In the second of a series on some of the worst and best shop fronts in the city, David Winpenny of RIPON CIVIC SOCIETY looks this week at two in Market Square South and Kirkgate.
If there is one shop front in Ripon that is an assault on the eye, it is Pizza Choice Best Kebab. The premises have been fitted out as a takeaway but for legal reasons have never opened. It has been a blight on Ripon’s townscape for some time – and it is in one of the most prominent positions, bang in the eye as visitors turn out of the Market Square towards the cathedral. They do not know why the shop looks like this; they only see something that they may (wrongly) view as a symptom of decay in the city.
Just a few doors down is a good example of how to treat a shop front sympathetically. At 3 Kirkgate, ‘the gallery’ has a simple but elegant Victorian shop front. It has not been changed with gaudy signs, but has been simply painted in two subtle colours that enhance the architectural frame and do not distract from what is on display behind the windows.
What do you think?