NXWM 4320, Top church, Dudley, 2018
NXWM 4320 descending the top of Vicar Street from the highest point of Dudley town centre. This area has long been referred to as Top Church, although the church itself (to the left, off picture) is the Church of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke. The nearby town of Walsall also has an area known as Top Church, where the High Street climbs to meet Upper Rushall Street in front of Saint Matthew's Church; the area once well known for the street market that stretched most of the way up High Street.
These days, Dudley as a shopping centre is a shadow of its former self, in part a victim of the success of the undercover Merry Hill shopping complex built on the former Round oak Steel Works in the 1980s. As a consequence, some major retailers moved out of the town to Merry Hill, and since then there has been much decline. In this picture from 2018, the Blunts Shoe outlet is closing its doors. This large building was formerly the United Footware and before that, the Co-op.
As for the Alexander bodied Dennis Trident bus, that had been new to Wolverhampton bus garage in May 2002. From March 2012 to May 2015 it served in Birmingham, before returning to Wolverhampton. Captured here in its last days of operation, the bus being withdrawn in August 2018. After a long period of storage it was sold to Shelton Motors (dealer), Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire for breaking in September 2021.
Photo - 5th June 2018.
NXWM 4320, Top church, Dudley, 2018
NXWM 4320 descending the top of Vicar Street from the highest point of Dudley town centre. This area has long been referred to as Top Church, although the church itself (to the left, off picture) is the Church of Saint Thomas and Saint Luke. The nearby town of Walsall also has an area known as Top Church, where the High Street climbs to meet Upper Rushall Street in front of Saint Matthew's Church; the area once well known for the street market that stretched most of the way up High Street.
These days, Dudley as a shopping centre is a shadow of its former self, in part a victim of the success of the undercover Merry Hill shopping complex built on the former Round oak Steel Works in the 1980s. As a consequence, some major retailers moved out of the town to Merry Hill, and since then there has been much decline. In this picture from 2018, the Blunts Shoe outlet is closing its doors. This large building was formerly the United Footware and before that, the Co-op.
As for the Alexander bodied Dennis Trident bus, that had been new to Wolverhampton bus garage in May 2002. From March 2012 to May 2015 it served in Birmingham, before returning to Wolverhampton. Captured here in its last days of operation, the bus being withdrawn in August 2018. After a long period of storage it was sold to Shelton Motors (dealer), Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire for breaking in September 2021.
Photo - 5th June 2018.