Broadgate

Gosh, the food at that restaurant must have been really bad then. I wouldn't worry, Philip. There are lots of things used in language today that would have made our old teachers frown. We all use the word "never" incorrectly; e.g. "they never caught the culprit". I remember one teacher (AJC) telling us "You can never use the word never correctly, except in the statement which I have just made. Never means not at any time in the past, present or future; therefore, because the future hasn't arrived yet, you cannot be certain that something will "never" happen, so you should never use the word never". Dogmatic, yes, but we never argued with him. Oops...

Philip, I too looked forward to Fridays - well, in the junior school (always had sandwiches in the senior school). Can't remember what the main meal was, but "afters" was always chocolate pudding, my favourite. Now you had to eat the food provided, whether you liked it or not, or you were in trouble with the table heads and the headmaster. It so happened that at least two of the boys on my table hated choccy pudding, so when no-one was looking, I had theirs! I quite often had three portions of the stuff; it got them off the hook, so it was a win-win situation.

This is what the view from Hertford Street will look like, though actually it won't, as the trees that have been drawn as semi-transparent will almost completely block the view. I haven't seen any artist's impression of the view from the Broadgate side, perhaps someone with experience with photoshop* can oblige. * other image editing software is available.

This is the best I can do: For me the only acceptable view is as near to this as can possibly be done in the present day:

I agree, Osmiroid, that second view surpasses anything they could do with 'Broadgate House'. I'd rather see the whole lot gone.

I agree flapdoodle, but this is my impression of what we'll soon see: Apologies to Osmiroid for pinching part of his image.

That's ok You made a good picture.

A 1951 view of Broadgate House and the Bridge Restaurant etc, seen here in the process of construction!

I'm not sure how long it has been back, but it was nice to see the Godiva/Peeping Tom clock working again today. Peter.

Yes, Greg. Why, oh why, is the Council bent on destruction of what remains pre-war, and then produce monstrosities like the Millenium Square, ruining the heritage buildings that remained?

I think the idea for Millenium Square wasn't necessarily a bad one, but one that was never completed (Millenium View apartments) and had much of it compromised by the refusal of Sainsburys to move. Yes, some of it was poorly executed as well and hasn't worked as planned - for example the route into the restaurant area is far too small and narrow with just blank walls leading into it - it gives you no reason to want to explore it and I feel to prevent the entire things being a complete failure the building opposite Pool Meadow needs removing to open up and advertise the area more, especially to people using the bus station who could create a decent sized potential clientele for those units. The square undoubtedly helps make more of our biggest tourist attraction, the Motor Museum, and had the direct route between it and the cathedral been established as intended the square would have been a very useful and well used area. Much of the art work I never felt was that great. Those plastic red panels are tacky, the blue bridge just looks odd and there must have been a better way to integrate Lady Herberts Garden with the square than that. I liked the look of the 'clock' but on the floor it was just a potential trip hazard but would've looked great on a wall IMO. Similarly I like the Arch but it now looks a bit silly and undersize with the student block next to it. Personally I can see the square being got rid of in favour of further expansion of the transport museum in due course. Had I have been designing it I'd have done that expansion initially, putting the square on the opposite side of the road where the student building now is to create a meeting point of Burges, Hales St, Trinity St, Bishop St, Corp St and Fairfax St, opening up the 'river' to create a focal/interest point for the square.

There's a planning application to demolish the 'Etna' restaurant and build an apartment block. This isn't the council, it's a private development, and there's nothing of note down there - those cheap Edwardian/Victorian bits of infill replaced earlier stuff. Not *all* old buildings are worth preserving just because they're old.

A bit dark this picture, but clearly visible in the background there, is Lady Godiva sitting proudly on her horse and she's facing the right way too, unlike she sadly is today!