel in the crown and just looking at it yesterday, it was inviting and I had an affection for it, thinking about its past history and how it is still being used as part of the local community and hopefully is being supported. Long may it be so...
If you live in the North of England, have access to transport do consider supporting this enterprise it deserves to succeed and we have someone with a vision.
The Old Cinema Launderette
So first up I was at a lunchtime "Jam" at the Durham Gala theatre watching The Swing City Trio. But I really felt spent afterwards and was to head home. The weather was anything but Summer like, it could have been Autumn to be honest.
But I got back to the bus station and saw that one bus was running approx every quarter of an hour to Gilesgate(a part of Durham)I have never had reason to visit(most visitors to Durham probably only see the city centre or go to the country areas. It is a suburb as any area in any town or city is. A place where many live and has a few little shops that serve the local population.
So I hopped on the bus for what a way to discover the area, how close it is to the city centre and hunt out a new music venue that I have discovered. I'd say its about a mile and a half out of the centre but the buses take longer to get there than coming back from the venue which takes a more direct route. It helps when you don't hit the peak of rush hour.
It has to be one of the most unusual venues for offering entertainment because it is a...Launderette. Yes, you heard correctly...it started off as a cinema and it appears it actually closed in 1958 but no doubt has been used for a variety of purposes since.
But someone with vision and it deserves to survive and thrive has refurbished it, offers a small place to meet for coffee with friends, a place to hold birthday parties and get togethers, offer laundry facilities on a large scale and for the general public and...music entertainment(even recently a play)in the evenings. Yes, you sit in an area surrounded by the washing machines and the performers play there too.
It is an intimate venue but is managing to attract some pretty decent artists and not just from this country. I am hopeful of making the effort now that I have discovered it and as long as I can access public transport especially late at night as without it I would be stranded in Durham, have to leave early or use a taxi to get home which would cost me £35 and that is not practicable.
It really is a jewel in the crown and just looking at it yesterday, it was inviting and I had an affection for it, thinking about its past history and how it is still being used as part of the local community and hopefully is being supported. Long may it be so...
If you live in the North of England, have access to transport do consider supporting this enterprise it deserves to succeed and we have someone with a vision.
The Old Cinema Launderette
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 9:02 am
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