I used to run a series of posts titled ‘Site Unseen’, and it would appear that I’ve not ‘seen’ a sight which I’ve used on countless occasions for years.

Matt Brown, Editor-at-Large at the Londonist recently started a post with: ‘Look me in the eye and tell me that this isn’t a work of sublime beauty’.

The ‘beautiful’ building was the exit ramp in a Romford car park.

In 1993 Romford’s Star Brewery was closed, and with it went the smell on Monday brew day of mashing grains and boiling wort. The brewery’s 165ft high chimney was repaired, re-clad and utilised as a fulcrum for the wraparound spiralling sculpture car park’s entry ramp.

And the object of Matt’s admiration? The exit ramp, a Brutalist concrete perfect spiral, and something of a rarity, London has only one other in Uxbridge, which lacks the symmetry of Romford’s beauty.

Featured image: Romford: The Brewery Development car park access ramp. This spiral car park access ramp is in the south-eastern corner of the development. Havana Close is the road in the foreground. By Nigel Cox (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Romford Brewery car park ramp and brewery chimney. The brewery chimney and Romford Brewery car park ramp. By Snidge (CC BYSA 2.0).