There's a move by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea to knock down Earls Court and build 7,500 houses (also on an adjoining site).

Some of you guys will want to resist this. Some won't. For anyone overseas who doesn't know too much about this venue, it was once (arguably) the number one motorcycle and motorcar exhbition venue in the world. It's a very classy art deco building built in 1937. All kinds of shows and exhibitions are held there, but the bike trade moved to the NEC in Birmingham some years ago, and to the ExCel Centre in London. But Earl's Court is steeped in history, almost as much as places like Fort Dunlop and even the old BSA factory.

I've put some stuff on Sump about this. Here's a link to our December news page:

http://www.sumpmagazine.com/classicbikenews/index.htm

But you can avoid all that if you want and go straight to the petition. here's a link for that:

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-earl-s-court-exhibition-centres-from-demolition-and-overdevelopment

If you can help save the building, by way of helping force a public enquiry into the plan, please make your mark.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

Hi Danny,

Us overseas folk can't get past the postcode - to sign the petition, a UK code is required. Ditto with the telephone number, but that's optional.....

Anyone got a code that I can use? Be a little fraudulent, but w.t.h.

Bruce

email (option): brucekirby@telkomsa.net

i have signed it but once the developers get their hands on it i will be hard to stop i think you find it is a long way off they say it will not start for twenty years they havent got planning permission yet the main problem is it is getting in a poor state of repair because they wont spend money on it if it going to be kncked down

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

Hello Bruce, I'm not worried about being a little fraudulent. The whole planning and developing system in the UK is a little (or a lot) fraudulent. They play dirty, we play dirty. But I suspect that we're no less dishonest than the rest of the world.

Here are some postcodes:

E105RH

E6 2RW

W2 3EN

W2 3RL

Any will do.

Note to Roger: yes, they are talking about redeveloping the site a fair way into the future, but we've seen it before when the developers have got agreement in principle, but later moved forward their plans. The point is also to focus minds on preserving the site today, and signing the petition can help with that.

If we lost Earls Court, the world wouldn't end for anyone. But I think it would be nice to support great buildings such as this - and I don't need to lecture anyone on this site about the general importance of preserving the past and our heritage, etc.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

I also borrowed a postcode

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Thanks, Henk. Every bit helps. Let me know when you need some help saving one of your historic buildings, and I'll borrow one of your postcodes.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

These developers don't give a damn about our history, all they care about is money and unfortunately, in my experience, once these things have been proposed, they invariably happen. They will knock the place down, but it will be OK as they will preserve the history by naming the roads Jaguar Close, Brough Mews or Matchless Way!! I'm not saying don't sign, you can't just roll over and take it, we've got to try and you never know, if enough people sign up, it may do some good?

Hi Bill, I'm broadly in agreement with that. I'm all for progress, but it seems to me there's a lot of other stuff they ought to knock down instead (yes, I know that sounds simplistic).

Michael Caine, the actor, was once asked if they ought re re-make the great movies. He said, "No, they ought to re-make the lousy ones." Or words to that effect.

Petitions do sometimes work. But nothing beats a hundred or a thousand hand written letters. Anyone can easily sign a petition, but it takes a lot more energy to write a letter, and that's an indication of the strength of feeling.

Ex-transport minister Peter Bottomley told me that when I interviewed him many years ago.

The petition is the least we can do if we want to help preserve this building. A letter takes our interest one step further.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

I agree Danny. Once agreements have been signed and back pockets have been filled, it's difficult to change anything, but the more you keep bashing away, the more likely it is that something may happen. If everyone signs the petition, it's a start, but if we all wrote a letter, it may hopefully make them think about things again?