State of that:
The first thing that came to mind when I saw it is this, just round the corner from me (admittedly not empty at the moment, but…):
GMaps link
Wouldn’t take much imagination to say that, being a retail park, the whole thing is an abomination. Fair enough. But the shops (M&S and Next outlets, Pets At Home, Currys, Argos, Home Bargains, Poundstretcher, B&M, that sort of thing) in the two buildings at the front are all fairly bustling and, against all odds, there’s almost a sense of community and place to be had there. Could be worse. The B&Q at the back right doesn’t really need to be there and has car park space that’s at least three times too big, but seems to be a going concern, so hey ho.
It’s that unit at the back left that grinds my gears. Used to be a Big W until Woolies went bust. A ridiculous use of space in that part of the city. Sat unused for a bit. Then Tesco took it on. And it’s always empty. Not really surprising. There’s an Asda across the road (within a busy shopping centre), there’s a Morrisons, Lidl, and Co-op within spitting distance and, oh yeah, two other massive Tescos less 5 mins drive away in either direction.
SUCH A WASTE OF SPACE.
There’s room for an entire community to be built, with homes, shops, facilities, all sorts. But the height of ambition for that site seems to be for a fucking huge shed full of nothing with a car park in front taking up as much space again. It’s right next to a bloody railway linking Glasgow & Edinburgh, too. Could’ve added a new station. Could’ve done a lot of things. As it is, to rub salt in the wounds there’s gonna be a new dual carriageway inner ring road along the line of a disused railway. Cos nothing says inner city community building like a big fucking road down the middle of it.
tl;dr - FUCK YOU, YOU VIOLENTLY ANTI-HUMAN BIG SHEDS WITH YOUR HELLISH CAR PARKS AND YOUR ANTISOCIAL ROADS NEEDED TO SERVE IT ALL.
