Future of Prison Area

[piwacket]

https://exbulletin.com/entertainment/653358/

[dave m]

Looks like we may have gained a Banksy?

[joe_smooth]

I drove passed yesterday at around 3.30pm and saw some people on scaffolding so assume they were painting this. In which case it isn't a banksy as he usually paints at night to preserve his identity.

[bert]

It looks like his work...he usually confirms on Instagram a day or two later so I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

[OLDMAN]

Saw this in the news earlier -https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readi ... n-19936639

[piwacket]

It’s a very clever piece of artwork - the typewriter is so detailed. Goodness knows when it was done, as that road is fairly busy even in the middle of the night and surely erecting scaffolding would have drawn attention... although one chap said he saw someone doing that at 3pm...? If I’d seen that, I think I’d have been rather more curious, and even if the artist worked rapidly, it would still have taken some time, so more People would have seen it happening - on the other hand if it was done in the middle of the night - he’d surely have need some light source?

So... if it is a Banksy? -what then?

... don’t know about the theory that’s it’s a depiction of Oscar Wilde - or that its necessarily connected with the hope of turning the area into an Art `centre?

[Voiceoftreason?]

Think I’ll wait for the confirmation it’s his - first sight I’m not convinced

[Pooneil]

It's certainly in his style, and as per the [uirl=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... e-56231364]BBC News report[/url], "Banksy expert and vice-chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth, Prof Paul Gough, described the artwork as "pretty compelling"".
Certainly can't hurt in the campaign to get them to do something interesting and useful with the building.

[bert]

Confirmed by Banksy

[piwacket]

Confirmed by Banksy

Not a member there - so can’t view whatever.

[bert]

Confirmed by Banksy

Not a member there - so can’t view whatever.

Sorry - also on his website. It has a nice drone shot of the prison/Blade towards the end!
https://www.banksy.co.uk/

[piwacket]

Sorry - also on his website. It has a nice drone shot of the prison/Blade towards the end!
https://www.banksy.co.uk/

Thanks Bert, also seen on here:
https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news ... test-work/

[pwpriory]

Joke on FB

[windrush]

Probably guarding the wall, the last Banksy was dismantled and sold by the walls owner a couple of weeks ago.

Pete.

[spectrum64]

Probably guarding the wall, the last Banksy was dismantled and sold by the walls owner a couple of weeks ago.

Pete.

I think the prison wall might take bit of dismantling! There weren't any police there when I went along yesterday or as I passed by this morning.

[flatback]

The end ?

[OLDMAN]

That’s the third photoshopped version I’ve seen along the same lines

[KeithW]

That’s the third photoshopped version I’ve seen along the same lines

It does look very much like it was the driver who took that picture. Idiot should be banned.

[MickEdge]

Popped down to take a look, yesterday afternoon, and it is quite impressive, even close up. Perhaps a dozen others doing the same as me.

[Stewart]

Great piece of art. But it needs protecting somehow.

[dave m]

Annoyingly, although I love the Banksy, I hate that bloody wall.
It's Fugly.
My greatest hope for whatever happened to the site was that the wall was removed.
Presumably you can retain a section without having to keep the whole thing

[OLDMAN]

Odd I commented on this yesterday but the post isn’t here?

The first image I saw on FB was the same one and just had the council guy standing / looking – the poster said ‘he’ took the picture and many made the same ‘that’s dangerous’ comments
His answer was to say he had stopped and took it – yeah in L2 of that stretch, in the traffic?
Others made that same or similar comments..............
Second image was the same again with 2 guys with mops / buckets ready – you could see it was photoshopped as the same bloke twice, with the extras added
This was the third version, same again but with the jet wash steam added!

[Ollycat]

Annoyingly, although I love the Banksy, I hate that bloody wall.
It's Fugly.
My greatest hope for whatever happened to the site was that the wall was removed.
Presumably you can retain a section without having to keep the whole thing

Agree with you there! Given that people collect Banksy works, I hope it can be dismantled and maybe moved to the older building inside, whatever that becomes..

