East Street, Southampton - 6 September 2014

Even on a pleasant September day, Southampton's East Street presents a grim aspect. Retail properties have suffered badly from developments elsewhere in the city and such situations tend to be self-perpetuating. Thus the flow of business remains outwards. It is the end of the street, however, with its supposedly temporary view of the scaffolded Central Hall which tells a sadder tale. The now demolished Lime Street car park closed over a year ago and demolition of the East Street Shopping Centre followed in preparation for the construction of a new Morrisons. The months have passed and Southampton has gained a wasteland which can not yet be described even as a building site because preparatory work has not been completed. There is, apparently, some sort of dispute or unexpected difficulty and I am sure many people in addition to myself wonder if the supermarket will ever rise above the scarred land of this latest planning debacle.

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