Jim Parker: A great Easter in the Bay - despite that orange glow from our new hotel

Me and my wife have been talking about getting away for a break in the sun recently (me more than she).

We are not getting any younger (me more than she) and you sometimes think that if we don’t do it now we never will.

Conversations with friends these days usually focus on ‘did you hear so-and-so’ themes covering illnesses and funerals of people you have grown up with and known for years.

Then you fetch out the old cricket photos and start counting how many of your old teammates are still around -  sadly a lot fewer than those gone to join your much missed mentors enjoying a pint after the game ‘up there and looking down on us’ and most of them weren’t a lot older than me and the wife (me more than she) when they departed this mortal world.

But then came a ray of sunshine, well almost, and some happier vibes and thoughts. And it was down to the Easter break and the unrivalled place we are so lucky to call our home.

TORBAY, the ENGLISH RIVIERA

The family decided to take a stroll on Torquay seafront on Sunday and ended up at Torquay harbour and The Strand.

You knew summer was just around the corner because the Land Train had emerged from its winter shed.

But it did appear and feel that the main season had come early as the harbour and Strand were heaving. 

Torbay Council had lined up a weekend of Easter activities, mainly aimed at the children especially in a special entertainments programme delivered by Tonic Creatives.

Play Torbay were there. So, too,  were arts and crafts stalls, music and colourful characters on stilts. There was even a good old-fashioned Punch and Judy show which the kids loved.  

It was perfectly placed almost next to the new statue of Dame Agatha Christie, which is quickly becoming a landmark for the Bay. It did cross my mind how two icons of years gone by were still much loved and still being enjoyed by so many today. And all this, of course amid the setting of a newly refurbished Strand and harbour area giving it a modern day Plaza style look. Old with new, a powerful combination.

Torbay could do with it being Easter or a Bank Holiday every weekend. Why not music and fun on the harbour every weekend during the main summer or even, perhaps, on the Banjo on the main seafront? Of course there would have to be a Punch and Judy Show as well.

Talking of modern-day and old working together. As we progressed along the prom I couldn’t help but notice the landscape looking across the Bay.

In the distance, you had the Grand Hotel, seafront flats and then the new and soon-to-be-opened Fragrance Hotel where the Corbyn Head Hotel once stood.I wondered what were the views of the natives on this one?

The orange panels around the hotel were a particular talking point. Well-known Tory resident Nicky Toffolo said: “Can’t get my head around the orange fascia on the windows. How does that have any connection to Torbay, the sea, our beautiful bay? A blank canvass and they come up with that."

“It's very 1970s and the orange is a strange and not aesthetically pleasing look. I honestly don't know what they were thinking,” was another comment.

There was a reminder about the new jobs and boost to the economy the hotel would bring.

One of my old adversaries, Jontie Williams, joined the debate and said: “It’s never going to happen Jim, but I have long suggested that a consideration for granting planning permission should be “how does the proposed project relate to its surroundings”. There’s been a few recent applications that would have failed that test, this being one of them.”

Jack Critchlow, another of my favourite sparring partners, added: “ It's bland and tasteless and an eyesore. No imagination in design or thought about its surroundings. And I give it less than five years before the owners seek permission to turn the hotel into flats. Glad I have only a few years left so won't be around to see the complete ruin of a once elegant and pleasant town.” Always one for a positive note, is our Jack!

Then there were some who ‘loved it’.

One thing is clear, Torbay is changing. The Strand has changed. The seafront landscape is changing. There is more to come. The Bay has to change. The Bay is changing and it has to be for the better

Perhaps I will have a word in the ear of the Fragrance bosses about those orange panels…..