I walked past the other day and it does look swish, although, yes, Skoob Books will be missed. But while sprucing things up like this is preferable to letting them rot, I do get annoyed by the way everything gets homogenised.
I know the state of British high streets, with their identical supermarkets, mobile phone shops, chain clothes stores, etc has been written about endlessly… but there must be something to say about the more “quality” smart chains that are ubiquitous, and increasingly dull, in modern city (re)developments (at least in London): Brunswick Centre, Royal Festival Hall, Spitalfields, by City Hall.
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