Bury St Edmunds Suffolk

5.30pm 5.5 miles in 44 mins 31 secs

Week to date mileage 5.5 miles

Month to date mileage 82

Average weekly rate 29.4 miles

Average monthly rate 128

Year to date 596

Lifetime 10189

For this evenings run I decided on a run around the town centre. I am still seeing things that I have either never seen before or never registered which have been under mu nose but I have never really noticed or observed.The weather was bright warm and sunny as I set out.

I set off down Beetons Way before taking the footpath which runs beside the railway and the A14 and behind the King Edward School. Here there are good views of St Johns Church and tonight there was an abundance of rabbits on path way which ran helter skelter at my approach. Does anyone eat Rabbit now? There is certainly plentiful supplies to be had near the lake and railway track.


I came into town via St Johns Street and passed the Old School Hall.


Through town I visited Guildhall Street to try and find the old Brewery tap entrance to the Saracen Head Brewery. I think this photo showing a private residence was the former brewery tap house as indicated by the grapes on either side of the entrance.

Next door to the Norman Tower I have never really noticed the date of 1846 on this building.

I have to say I like the 2 cranes which are such a visual focal point of Bury Town Centre this year. I know for the locals in Risbygate Street and Nelson Road it is an absolute nightmare and a trampling over tradition and history with what is happening to the cattle market.

I have to say the new shopping development name of the Arc being short is simple to remember and I can see this really catching on for incoming visitors to Bury. Local residents will try and hold on the cattle market name but for me that went when the last cow, pig and sheep left the town centre. It doesn't feel or look like a cattle market any more with the clouds of chalk dust and what is a now a blank canvas building site with most traces of the past blasted away. The destruction of the Duke of Wellington at Prospect Row and the removal of the tea room with its lovely atmosphere and good tea were the final nails in the coffin for me.

I will always hold memories of the cattle market visiting as a boy whenever we went to town. I shall always think of the author Adrian Bell who farmed in Suffolk and wrote about the market and the Rising Sun. However this is gone and it is apt to come up with a brand new name. I would have preferred for there to have been a public competition for a painting , perhaps a logo and a new name and in this way the developers would have got the public on their side. As it is the developers have scored an own goal and contempt for the general public of Bury St Edmunds as the name Arc is a meaningless, wishy washy name.