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morgana
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Thu 31st Oct 2013 1:27pm
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AD
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Thu 31st Oct 2013 1:50pm
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morgana
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Thu 31st Oct 2013 2:47pm
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flapdoodle
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Thu 31st Oct 2013 7:40pm
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Midland Red
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Thu 31st Oct 2013 9:19pm
Mods note: This thread concerns The Precinct, please try and keep on-topic  |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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NeilsYard
Coventry
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96 of 308
Mon 4th Nov 2013 2:09am
The Upper Precinct, c. 1954 (source: Coventry and Warwickshire Collection, Coventry Libraries and Information Service).
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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flapdoodle
Coventry
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97 of 308
Sun 1st Dec 2013 12:27pm
Hard to believe they based this on the rows in Chester. I suspect they never even visited Chester, just heard 'two levels of shops' and thought this was it. Missed the point that the rows in Chester have a level slightly below current street level, and one slightly above. Which means the 'street' is actually between the two rows of shops and access to either level was easy and there were clean lines of vision from pedestrians to people and direct links. Here, you have to go up the stairs to go up. They really did not understand that people *always* use the shortest routes, hence crossing the grass in Broadgate rather than going around it (Something that annoyed Donald Gibson, apparently) and nipping through the alleyways through service areas to get to from the precinct to Corporation Street...
Having said that, I don't mind the upper precinct much, although the unused upper level seems to be pointless and the balconies and bridge look tatty and abandoned, and the additions in subsequent years are pitiful - the ramp at the start, the escalator (Bodged in badly). The backside of the blocks on Broadgate present a pretty poor facade onto the public areas, which seems to be about typical of Coventry.
There's a quote on the panel at the top of the ramp that states 'this will be the finest shopping centre in the world.'
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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Annewiggy
Tamworth
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98 of 308
Sun 1st Dec 2013 2:18pm
The 2 levels worked quite well in the 1960's when many of the shops had a floor upstairs, many of the clothes shops like Richards had an upper floor so once you were up there you would look along at the others. Also the Electricity Showroom was also up there so people paying there bills had to go up a level. There also used to be the Singer Sewing machine shop and I think a record shop. I wonder why these 2 levels seem to work in modern under cover shopping malls. Perhaps it is because many of them you start on the upper floor and then go down. Maybe if they made it a little wider with perhaps some food outlets and the access from Broadgate to the upper floor it would work?? |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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flapdoodle
Coventry
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99 of 308
Sun 1st Dec 2013 5:25pm
I did read that retailers found the units were too small, so they took over the ones above, which were struggling due to the poor access and in the end we got what we have now - an upper floor that's merely the top level of the stores down below and, as such, doesn't really require any access at that level (and in many cases it doesn't any more). Hence why I do not understand why that totally unused balcony and ramp remain in place. Just to protect folk from the rain? It's a pretty bleak place up there.
Yes, I think you're right about indoor malls. They're designed to make people flow around them, and in the case of the one in Leamington both floors have access from the street as it's on a hill. They also tend to have 'destination' retailers that occupy multiple floors at the ends so folk tend to move up the floors inside retailers and back out again... A bit like West Orchards and Debenhams. I believe there's a whole 'science' about building shopping malls these days and designing them to make people flow - I guess this sort of stuff wasn't around when the precinct was built.
I think it's had its day, to be honest. |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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Annewiggy
Tamworth
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100 of 308
Sun 1st Dec 2013 6:02pm
Glad I was lucky enough to shop there in the 60s, loved it then, wouldn't shop anywhere else. I haven't shopped in Coventry for years now. |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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AD
Allesley Park
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101 of 308
Mon 2nd Dec 2013 2:29pm
On 1st Dec 2013 12:27pm, flapdoodle said:
Hard to believe they based this on the rows in Chester. I suspect they never even visited Chester, just heard 'two levels of shops' and thought this was it. Missed the point that the rows in Chester have a level slightly below current street level, and one slightly above. Which means the 'street' is actually between the two rows of shops and access to either level was easy and there were clean lines of vision from pedestrians to people and direct links. Here, you have to go up the stairs to go up. They really did not understand that people *always* use the shortest routes, hence crossing the grass in Broadgate rather than going around it (Something that annoyed Donald Gibson, apparently) and nipping through the alleyways through service areas to get to from the precinct to Corporation Street...
Having said that, I don't mind the upper precinct much, although the unused upper level seems to be pointless and the balconies and bridge look tatty and abandoned, and the additions in subsequent years are pitiful - the ramp at the start, the escalator (Bodged in badly). The backside of the blocks on Broadgate present a pretty poor facade onto the public areas, which seems to be about typical of Coventry.
There's a quote on the panel at the top of the ramp that states 'this will be the finest shopping centre in the world.'
I think that description of the upper precinct is actually pretty good. Starting at Broadgate you either have to go up to the upper tier or down the slope of the main precinct. In fact its one of the reasons I think it doesn't work, because people will avoid going uphill if they can, just as they will always take the shortest route and hence the 'desire lines' which apparently so annoyed Gibson.
As I've said before had they done a two level precinct, one level with Broadgate the other level with Corp St, it might have worked better. |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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dutchman
Spon End
Thread starter
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102 of 308
Mon 2nd Dec 2013 5:14pm
The problem with that is the Precinct is on many more than just two levels. There's at least four by my reckoning and arguably five.
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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AD
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103 of 308
Mon 2nd Dec 2013 7:12pm
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Mike H
London Ontario, Canada
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104 of 308
Tue 3rd Dec 2013 1:45am
Maybe that was the problem. There was a bit too much, too much to fill, too much to keep going, too much to keep clean, too far to walk. It never attracted the really classy stores and some Coventrians discovered Leamington Spa and Stratford. I tried always to shop in Coventry first, but would ultimately end up in Birmingham because there would be a better chance of getting what I wanted. |
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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dutchman
Spon End
Thread starter
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105 of 308
Tue 3rd Dec 2013 2:29am
Speaking as a supplier to one of the retailers in the Lower Precinct (sorry, I'd rather not go into the subject of which one) I can assure you that even when they did have the items in stock that customers wanted, the same customers preferred to travel to Leamington and Birmingham and pay a lot more for the very same items.
We know this because all the shops in the area were linked and the salesmen used to exchange notes on various customers.
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Town Planning and Development -
City centre shopping precincts
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