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Rod McPhee: What happened to Briggate?
WE may officially be out of the recession – but you'd certainly never know as you walk down Leeds's showpiece shopping street.
Briggate isn't facing impending doom. It still proudly boasts large department stores, a few designer shops and some beautiful arcades, but not everything in the garden is as rosy as it used to be.
For starters, just count the number of retailers which have disappeared recently leaving their old units empty – there's Borders, Envy, Free Spirit, USC, Route One and Dolcis.
I realise six is a comparatively small number but there is currently only something like 40 units (of vastly varying sizes) on the central stretch of Briggate.
We've already lost some of those units to stalled developments. Burger King has shifted round to Boar Lane, while the old Pizza Hut and Habitat have long since departed.
I also accept these names have left for varying reasons – Borders, obviously, has gone into administration, while USC has merely relocated elsewhere in Leeds – but whatever the cause they haven't been replaced and that's foreboding.
Maybe some or all of the above are about to be refitted by new residents at any moment, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
More troubling are two key developments at the bottom end which appear to be on ice and boarded up for the immediate future.
The Market Street Arcade (which once contained the aforementioned Dolcis and Route One) appears to have been sitting untouched for months – a real eyesore.
But that's nothing compared with the spectacle of the Trinity development site which currently sees hoardings around the giant plot jut across half of Briggate.
If you think I'm merely stating the obvious, don't be so sure. I'm not certain that this combination of factors is instantly obvious.
Most shoppers will no doubt have seen the obtrusive Trinity development (you can hardly miss it) but I wonder if they've registered the empty units which are increasing in numbers every few months.
I also wonder if people have spotted a disproportionate number of certain businesses replacing the old retailers.
Just check out who is there and you'll find there's a surprising amount of banks, building societies and mobile phone shops.
Big names with lots of money are filling the vacuum, but not necessarily giving us the high street we want.
I can barely remember a time when there was less variety and I certainly don't remember a time when there were so many gaps left unfilled for more than a few months.
Given that this street, supposedly the bedrock of city centre retailing, is already suffering, how many more of those gaps will be added to over the next turbulent 12 months? Watch these spaces.
The Great Alexander
I WAS genuinely pleased to see Alex Reid win Celebrity Big Brother this weekend. He's a bit of a prat, but an endearing one at that. He's certainly much more genuine that Vinnie-I'm-your-average-Joe-but-spend-$150-a-week-on-dog-groomers-at-my-Mulholland-Drive-mansion-Jones.
Jordan's cage fighter boyfriend was a worthy winner for the last ever CBB, which producers had pulled out all the stops on to ensure it was the most spectacular yet.
Did they succeed? Well, it was certainly one of the best, but nothing could ever beat seeing Vanessa Feltz lose the plot or George Galloway impersonating a cat while wearing a leotard.
CBB, we're gonna miss you.
Ending fights
ANOTHER week, another round of statistics illustrating why combating the dangers of booze-fuelled violence should be prioritised over anything else.
Last year a staggering 5,000 people went to accident and emergency departments as a result of assaults in Leeds – that's almost 14 people every day, or one person every couple of hours.
Granted, not all of them will have been booze-fuelled, but the fact that the figures peak at weekends suggest that quite a chunk of those 5,000 came into casualty as a result of kicking the hell out of one another while inebriated.
And yet many see it as being relatively normal, par for the course almost. It's as if fighting is an inevitable part of a night out, however wrong. It isn't, and should never be treated so.
"Getting into a bit of a rumble" is nothing to laugh about. Valuable time and resources are taken up clearing up the mess of boneheads and, what is sometimes forgotten, is that people either die as a result of assaults or sometimes spend the rest of their lives psychologically scarred.
We get distracted by so many other issues when it comes to nightlife. The problem isn't merely 24 hour licensing, it isn't dance clubs, it isn't even, necessarily, binge drinking since plenty of people binge drink but don't start swinging their fists around.
The real problem is that certain venues attract certain people who like to drink to excess and commit acts of criminal violence. Anyone who regularly goes out in Leeds knows where the troublespots are, yet the trouble continues. It's terrifying.
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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