Posts tagged “West Bay”
02/02/2012 No comments

Bridport by Night: An alternative tourism video by Stephen Banks

So, it has been over a week since I uploaded my ‘labour of love’, Bridport by Night, to YouTube. The video really took off in the first four days, accumulating some 8,000 views in that period alone. Hits from technology site Gizmodo and Anglotopia helped it along its way, but the majority of views were picked up by an organic sharing frenzy on Facebook and Twitter.

Throughout last week, I had people who I didn’t know from the local area following me on Twitter and adding me on Facebook. Many of them commented expressing their praise for the video. To date, the video on YouTube has had about 75 comments (and the same number of replies by me), 206 likes and 2 dislikes – a comment reading “Two dislikes for this video? The pair of you: YOU ARE DEAD INSIDE” made me chuckle.

Interest has died down at the moment. A few people have quietly complained about how much I was mouthing off about it, so I haven’t been sharing it around so much. But the other night, ITV West Country Tonight came to West Bay and filmed me for a piece they are running. And this Saturday, the film is being shown at the Bridport Arts Centre as part of a Spirit of Bridport event.

My target number of views for the video is 12,977 (which is Wikipedia‘s listed population for Bridport). It should soon surpass that. I already have plans to make a second, improved version of the video. Difficult second album?
27/08/2011 1 Comment

Bridport Town Hall’s golden weathervane restored

The golden weathervane on top of Bridport Town Hall, regilded in 2011 by Bridport artist Jemma Thompson, pictured on the right.

YOU'RE SO VANE: The weathervane on top of Bridport Town Hall, resplendent in its new coat of gold. Bridport artist Jemma Thompson is pictured right.

THE WEATHERVANE on top of Bridport Town Hall has been re-gilded – and very fine it looks too.

Bridport artist Jemma Thompson applied sheet gold in her studio on St Michael’s trading estate in the South West Quadrant.

The weathervane is much bigger – and heavier – than it looks from down on the ground.

It’s 2.4 metres long and is made from lead and copper, so it weighs around 100kg.

It took 10 men to get it back up on top of the Town Hall’s cupola.

Bob Gillis, clerk to Bridport Town Council, said: “The dome of the cupola has also been cleaned and the columns repainted. The clock face and surrounding slates are now being repaired and restored and as work is completed from the top down we will be lowering the scaffolding.” 

The weathervane and cupola on top of Bridport Town Hall before re-gilding and restoration, with a view over the town towards the West Dorset countryside.

LACKLUSTRE: Bridport Town Hall weathervane and cupola before re-gilding and restoration.

Bridport Town Hall is being restored as part of a £1.2 million Heritage and Conservation Project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Bridport Town Council, Dorset County Council, and West Dorset District Council.

Weathervane was stuck in Somerset cart wheel hub

Bridport Town Hall is Grade 1 Listed but that doesn’t mean it was constructed with impeccable skills and materials first time round.

I was talking about it in The Loders Arms the other evening to structural engineer Simon Brody of Brody Forbes Partnership in West Bay.

He was saying that a key part of the structure supporting the weathervane (the bit the pole was stuck into, in very non-technical terms) had been found to be the hub of an old Somerset cart wheel. He knew it was Somerset because there was a name inscribed which he’d traced back as far as 1823.

Mr Brody wondered whether a cart had come down from somewhere like Taunton or Shepton Mallett and broken down and, rather than try to repair it, they’d salvaged the wheel hub for re-use.

And you have to say: it may have been improvised back in the 19th century, but no one could say that it hadn’t lasted, given that it’s now 2011.

Editor’s Note: Jemma Thompson also gilded the fine golden bull hanging outside The Bull Hotel in Bridport. Pretty cool to have two gold artefacts in Bridport town centre. I can only think of the King George III statue in (say) Weymouth. The statue’s mason, incidentally, was James Hamilton – who also worked on Bridport Town Hall…
17/08/2010 2 Comments

Dorset pub to sell beer for Euros

THE Bridport Arms in West Bay is to start accepting payment in Euros for beer in response to the record-breaking numbers of German and Dutch tourists visiting West Dorset this summer.
The seaside pub will sell pints of Dorset Gold and Palmers IPA beer for 3.90 Euros and 3.60 Euros respectively, as well as £3.35 and £3.10, during the August bank holiday fortnight – traditionally the busiest time of year for the tiny harbour resort (23 August to 5 September).
West Dorset has seen a huge rise in the number of Dutch and German tourists this summer.
Bridport Arms licensee, Jenny Connolly, said: ‘Everyone has noticed how many people from Europe are over here at the moment. We get so many people asking if they can pay in Euros, especially the Dutch and Germans that I decided to join the Eurozone temporarily!
‘I can’t think of a better way to build on the traditional West Dorset welcome than showing our Continental neighbours that we value their custom in any currency.
‘West Bay has been a harbour since the 13th century, so it has a long history of welcoming people from abroad.’
Bridport Tourist Information Centre Manager Terri Foxwell confirmed that the area had seen an influx of tourists from the Continent this summer. She said: ‘Feedback from our tourist information centres shows that there has been a big rise in the number of visitors from Europe, particularly German and Dutch.’
South West Tourism records reveal that the total number of visits made by Germans to Dorset has nearly doubled in recent years – leaping from 34,000 in 2008 to 60,000 in 2009.
Palmers’ Tenanted Trade Director Tim Woodrow said: ‘This is a first for Palmers and we hope we get the chance to say ‘bienvenue’ and ‘guten abend’ to many more international visitors who can enjoy a pint of Palmers’ beer whether they pay in Euros or Sterling.’

Editor’s Note: From a press release issued on behalf of Palmers Brewery by the wife of the editor of this site. Reproduced here because it is interesting – I didn’t know so many Dutch and German people were now visiting – and as a technical test of new website arrangements.