Opening of Victoria & Broadmarsh Shopping Centres


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I remember driving the Fire Brigade Landrover fire engine all over the place in the Broadmarsh centre. It was purchased for use in the car parks under the Victoria centre , having a special low bodywork built for the purpose. 

When Broadmarsh was opened, we went down a couple of nights before it opened and I was told to drive the Landie around to see how useful it would be in there.

The floors in the avenues were really shiny and it seemed somewhat alien scrubbing the Landie tyres in the tight places !

Strange days

Great days

 

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The RCTS website have some great photos which I've mentioned before, and among them are pictures of the Victoria hole when the car park is under construction, the old station has almost gone, and a co

Thank heavens there aren't any films of Victoria Centre's early days.  When I first went there it was chucking it down of rain outside so I had a brolly, having walked from the Lace Market where I had

When the centre gets it's 'makeover' with fancy new entrances on the corner and at the clock tower, perhaps there will be another Grand Opening (or re-opening) Everyone should be there with their cam

Thank heavens there aren't any films of Victoria Centre's early days.  When I first went there it was chucking it down of rain outside so I had a brolly, having walked from the Lace Market where I had just started working - and in my defence indoor shopping was brand new - so there I was having a goz at all that was going on still with said brolly up - oh, how ridiculous I felt when the Taylor Woodrow workers pointed out that "it wasn't raining inside, love".  My favourite shop was a hippy boutique upstairs called I'll Leave It.  

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I never liked Vic Centre at all when it was new. It had a strange shade of lighting which looked part-gloomy and faded; unlike the new Broad Marsh which was bright and modern (and in those days it had a lot of shops).

 

In later years Broad Marsh went downhill and Victoria improved.

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What do I think of the centers (we always seem to follow the USA eg Shopping centers)  

To me they ruined a good city, they say the online shopping is killing off town shops, but before the centers we had Toby's Jessop's (now J Lewis) Person's, Big Co-op, Griffins an Spaldings, Marks, BHS Woolworth's C/A  and many more, People would walk though the square, not rush though it, to get from one shopping center to the other.  

In my opinion my City wants a revamp to make it Queen of the Midlands  and please lets get rid of thouse fountains or get better one's eg look at Antibes France.

But you can't change progress.

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Intu is in the news due to the possibility of going into administration. When I read their list of shopping centres the Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh were both there. When they were both set up who owned the centres then? Was it the council and then they sold out? It will be a disaster if they both close as a result of what is going on. Another bit of Nottingham history that I am clueless about! I appreciate the posts from Nottstalgia members who put me right. Big thanks.

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BS, we should know by the end of today (Friday) if intu go into administration and what that will lead to.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/live-decision-expected-future-intu-4265502

 

The majority opinion seems to be that Broad Marsh is now an irrelevant waste of space and there's no point in trying to 'modernise' it. Shopping Centres were a 60s and 70s thing and having two in one city is definitely one too many. Vic Centre will almost certainly survive - maybe under new owners - but I can't see anyone wanting to resurrect Broad Marsh in anything like its old format.

 

I believe the council own the land and the operators - intu - pay a rent and manage the site. Broad Marsh has changed hands many times in the last 25 years and no-one has been able to make a success of it.

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Maybe it's  time to knock the whole lot down and put back the statue and rebuild the Alms houses that were there. At least they would of more use. Could even be a little park in there.

Edit. BS, you must have some tales about Warwickshire. 

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When you think what was destroyed to build the Broad Marsh Centre! Never liked that place, even when it was new.  Unfortunately, Drury Hill cannot be put back. If it had been left alone it could now have been a corner of old Nottingham to rival the Shambles in York.

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I rarely went into the Broad Marsh Centre. I thought it was a bit shabby. I stopped using the Victoria Centre when the parking prices became silly. Since lock down I’ve discovered I can get all I want on line without having to visit these impersonal shopping malls. I’ll probably never go into Nottingham again. Not having a ‘bus service and having a long walk to the station, my only way into town is by car. Unfortunately the City Council have gone out of their way to discourage the motorist.

.

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From what I've seen on you tube etc.,to go round that area and the castle district, you need an American accent with a shoulder full of cameras. Can't see anything inviting, that goes for the market square too.

Totally unrecognisable from the days when I used to drive buses round there. What happened to Granby street?

Did it get swallowed up by the monstrosity, Maid Marion Way?

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That's going to be interesting because unless the Administrators can find enough cash in the business to pay for the continued maintenance , cleaning, security and other liablities etc for the centres then they all will have to close.

 

Broad Marsh is effectively closed anyway due to safety issues with the exception of the walkway though from Collin St to Listergate.

Contractors are / have removing /ed thier equipment and scaffolding

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Is my memory fading or am I correct in thinking that there was a quite tall block of flats poking out of the middle of Victoria centre. They don't seem to appear in any of the current pictures.

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Shoulder full of cameras???? I doubt many Americans own a camera as such these days, just the smart phone. I haven't seen anyone, except the "news" media carrying any camera for years. I must be the exception to the rule, and my wife too, who needs one for her business.

Even the big DSLR camera manufacturers are admitting that the end of the camera is pretty close with very low sales figures.

So you'll just have to listen for the accents now.....LOL

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Yes the flats are there, but behind the clock tower.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9564102,-1.1515237,311a,35y,90h,39.42t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

And no, the Post Office isn't half way up the flats it's in WH Smith inside the Centre, Queen St has been closed down

 

 

 

Re Westfield, I think they were in difficulty as well, not quite to £2bn like INTU.

Correction that must have been when the original 2 Australian brothers owned it, it's owned by the French now.

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21 minutes ago, jonab said:

Is my memory fading or am I correct in thinking that there was a quite tall block of flats poking out of the middle of Victoria centre. They don't seem to appear in any of the current pictures.

It's still there and can be seen on Google Earth street view from Trinity Square.

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3 hours ago, poohbear said:

Just read that INTU Vic Centres owners have gone into administration

The Nottingham Post needs to start employing journalists with a few brain cells.  In the on-line report re INTU, the reporter states that they had 'collapsed into consideration'

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Lizzie,

Prufe reeding went down the pan long before INTU did.

 

I think the problem is that most professionals rely on the Word type programs for auto correction, although I can't say I ever seen 'collapsed into consideration' used so where that came from I've no idea.

 

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1 hour ago, LizzieM said:

The Nottingham Post needs to start employing journalists with a few brain cells.  In the on-line report re INTU, the reporter states that they had 'collapsed into consideration'

 

I don't think the NEP employ anything that could be termed 'journalists'. I suspect they use university students (or similar) who want work experience just to get a foot in the door (and with very little - if any - payment).

 

I look at it every day, not because I think it's good, but simply because there's very little alternative. Some of the writing and understanding of language is quite spectacular.

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