News

It resembles a cross between a 1970's multi-storey car park and the Nine Elms Cold Store.....

Is it just me or does anyone else think the £30M or so Bouverie Place shopping centre in Folkestone looks a bit tatty?

Sure we all wanted an Asda store, or so they say, but have we really got what we were anticipating?

The appearance of the latest edifice which now dominates a part of the Folkestone skyline resembles a cross between a 1970's multi storey car park and the Nine Elms Cold Store, or how I remember it from some years ago.

When Prince Charles accused a hapless architect of trying to build a "monstrous carbuncle" in his beloved Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery's extension turned into a farrago. Bouverie Square could well suffer a similar fate with a hotchpotch of disjointed architectural styles crying out for the late Sir Ebenezer Howard to bring it together with some grand design.

After all the hoo-ha I suppose I expected something more akin to the imaginative Westwood Cross development at Broadstairs or even the unusual McArthur Glen Designer Outlet in Ashford. But after my visit yesterday, albeit on a thoroughly miserable day, I came away unconvinced that this is the panacea the town needs for it to prosper.

My first impressions were of an intimidating atmosphere. It is early days yet but I am concerned the area will be unsafe to walk at night.

The Mall has had an effect on local businesses and there are already a number of empty shops in the town centre. I think we should welcome companies like Wilkinsons for their confidence in Sandgate Road as a shopping hub in the town.

They obviously see the future there, and hopefully when all the fuss has died down, many local people will realise that shopping need not be an experience which is cloned in almost any medium size town in the country.

This development may indeed help the smaller independent shops in Folkestone. They could eventually flourish once people realise there is no real reason to shop elsewhere when Adsa, HMV, Next and so on are now on their own doorstep.

As I hurried away from Folkestone's flagship mall I overheard a disgruntled shopper complaining that it was like a wind tunnel, "It needs some bleedin' doors" she shouted to a friend.

I'm afraid to say that is probably the least of its problems.

Would you like to contribute to my page of tit bits?

Email editor@localrags.co.uk