There are moves afoot to gate off this pedestrian thoroughfare which runs from Upper Park Road – by the Tile Centre to Upper South Road.  One of the businesses in the walkway is Top Gun Clothing – run by Ron Salt. Ron says that the ownership of the passage is very complicated with no-one owning all of it outright. He believes some of it is the property of the freeholders of the Tile Centre building, and small stretches are owned by the businesses in Bohemia Road which back onto it, such as the Cake Shop, Alldays and the chemists. A bizarre aspect of the situation is that it seems that the freeholders of the Tile Centre building own just the left hand half of the pathway running all the way to Upper South Road.  All the businesses in the cut-through have a right of way as do the businesses backing onto it.

      The move to gate off the passageway came about as a result of increasing occurances of dog mess, rubbish dumping and vandalism. The initial plan is to install an unlocked gate and later to add a combination lock.

      [The name ‘Shornden Passage’ is remembered by Bohemia resident Vic Chalcraft, but seems to have dropped into disuse. – Ed]