41 High Street - Trust Annual Report 1964
This property, now empty, occupies a key position in the High Street. It has previously been mentioned in these reports and there has, during the past year, been some uncertainty about its future. We are pleased to learn that this is now secure. The property is to become the office of a Building Society and its character is to be retained without the drastic kind of reconstruction which so often spoils shops of this type. The building requires extensive repair, having suffered from neglect. Plans are in hand for the restoration, and we are extremely grateful that a building which does so much to establish the character of the City will be with us for many years to come.
Preservation at the present time owes much to outside influences. The National Provincial Bank is being completely rebuilt behind the old façade, and this is most important. Woolworth's are reconstructing the frontage of the old chapel which was formerly above Gifford's shop and an essential feature of the High Street.
It all shows what can be done by goodwill and persuasion—by far the best way of achieving preservation. And then, of course, the City Council are themselves setting a splendid example by restoring the front of the Public Library in Jewry Street.
Finally we would like to give a word of welcome to William Deacon's Bank in the High Street. Their new building fits quite well into the Winchester scene, but the quantity of marble at street level seems to have been overdone.