Rose renovation advice

Thanks, Noisette. I was thinking of a viticella Etoile Violette, although I don't think that has the smallest of flowers. I haven't chosen the rose yet, so perhaps a lesser-thorned variety would be sensible.

 

Oh, that looks (and sounds) like a winner. Thanks!

 

OK, a complication. This concrete base is four metres long, but for just over half its length (the half you can't really see in the picture, which is laid to grass), there's another layer of concrete literally just beneath the surface. This means that even if I go ahead and build a raised bed up to the level of the concrete shed base, it'll only be about eight inches deep. That, I presume, isn't going to be nearly enough for either a clematis or a rose - is that right? Any obvious solutions - other than getting a pneumatic drill and digging out all the concrete!

 

Could you create a gravelled or bark-chip pathway with the existing posts forming half of a tunnel and new, longer posts along the other side, with the climbers planted against them? Then either horizontal posts on top or just rope swags along the sides...
The original uprights could perhaps have pots of sweet peas, morning glory or cup-and-saucer vine at the base?

 

I like the idea of a tunnel, but it'd be a fairly short dead end running into the brick wall. Something like that could work, though. In the meantime I'm getting a quote from a builder to hack it out, assuming it's not utility-related. Looks like an old hardstanding area, perhaps - certainly easy to underdig, so I'm hoping it's removable.

Sorry for the rather severe thread drift!