Metropol

Ant wrote:I could be wrong, but I believe petrol stations can't be built on for at least 5 years after closure.

As far as I know, that's simply people thinking it's unsafe, rather than it actually being so.

Any unused tanks have to be pumped full of sand to remove all traces of fuel and fumes; then the sand is pumped (or vacuumed?) back out again and the tank refilled with something else.

Once that's been done, the site can be reused.

There was such a property on Homes Under the Hammer once, the process of fully decommissioning is expensive, and if the business running the petrol station went under, it wont have happened.

Not a store, but just as fascinating is the Merrion Centre Odeon in Leeds (opened 1964, closed in 1977, still standing today): history on the (rather excellent) 'Cinema Treasures' piece on BBC Leeds; more photos on Flickr.

Closed cinemas in general are cool - most would have been fantastic buildings originally but were ruined when split in the 70s and 80s. I've read that Rank builders could be heard laughing as they smashed up the art deco interior of Nottingham Odeon in the 60s.

Last time I was in Manchester the Primark there was having some refurbishments done and so additional customer stairs were opened. The staircase was horrifically dated - green tiles, blue handrails, horrible lino floors. I'm not sure what the department store was before it was a Primark - probably a Littlewoods or something - but I felt like I'd stepped back in time. There were lots of original features up the walls too such as lightboxes for advertisements.

It used to be Lewis' department store (not to be confused with John Lewis). It was still thriving when I first moved to Manchester in 1986, but died through the 1990s and closed in 2001.
From 1996, other retailers shared the space (e.g. M&S after the Manchester bomb, and TKMaxx in the basement). TKMaxx stayed there for several years after Primark moved into the Ground and First floors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis's)

Similarly the BHS in Manchester - which was still open - is a living department store museum and well worth a visit to the top floor with its horrific layout, frankly odd architectural features and hidden cafe at the back of the store. They even had those sinister "randomly spinning" CCTV camera "bots" on the ceiling.

That BHS is a disgrace. They have barely touched it since the 1990s. Worse still, because the company has a long-term lease on that corner of the Manchester Arndale, they've thwarted all efforts to do up that part of the building, even though the rest of the centre has been rebuilt, redeveloped and/or reclad since the bomb.

Neil DG wrote:

Last time I was in Manchester the Primark there was having some refurbishments done and so additional customer stairs were opened. The staircase was horrifically dated - green tiles, blue handrails, horrible lino floors. I'm not sure what the department store was before it was a Primark - probably a Littlewoods or something - but I felt like I'd stepped back in time. There were lots of original features up the walls too such as lightboxes for advertisements.

It used to be Lewis' department store (not to be confused with John Lewis). It was still thriving when I first moved to Manchester in 1986, but died through the 1990s and closed in 2001.
From 1996, other retailers shared the space (e.g. M&S after the Manchester bomb, and TKMaxx in the basement). TKMaxx stayed there for several years after Primark moved into the Ground and First floors.
([url]http://
n0.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis's[/url])

Similarly the BHS in Manchester - which was still open - is a living department store museum and well worth a visit to the top floor with its horrific layout, frankly odd architectural features and hidden cafe at the back of the store. They even had those sinister "randomly spinning" CCTV camera "bots" on the ceiling.

That BHS is a disgrace. They have barely touched it since the 1990s. Worse still, because the company has a long-term lease on that corner of the Manchester Arndale, they've thwarted all efforts to do up that part of the building, even though the rest of the centre has been rebuilt, redeveloped and/or reclad since the bomb.

Ahhah thanks for the information! I was shocked by how poor that BHS was - it was worse even than the Nottingham Broadmarsh is (and at least they have the excuse of being part of a centre which may or may not be reshaped/knocked down/redeveloped/refreshed/refurbished). It always amazes me how well the Cafes do in these places - it was heaving with pensioners when I visited, despite the fact I couldn't see a bonket seat which wasn't torn! I've read and heard that the cafe woah mentioned in the Castle House Department Store was the same.

Lewis's death is symptomatic of the death of regional/independent department store chains, along with the Co-operative Societies' department stores (the majority of which have now closed following years of uncertainty and the few that remain seeming like white elephants wherever they may be). It's sad really, I like the notion of independents but whenever I'm in one I don't really feel inclined to spend - their feel is outdated and the economics of being independent obviously mean their prices aren't often competitive.

The Debenhams at the Merry Hill Centre was delightfully 1988 last time I visited - old logos abound. (popped in just for the decor and to see if the small branch of Game was still in there). Probably gone all modern now.

There's a nice massive glass frontispiece for it too.

stu wrote:The Debenhams at the Merry Hill Centre was delightfully 1988 last time I visited - old logos abound. (popped in just for the decor and to see if the small branch of Game was still in there). Probably gone all modern now.

There's a nice massive glass frontispiece for it too.

Pretty sure it's been updated, but the rest of the centre is a right mish mash of retail fashions from the last 3 decades. It seems whenever a wing was stuck on there would be no effort to modernise the rest of the centre. Presently there's a swanky modern Westfield-house-style food court which leads you straight out in to a mall that clearly hasn't been refurbished since its mid-80s début.

A must for any fans of hilariously outdated/strange retail experiences.

It also has what has to be one of the strangest ASDAs - previously a Carrefour, it has the checkout line flush to the mall, meaning you have to take your trolley in to the mall to get to the end of the checkout. Weirder still, the tobacco and lottery kiosk is actually in the middle of the mall, like one of those cart-based outlets! A very weird experience - and to make it even weirder there's a normal (so far as I can tell!) ASDA supermarket just outside the Merry Hill development.

WillPS wrote: It also has what has to be one of the strangest ASDAs - previously a Carrefour, it has the checkout line flush to the mall, meaning you have to take your trolley in to the mall to get to the end of the checkout. Weirder still, the tobacco and lottery kiosk is actually in the middle of the mall, like one of those cart-based outlets! A very weird experience - and to make it even weirder there's a normal (so far as I can tell!) ASDA supermarket just outside the Merry Hill development.

We have the flush checkouts in a new shopping centre up the road from me, it's coming back in fashion, the idea is you're out right away!

The main Lewis's shop in Liverpool's fifth floor is somewhat of a 60s time capsule, opened in the 50s and closed in the 80s with pretty much everything left intact. What was there was a mystery to most people until the closure of the store meant we could finally see it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... -liverpool

Philip wrote:The main Lewis's shop in Liverpool's fifth floor is somewhat of a 60s time capsule, opened in the 50s and closed in the 80s with pretty much everything left intact. What was there was a mystery to most people until the closure of the store meant we could finally see it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/ ... -liverpool

Yes, see post 2.

remind me, it's the building next to Primark (as viewed from Piccadilly Gardens) that used to be 'Old' Broadcasting House?