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The Lower Addiscombe Road from Windmill Bridge to Cherry Orchard Road is presently a rather tired and somewhat run down shopping area. There is apparently a 'strategy' to regenerate Addiscombe with this area in particular being mentioned (see Maria Garcia's site). It will be interesting to see what ideas anyone will come up with. There are several changes I'd like to see, but sadly I can't imagine most of them being seriously considered!

A couple of shops have already had their ground floors converted for residential use, two more are clearly ongoing, and planning permission has been granted for several more. The properties that have already been converted have, in my opinion, low quality finishes on the exterior frontages and I don't have high hopes for any future conversions. I suspect that the best one can hope for is that they might actually match. The flats simply look out of place. I really would like to see these properties reinstated as shops but I am sure that will never happen. Sadly the decision to grant planning permission for the conversions may have already done long term damage to the area.

There are, however, shops that I think should be converted to residential use, and those are the two parades just past Cherry Orchard Road. These would appear to have been converted from residential use in the dim and distant past by the addition of extensions on the front. I feel that these properties are disconnected from the main shopping area and they again look out of place. They also detract from the appearance of the Leslie Arms. These shops should have been in the properties being converted to flats mentioned above. I'd like to see the frontages removed and the buildings returned to something like their original appearance. Sadly this is also far fetched I suspect.

The Leslie Arms itself needs to reopen as a pub or perhaps be converted to some other form of bar or restaurant. Whatever happens to it, it needs to be open and it will them form a focal point for the parades of Lower Addiscombe Road and Cherry Orchard Road shops. This is perhaps the most realistic proposition.

I think the junction with Morland Road and Morland Avenue is a mess. The Co-Op and the Morland Road Surgery just shouldn't be there. It would be nice if the building behind could be reinstated to something approximating its original appearance with some green space around it. Again no chance I suspect.

So what would I do with the Co-Op and the surgery? Well I'd like them to see them where Jewson's is now, with a parking area in front of them, providing better parking for the area. The existing on street parking obstructs the view at junctions and can be hazardous.