View Full Version : Bloomsbury and the Brunswick Centre...
Blimey. What's happened to the Brunswick Centre? Now it's all spruced up and turned into one long chain of anytown multinational brands. Uurgh.The surrounding area still has a bit of character: lots of traditional-looking (but no doubt some of them poncified) boozers, al fresco cafes everywhere and lots of big London plane trees.There seems to be an above average proportion of homeless/addicts hobbling around the streets, but it sure feels like an expensive area. Anyone else been around here recently?
gaijingirl
22-09-2007, 14:32
Lots.. I used to there quite a bit whilst at SOAS this last year. It is completely different. To be fair I like the massive paved area in the middle. When I went there there was always a very good mix of people using it - academics, workers, young mothers with loads of kids. It is quite high-streety I suppose though..
Blimey. What's happened to the Brunswick Centre? Now it's all spruced up and turned into one long chain of anytown multinational brands. Uurgh.The surrounding area still has a bit of character: lots of traditional-looking (but no doubt some of them poncified) boozers, al fresco cafes everywhere and lots of big London plane trees.There seems to be an above average proportion of homeless/addicts hobbling around the streets, but it sure feels like an expensive area. Anyone else been around here recently?
I know they ruined it the fuckers. :(
The old brunswick centre was one of my favourite places in london. I remember doing lots of k there and getting off on the clockword orange vibe :o
The addicts seem to come and go. There will be periods where there will be a lot of them wandering round and then they'll go again. There seems to be a bit of a triangle between Camden, Bloomsbury and TCR.
Prince Rhyus
22-09-2007, 16:06
I like what they've done to it with the exceptions of the shops that have located there. Faceless identikit non-entity shops selling very little of use to anyone. The "boutiques" there are so small that there's very little in terms of variety that most people with any sense would look elsewhere, the preponderance of so many Starbucks places is pants and out of all the places that I've been to for food or drinks, nothing strikes me as being somewhere I'd want to go back to.
This is the complete opposite to Hache in Camden which was yummy.
phildwyer
22-09-2007, 16:09
I stay on Hunter St when I'm in London. I don't like the new Brunswick much, but it was a terrible state before they redid it--decrepit, ugly, alienating. There are loads of good, traditional pubs in the area, notably The Boot (mentioned in Charles Dickens's novels), the Dolphin and the Lord John Russell.
Brainaddict
22-09-2007, 16:24
I agree - it did need doing up but it's now utterly repulsive due to the complete domination of chain shops/restaurants that are exactly the same as what you find everywhere else in London. Really pissed me off when I saw it.
I also despise them for trying in their advertising to trade on the 'literary' tradition of the area in order to give it some character, at the same time as all those faceless fucking chains flooded in. Stuff like that doesn't surprise me any more but I still think the people who design these kinds of 'facelifts' should all be shot in the head.
Just about every single shop in that Centre was a multinational.
http://www.urban75.org/london/images/brunswick-centre-01.jpg
Big brand bonanza!
There was a big Starbucks in the middle too. Hang on, let me get that pic up.
trashpony
22-09-2007, 16:32
Blimey. What's happened to the Brunswick Centre? Now it's all spruced up and turned into one long chain of anytown multinational brands. Uurgh.The surrounding area still has a bit of character: lots of traditional-looking (but no doubt some of them poncified) boozers, al fresco cafes everywhere and lots of big London plane trees.There seems to be an above average proportion of homeless/addicts hobbling around the streets, but it sure feels like an expensive area. Anyone else been around here recently?
Shame isn't it? Once Waitrose moved in, it was guaranteed that all the other high street brands would be salivating at the chance to open up there.
The flats (ex-council) go for an absolute bomb although there are still a lot of sheltered housing there. It's still fab inside though but you can't get in unless you know a resident. Someone on the board was brought up there iirc - can't remember who. Catherine Tate's mum lives there - she was brought up there too.
http://www.urban75.org/london/images/brunswick-centre-02.jpg
Also there: Oasis, Office, Gap, Beneton, Joy, Waitrose, 3, Virgin, Holland & Barrett, Whittard etc etc etc zzzzzzzzzz
Brainaddict
22-09-2007, 16:35
From their website - http://www.brunswick.co.uk/
"Set in the unique location of Bloomsbury, London’s famous ‘village’ renowned by Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury set"
I think we can call it the Starbucks tactic. Trade on the image of the very thing you are helping to destroy.
Went there recently and found it quite depressing. (Not after I'd scoffed my Square Pie though ;) )
Also there: Oasis, Office, Gap, Beneton, Joy, Waitrose, 3, Virgin, Holland & Barrett, Whittard etc etc etc zzzzzzzzzz
Centrally planned 'regeneration' is always going to be like that though.
it did need doing up
No it didn't!
Am I the only person who loved it?
trashpony
22-09-2007, 16:41
No it didn't!
Am I the only person who loved it?
It wasn't that nice if you lived there and there are a lot of people who are vulnerable in that building. It's a lot safer now.
Brainaddict
22-09-2007, 16:41
Oh come on, it was dingy and decrepid and probably scary after dark. I've nothing against what they've done to it physically - just what they've filled it with.
phildwyer
22-09-2007, 16:43
Oh come on, it was dingy and decrepid and probably scary after dark.
It was indeed. I avoided it after 10pm or so, lots of junkies used to party there after mugging the Eurokids from the Generator.
