Two Girls One Building

Longlands Secondary School was opened in 1912, and ran until 1990. It unfortunately closed due to a lack of students in the area. As many as 500 students attended at any one time. Many of the students in it's closing transferred to local school, High Park. After it's closure as a secondary school, the site was purchased by Stourbridge College, and was used as a separate Art's building up until its permanent closure in 2011. In the weeks after its closure previous students were invited back to visit the school, an estimate 1,000 previous students attended, some coming from as fair as Canada and Dubai to say goodbye. Many plans have been made for redevelopment. Twice now however redevelopment plans have fallen through and during this time the building has been heavily vandalized. Latest plans submitted were for a shared community space and new housing.

June 23rd 2013 the Belvedere Golf club was shut down, making ten staff redundant. This was not a shock closure, as it was common knowledge the club was struggling due to dwindling custom. There is still a store and golf range further up the road from the old club that seems to do a good steady business. Apparently soon after the clubs closure, permission was granted almost immediately for a 82 bed care home. The only reason these plans have not gone ahead seems to be quoted as a 'lack of demand' in the local community for a care home. In March 2017 more building permission was granted for a new estate build, a total of 23 new homes on the grounds. These have yet to go ahead. In March 2014, police arrested seven men and one woman on the site for growing 1,500 cannabis plants, with intent to distribute. As you can see from some of the pictures, upstairs was totally stripped out for the plants, and some paraphernalia can still be found littered around the building. The whole b...