Saturday 7 July 2012
Depressing Village Centres
Months ago I got lost in the maze of new housing, Google maps being no help still believing I was the area was still fields and I was stood in the middle. A lot of new estates have a similar lay out including the "village centre" comprising of a pub, church, estate agent, takeaway place, hairdresser and a shop, almost always a Tesco. For a bit of variety I could walk to the next estate and.. oh. It is an almost depressing uniformity and lack of variety. There are 11 Tesco stores in the Swindon area only one being a "Extra" supermarket. Throw in the wholly owned One Stop subsidiary stores and its a worrying dominance especially in the convenience store market. Even more so when you realise they are not very good supermarkets, every one has a sterile industrial nature feeling like a profit centre wrung for every penny. No wonder customers are starting to turn away.
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Here in California, the "village center" is the big thing. Build an instant village, complete with shops, banks, etc., and make it look like an old village.
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose that's stereotypical California, but in England???? OMG, my reason for seeing your beautiful land is to experience the "real" villages! Somehow, what you describe seems so wrong.