I’m settling into a typically English summer – and here in Oxford that means occasional days of rain too.

So on a wet and dull day I ventured back into the city and sat on the steps of the Westgate shopping centre to do yet another sketch of the old Liaison Cantonese take-away. This is one of a series of drawings charting the progress of the building of new flats on the corner of Paradise Street and Castle Hill in Oxford. The Liaison take-away is right next door and must have some sort of protective status, otherwise it would have been long gone by now – removed with a few swipes of an excavator bucket.

Here is my view, my sketch in-situ and my scanned drawing.

One of the nice things about sketching here is that you tend to meet some interesting characters. Before I met a guy who documents the on-going re-development of Oxford ( I would like to think that there are more people out there recording the changing face of their local environment) and on this particular occasion someone that formerly lived in sheltered housing here on Paradise Street before that was all pulled down.

For those who are interested I’ve also done a whole series of previous drawings of this subject – and a few of the Weatherspoons pub next door as well. Here are a few quick snap-shots of those…