Where the Arches Used To Be is a song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 performed by the comedic act Flanagan and Allen

Flanagan and Allen

Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act popular during World War II. Its members were Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen...

 in the 1935 film A Fire Has Been Arranged

A Fire Has Been Arranged

A Fire Has Been Arranged is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Chesney Allen, Bud Flanagan and Alastair Sim....

. It was a sequel to their popular theme song Underneath the Arches

Underneath the Arches (song)

"Underneath the Arches" is a 1931 popular song with words and music by Bud Flanagan, and additional lyrics by Reg Connelly. It was one of the most famous songs of the duo Flanagan and Allen....

. A sentimental

Sentimentalism

Sentimentalism is used in different ways:* Sentimentalism , a theory in moral epistemology concerning how one knows moral truths; also known as moral sense theory* Sentimentalism , a form of literary discourse...

 ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

, the protagonists lament the fact that the railway arches where they have slept for many years are being knocked down and flats builts in their place, leaving them homeless. The song ends with them heading out on the open road.