Many of us have done it and I'm sure many of us will continue to make reference to it, but we may have to have a rethink as it's not there any more. Skinners garage at "Skinners roundabout" is no more. After the owner, Gary Barlow (no, the other one, not the one from the boy band) relocated his business, Skinners of Rye, to his new premises in Rye Harbour, the old garage site became redundant.
Planning for change of use was applied for and approved in 2017 (Application No:RR/2017/909/P) for "Demolition of existing workshop. Erection of 4 new units with commercial use on the ground floor and residential on upper storeys. Refurbishment of existing three storey commercial unit, creation of two new apartments on the first and second floors. Provision of 6 parking spaces and retention of one of the existing vehicle accesses to the site"
As the photograph above shows, the workshop has now been demolished and remedial ground works are well under way. Thankfully, the Costcutter convenience store and the Murco petrol station remain, both are very necessary businesses and have proved to be more vital than ever before, particularly during lockdown.
It will be interesting to see the development progress, a challenging site to say the least but now that the showroom has gone, we can't really call it Skinners roundabout any more, or can we? Could it become "Costcutter corner" perhaps or "Murco junction", any thoughts?
