I think there can be a snobbery about Anglia Square because of it's appearance.

Which is totally understandable as it does indeed look like a dump. What worries me about this development is that I don’t think it has been appreciated how it’s currently a really well used local resource. I live in NR3 and use the shops there all the time, I don’t rely on it as such, but there are lots of people who do. The area has lots of low-income families, elderly people living alone and people with English as a second language and for some of them, being able to buy the variation of things that you currently can at cheap prices is vital. Odd as it may seem, there are people living in the area who never venture to the city centre and get all their shopping there. We don’t need that being replaced with a load of Costa Coffees and other assorted high-street s**te.

There’s also a really good number of independent retailers in that part of Magdalen Street that have grown out of the area being largely un-gentrified as of yet. Plus some of the city’s other big-development projects (Castle Mall, Riverside, Chapelfield) have all been less than perfect in their own way and that doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Posted By: bird table, May 29, 14:52:20