[OLDMAN]

I remember when they changed the prison status and knocked the old castle style wall down, including the splendid looking gate house, and build the monstrosity that is there now – around 73/74 if I remember correct
They did talk of re-doing it in 93 when it was downgraded to a Young Offenders Institute but nothing happened apart from removing the ugly ‘anti-scaling’ bit off the top

I think I’ve seen somewhere about the most recent plans where to take it all down as part of re-development
If they did it may be worth leaving just that bit as a monolith with the image on it

[dave m]

The wall could be kept but lowered (apart from the Banksy) to improve the view from inside and out and ideally removed on the river and Abbey side. However it all depends on who buys it and it's use.
If the theatre plan came to fruition I'd be tempted to keep it on the corner where the theatre might go as an acoustic barrier.

[MickEdge]

I remember when they changed the prison status and knocked the old castle style wall down, including the splendid looking gate house, and build the monstrosity that is there now – around 73/74 if I remember correct
They did talk of re-doing it in 93 when it was downgraded to a Young Offenders Institute but nothing happened apart from removing the ugly ‘anti-scaling’ bit off the top

I think I’ve seen somewhere about the most recent plans where to take it all down as part of re-development
If they did it may be worth leaving just that bit as a monolith with the image on it

Thanks,Oldman, for confirming it wasn’t a phantom memory I had of the old castle style wall. Is this the gatehouse you remember, from the 1960s?

F6EF5CBD-91D4-4087-825E-BC92A20EA19D.jpeg (21.79 KiB) Viewed 847 times

[OLDMAN]

Yes, I have that image somewhere

[dave m]

Yes I remember that, I was surprised when I read somewhere the date of the change. I thought that it was changed much later than the date in the article.
Pretty sure that the original was modelled on Warwick Castle? Or maybe that's the model for all Victorian prisons?

[Bam]

The photo kindly posted by Mick Edge is how I remember it. Not that I had ever passed through the gate you understand.

[Cardiac]

I have passed through those gates several times in the sixties, as an apprentice R&TV engineer our company repaired the pa system and I usually drew the short straw.
Those were the days when things were repaired and not thrown away.

[windrush]

I have passed through many prison gates in my work but never Reading's! I have known a few inmates there though.

Pete.

[MickEdge]

My only time in prison, was the open day, a year or two ago. More than going in Oscar’s cell, I found the old photos of the early inmates moving. Many were there simply for being poor, in a time when otherwise your family would starve. Making it a community and arts centre is a great idea, I hope the MOJ see their way to giving the Council a chance. To pay for it will require a lot of the space be given over to housing, offices and other commercial ventures.

[Ollycat]

RBC have decided to put in a bid...
http://news.reading.gov.uk/council-app ... prison-21/

[OLDMAN]

Yes I remember that, I was surprised when I read somewhere the date of the change. I thought that it was changed much later than the date in the article.
Pretty sure that the original was modelled on Warwick Castle? Or maybe that's the model for all Victorian prisons?

I’ve looked it up and it says it was remodelled about 1973, I thought about 73-74 as remember cycling past back then, and it was all done by 75 as I remember driving pass and it was all new but some of the wall changes came later
Shame the rest got listed in 78 as earlier it might have saved the old gatehouse!
And from wikip’ –
Designed by George Gilbert Scott and William Boynthon Moffatt, it was based on London's New Model Prison at Pentonville[2] with a cruciform shape, and is a good example of early Victorian prison architecture. The Pentonville Prison design of 1842 was based on the design of Eastern State Penitentiary of 1829 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

[OLDMAN]

RBC have decided to put in a bid...
http://news.reading.gov.uk/council-app ... prison-21/

It’s a catch 22
RBC put a bid to MoJ
MoJ want as much money as possible so maybe not enough
Butany developer might be put off because................
RBC have to grant anyone else planning permission so can sort of block that