Planned £80million Upper Street arcade - ‘must make space for specialist shops’ -
PUBLISHED: 7 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER
SMALL specialist shops – rather than chain stores – should be encouraged to open at a new £80million arcade planned for Upper Street, leading figures in Islington said this week.
Labour’s Paul Convery, chairman of planning for the west area, said he would be highly disappointed if the arcade merely provided outlets for high-street names. His committee gave final approval for the development at the former Royal Mail Sorting Office.
He added: “This is an opportunity to provide a scheme that encourages and supports local shops, many of whom are no longer available on our high streets.”
Architect Piers Gough has designed the development, which takes in the site of the former Mitre pub in Almeida Street, following five years of negotiations.
Shoppers will enter the arcade through the old sorting office’s historic archway. The scheme will boast dramatic curved walls, roof gardens and a new courtyard. It will include up to 25 shops, or a smaller number of large stores, and 267 flats, of which 98 will be affordable.
But architect and Lonsdale Square resident Anthony Delarue said: “I’d like to see small specialist shops but to what extent we can control this is another matter. We’ll probably end up with big chain shops and lots of empty spaces.
“I’d have preferred to have seen the site turned into a small row of flats or houses rather than a large commercial development. We’ve got enough large stores in the area.”