This is clearly not a building from the 1920 or 1930s but it definitely has Deco style much like the MI5/MI6 building in London or the UCAS building in Cheltenham.

You may remember me posting about Hartlepool United’s FA Cup loss to non-league Blyth Spartans back in December. Even then their plight looked pretty desperate but in early March it was worse. The club looked doomed to be relegated to the Conference. Rooted to the bottom of the English League Two table for what had felt like months they were ten or so points behind the second bottom side. Since then the turn round – no doubt inspired by new manager Ronnie Moore – has been remarkable.

As I write today, even yet Hartlepool have won only twelve league games all season – out of a total of forty-five. Five of these though were in the last eight. A run of four successive wins on the 14^th, 17^th, 21^th and 28^th of the month and a draw in the first game in April took them from dead last to third bottom. Football can be amazing at times. And Saturday’s 2-1 win over Exeter City combined with losses for both Cheltenham and Tranmere Rovers confirmed that the club would stay in the Football League for at least another season. Was there dancing in the streets of Hartlepool do you think?

I feel a bit sad for Tranmere Rovers who have been members of the Football League for over 90 years but Hartlepool hold a greater place in my affections. Cheltenham are more Johnny-come-lately in this respect.

I hope this relief isn’t short-lived and a measure of success (rather than avoiding failure) awaits next season but given the history outlined in my December post I wouldn’t discount another struggle against relegation. The heady days of vying for promotion to, and competitivenes in, League One seem long ago now.

Today I had a comment on my Art Deco in Cheltenham post.

It contained this link.

Apparently the Odeon Cinema (which I did not encounter when I was in Cheltenham but I have found the photo below at cinematopia.co.uk) is in danger of being demolished and in particular the friezes of two naked ladies which adorn its frontage may be lost to Cheltenham. Photos of the cinema – some showing the friezes – can be found here.

The link in the comment – which I repeat here – is to a petition to save the friezes (- and I would hope the whole building.) I urge anyone interested in Art Deco to sign it, as I have.

Gloucester is only 12 miles on from Cheltenham so we carried on to there the same afternoon.

We chanced upon Gloucester War Memorial and managed to get parked nearby.

I like the restraint of this one and the fact it’s at the edge of a piece of parkland. Unfortunately the road is quite busy, though; but at least that means lots of passers-by will see the memorial.

The cenotaph-like stone is surmounted by a lion and is inscribed to the men of the Gloucestershire Regiment.

The long low, curving wall with the central gap is dedicated to the men of Gloucester. Both top lines of names are for the Great War and the lower lines are for the Second.

There is a nice block of flats called Cambray Court located in the centre of Cheltenham. Reminiscent of Kelvin Court, Glasgow.

This is Monsoon. Originally a Burton’s. The link has some good pictures of the detailing.

Now Poundland. Goodness knows what it was to begin with.

Starbucks. Ditto.

Art Deco houses on Evesham Road. Amazingly the original glazing seems to still be in place. (They look like Critall windows to me.) Compare and contrast with Silver End.

The upward curve on the wall at the side is nice on that first one. Three of this collection of 5 buildings are set in a little crescent off the main road:-

The last two semis of the five:-

Cheek by jowl with the previous semi. Glazing replaced. (Eyes poked out):-

The next house along has suffered a similar fate.

Not a bad haul of deco in Cheltenham, then, for a three hour visit.

After Stratford we travelled down to Cheltenham the next day.

Imagine my surprise on suddenly seeing a very big and modern Art Deco building just off a roundabout. I turned into the road and found it was opposite a (previously unsignposted) Park and Ride.

The building is the headquarters of UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.

Note the rounded portico and balcony plus the stepping. In this it’s reminiscent of the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea and also of the Rothesay Pavilion. (More so of the latter since the Rothesay Pavilion isn’t rendered in white.)

Below is the block by the entrance gate. It has nice, strong, white verticals set off by the crosses top and bottom.

This good view of the entrance is from geograph. Note the rounded gatehouse.

On coming back to the Park and Ride much later in the day I took this close up.

Edited to add:- I tried to find out from the net when the building was designed and constructed and who the architect was but kept getting information on Higher Education courses instead.

I found a view of the UCAS building from above.

From a bit nearer in to Cheltenham, down Evesham Road, I took this photo of another modern building with deco styling.

This one was nearer to the UCAS building and just off Evesham Road. I think it’s called Cleeve House.