Food for thought

Isn’t it great when remarkable old structures, apparently reaching the end of their productive lifetime, then find a new lease of life? Wetherspoons are commendable in this respect - the old post office in Newark, a former tram depot in Nottingham and the cinema in Stafford, to name but three.

The principle does not just apply to stately edifices, of course. In the Sherwood district of the city, an old shipping container has found use as a pizza restaurant. It is warm and cosy and the pizzas are excellent.

It was back to Lincoln this week, and the old Great Central Railway warehouse at Brayford Wharf caught my eye. It would be hard to miss it, after all.

Built in 1907 as a goods and grain store, it was used as a builder’s warehouse in the second half of the last century, before falling into disrepair in 1998. It was rescued by a five-million-pound renovation and conversion into the main library for the University of Lincoln, opening in 2004.

Food for thought all round, then.