Epsom is famous for the Derby but in the town centre there is no better symbol of the town than this (I think) Victorian clock tower. It is in the market square (not that there's much market activity here these days) and has toilets in the basement and a clock on the top. The clock and toilets are the only practical thing in this glorious confection of fancy brickwork, turrets and such like. I don't think the toilets have been open to the public for many years (certainly not since I returned to Epsom ten years ago).

In my youth, we lived near here and used to come to the town to the cinema (where TK Maxx now stands) - I seem to remember my Dad taking us to see James Bond - Live and Let Die there and we begged to go to see Carry On Up The Jungle (but were turned down) for some inexplicable reason!

The tower of the clock has (I'm reliably told by the lady serving on the counter in the Nationwide Building Society) been hit twice by lightening in the last year.

I assume because the tower is such a strong symbol of the town, the local council have decided to restore it to its former glory, including renovating the defunct toilets and repairing the lightening damage.

Good on the council I say, I love this kind of architecture, stuff that owes more to decoration than to utility. There's not enough of it being cared for in this way.

It may not be the best photo in the world, but I loved the way the poles of the scaffolding seemed to add to the general air of useless decoration of the structure.