AS you go about your day shopping or simply heading through town, you'd be forgiven for failing to glance upwards at the city's skyline.

But if you make a point of doing so, you might be in for a surprise - because Worcester has a great many architectural surprises in store.

Signs screaming great deals' and new stock' ensure most shoppers keep their eyes firmly fixed ahead as they go from shop to shop.

But nestled above the shop windows and flashing signs is a world of architectural gems rarely appreciated today.

Jon Kerwin, a conservation officer for Worcester City Council, said: "Most people in shopping centres look down and not up.

"If you let your eye look up, often you will find some treasures.

"Inevitably, you see a mix, some brickfronts put on timber frames which could be Georgian, one or two Victorian buildings and one or two 1930s Art Deco buildings you would not even think were there".

Worcester historian and conservationist Jeff Carpenter, former chairman of the Heritage Lottery fund Committee for the West Midlands, said: "Worcester was rather brutally developed in the 1960s."

This was most notably highlighted in a now-famous picture spread in The Guardian which showed a devastated landscape beneath the headline The rape of Worcester.' The worst casualties were the city's unique mediaeval Lich Gate, knocked down to make way for the Giffard Hotel, and the Public Hall, demolished to create a car park.

The decade also witnessed the building of the multi-storey car park in Friar Street that has remained a bone of contention for more than 40 years.

Mr Carpenter said: "The trick is to look up, you can still find some gems.

"My favourite building is the Skipton Building Society on Broad Street."

So next time you walk along the streets of Worcester's shopping centre, try looking skyward and see what delights you can find.

In the meantime, see if you can recognise the 10 buildings we have photographed in our gallery here.

  • The answers have been added below, so if you don't want to know just yet, stop reading now and visit the gallery!


ANSWERS
1. Skipton Building Society: Broad Street.
2. Toni & Guy: Foregate Street.
3. 3 Store: High Street.
4. Shipleys Amusements Centre: Angel Place.
5. Kodak Specs Express Opticians: Trinity Street.
6. Coffee Republic: High Street.
7. Costa Coffee: Foregate Street.
8. David Christopher Jewellers: Broad Street/Foregate Street.
9. Cafe Nero: The Shambles.
10. The Niche: 43 Friar Street.