At The Crossroads

Curry tonight at Raza's Pizza & Curry house, Craven Arms, an enterprising culinary binary if ever I saw one, covering the bases for most families in one hit: clever idea. Craven Arms itself is an historic market town at the confluence of the formerly arterial route of the A49 and the Welsh Marches railway line. Of much less importance to the national infrastructure these days, the town, at least the main drag through it, shows signs of the steady decline in its fortunes over the last half-century. Its eponymous hotel, situated at the main road crossing, is boarded up and falling into disrepair, like so many large roadhouses, whose function as watering-holes and stop-overs for long distance travellers has long since been made obsolete by faster roads and modern vehicles. The town away from the main road, though, is much more pleasant: a collection of mostly Victorian terraces and shops, well-served for food and drink and basic amenities. It just needs someone with a bit of vision and sufficient funds to come up with a plan to revive the heart of the place, put it back on the cultural map and create a place, once more to stop and take a breather, rather than steam straight on through to somewhere else.