Oct 04, 2008 16:09
This afternoon I set out to have a go at getting some new shoes and to have a proper look round the new Cabot Circus (which is, for those of you not following Bristol news, a shopping centre that opened here a couple of weeks ago).
There seems to be general consensus about the architecture. From the outside it's nothing, just a big block taking up space. Even the entrances into it are unappealing. That said, I don't know how they could have made it big and appealing given the setting, with limited space around it, a major road running along one side. Possibly the idea is for people to come in to the car park, then over the walkway into the centre, without ever really seeing or going outside.
Inside though, it really is quite impressive. They've nailed the three dimensional city feeling well - handy in bristol where you often go in a shop at ground level on one floor and leave from another, also at ground level. Stand on the third storey and look down and you can see streams of people cris-crossing at multiple levels, moving down stairs, up escalators, over walkways, around floors. The place is not fully enclosed, but is covered by a series of overlapping curved glass roofs. I hope it'll be able to handle things when it's very sunny or extremely windy and rainy. The whole area was filled with a dull background roar, coming up from the people below and down from the rain above.
It'll be a fantastic place if you like people watching, probably best when it's about as busy as it was today - thousands of people passing through, but not the unpleasant crush of christmas shopping.
Of course, the downside is that apart from that, and a hotel chocolat shop, I'm not sure there's anything of any interest or enjoyment in there.
I came out and along horsefair, which is now a mix of new shops like blue something or other, existing ones and disused ones. The sounds of drums and martial music carried along the road, and I came across a police motorcyclist, then another two. Then, preceeded by a police van, first came a pair of officers on horses, pommeled helmets, sabres, green dress uniforms and capes, followed by a score of marching musicians. A dozen more men and women marched past in green dress uniform, followed by soldiers in camouflage, half of them in green, half in desert colours, carrying SA-80 rifles one handed by their hips. I think it was a company, in all, about a hundred men and women. A few people stood to watch, a couple of claps sounded as they passed.
After the non-stop crowds of the mall, it seemed a sad, small affair, past in a minute or two. I don't know if they're recently back from Iraq or (less likely) Afghanistan, back for a rainy, half-hearted welcome. I wonder where they went before and after horseguards. That sort of military parade - not a big, dramatic, extravagant one, but a small, unassuming one - is not something you often see, and it stops you in your tracks a bit, or at least it did me.
I lost what little feeling I had for looking for shoes after that.
parades,
bristol,
circus