Remember this lost Daventry building?

It is photographed here, in 1994, when it was certainly past its best after standing for many decades. But not many Daventry people are likely to be familiar with it.

The building was one of those which formed part of the town’s old gas works off Brook Street.

For years the works provided the town with its gas supply, and once the switch was made to natural gas it remained in use by the gas board for some years.

By 1994 the whole site was derelict.

But there was a plan – supermarket chain Aldi wanted to build a new store on the site. The plans for the shop had already been turned down once by planners. Now there was a fear a revised application could also be refused.

Councillors said no other developer was likely to go near the site because of extensive contamination of the land with noxious waste from years of it being used to produce and store gas, coal and other materials. Eventually the store plan fell through. Proposals were drawn up to include it into a new park.

Eventually the site was turned into the old gas works car park. Now the car park is set to be swept away and replaced by a new retail and leisure development.