[mmarq]

> Unfortunately this is the way of the world. This is a major redevelopment and has cost hundreds of millions of pounds. To do it they take on huge investment, the investors expect a return so obviously they’ve built fancy shops, restaurants etc.

I always wonder what’s the alternative to fancy shops. Is it the usual English high street with store signs made of rotten wood? Cheap minicab companies?

> I understand that there are places where redevelopment has been handled more sensitivity but this area in particular has needed an enormous outlay to convert it such a primate area.

There’s nothing to preserve in that area. It was an industrial wasteland surrounded by council flats and dodgy pubs.

> Hopefully within a few years it will start to gain its own identity and start again.

Hopefully not, hopefully it will develop a new and better identity.

[stuaxo]

The template for most British town centres is terrible.