A dog's breakfast

First impressions suggest that this mess is a result of carelessness or inexpertise on the part of the architect or builder of the colonnade to the left, but this would be wrong. The left colonnade is in fact the older of the two sections seen here. It was built in 1823 at the same level of the then existing colonnade to the right (built 1807) outside the Theatre Royal. No doubt, at that time, the dangling bit of arch came to some kind of sensible termination on one of the Theatre Royal's pillars. However the 1807 colonnade was demolished in 1894 and rebuilt to a higher level with imposing corinthian columns and entablature; this evidently with complete disregard for its neighbour. Both sections are grade II listed.