THE closure for the last time of the Abbey Gateway to traffic was reported in the Malvern Gazette 25 years ago.

Barriers were erected, the double yellow lines removed and cul-de-sac traffic signs installed.

Divisional surveyor John Garner said the temporary barriers put in front of the gateway were placed there to comply with the legal closure date.

"It will be about a fortnight before the work is completed," he said. "Kerbing and cast-iron bollards will eventually be put around the gateway. We are working to make the alterations as much in keeping with the building as possible."

Moves to close the gateway began after June 1979, when an ice cream van became jammed in the archway.

The building now houses Malvern Museum, which moved there last month from Lyttelton House.