It wasn't that nice if you lived there and there are a lot of people who are vulnerable in that building. It's a lot safer now.
Fair enough - I've always been well curious to see the flats in there.
I'm not quite sure why I've always been so fixated on the place.
http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/assets/aa_image/320/c/0/1/d/c01d130424258b0c3a37a3c8020e35cc9d46f26b.jpg
It's just :cool:
It was indeed. I avoided it after 10pm or so, lots of junkies used to party there after mugging the Eurokids from the Generator.
When? That's really not been true of the last few years or so ime.
phildwyer
22-09-2007, 16:45
When? That's really not been true of the last few years or so.
True. The clean-up of King's Cross made all the difference.
True. The clean-up of King's Cross made all the difference.
Were they both quite bad before hand? I never really understood the reputation of Kings Cross when I lived there but that was post clean-up afaik.
Didn't the Cartoon Museum get booted out from the Brunswick?
phildwyer
22-09-2007, 16:49
Were they both quite bad before hand? I never really understood the reputation of Kings Cross when I lived there but that was post clean-up afaik.
King's Cross was very bad until the mid-90's. Russell Square was well dodgy after dark too.
Brainaddict
22-09-2007, 17:22
Wikipedia has an interesting little factoid about it:
"The exterior of the building was never painted because the London Borough of Camden could not afford to complete work on the building after they took control. In Hodgkinson's design, the blocks would have been painted cream, a shade typical of the Georgian period, as a homage to the terraced houses that previously stood on the site and those that still surround it."
So I guess its new paint job is in line with the original design. I'd always assumed the bare concrete was part of its brutalist aesthetic.
I got a thing in through my letterbox advertising the all new 'brunswick.' :confused: What an odd place to develop into a massive starbucks. At least the cinema still sounds alright.
We're moving office near there next year, at least it will be convenient if a little dull.
sheothebudworths
22-09-2007, 21:04
Someone on the board was brought up there iirc - can't remember who.
:mad: :rolleyes: :D
Moved in at 6 months old (me and mum were amongst the first residents in the brand new development) and was brought up there - and my mum still lives there (and utterly hates the facelift). :)
sheothebudworths
22-09-2007, 21:05
Older thread here..... http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=180856&highlight=brunswick
Didn't the Cartoon Museum get booted out from the Brunswick?
moved to the other side of brunswick square when they put the rents up.
trashpony
22-09-2007, 21:10
Moved in at 6 months old (me and mum were amongst the first residents in the brand new development) and was brought up there - and my mum still lives there (and utterly hates the facelift)
:o As soon as I saw you'd posted I knew it was you! Give me a break - pregnancy brain. I'm quite impressed I remembered at all! :mad: :D
:mad: :rolleyes: :D
Moved in at 6 months old (me and mum were amongst the first residents in the brand new development) and was brought up there - and my mum still lives there (and utterly hates the facelift). :)
facelift may be shit, getting rid of the junkies seemed to be popular with a lot of people living there.
sheothebudworths
22-09-2007, 21:18
facelift may be shit, getting rid of the junkies seemed to be popular with a lot of people living there.
Uhhhhh....?
sheothebudworths
22-09-2007, 21:22
(You'll find my own opinions on the existing thread I linked to btw, but that was an idiotic, meaningless post tbh....one has little to do with the other!)
King's Cross was very bad until the mid-90's. Russell Square was well dodgy after dark too.
Lived in Kings Cross for three years in the late 80's. It really wasn't that bad and I never had any trouble there, unlike in many other places in London. Also been round the Brunwick a lot and didn't find that too bad either. Shit can happen anywehre though. What were your bad experiences with either far you to think they were dodgy ?
(You'll find my own opinions on the existing thread I linked to btw, but that was an idiotic, meaningless post tbh....one has little to do with the other!)
really?
sheothebudworths
23-09-2007, 09:09
It read to me as though you thought that the complete lack of consultation - the fact that the whole thing feels entirely inappropriate to many of the council residents* who've lived there for years - was entirely justified by the fact that the shopping centre has been effectively 'cleaned up'.
I beg to differ...and so do lots of other people my mum knows on the estate!
The whole thing caused them immense inconvenience - a small example - having had scaffolding and sheeting covering the entire front of the flat for several months (the only source of natural light) while they did the new balconies (my mum had to put her hundreds of plants outside her front door, where ther's little light - so most of them have died) and gave the exterior a lick of paint, they have now changed their mind again about redoing the windows (had said they would, then that they wouldn't and now that they will again), so the whole lot has to erected all over again at some point and once again the residents will have another load of builders trudging around outside their windows (very odd when you're three floors up! :eek: :D ).
The development DID NOT need to be done in the way it was, in order to remove the potential problems brought about by users/dealers/begging etc (though tbh I think my mum would rather have had that than the millions of people - who've suddenly appeared from somewhere - swanking about the place now, driving up rents and pricing out local businesses, tbf :p :D ).
And naturally, the drug problem does not actually disappear, it just relocates somewhere else - somewhere where other people live....but that's probably for another thread.
*It goes without saying that owner tenants will be pleased about it all, as it's clearly only going to increase the already sky high value of their flats, but I don't give a fuck about what they're pleased about or not - given that they have a choice about where they live.
pinkmonkey
23-09-2007, 09:15
Yeah I go there a lot, coz there's an SGI-UK centre in Wakefield street (Buddhist centre) we haven't had it long and its just closed for building work. I've no idea what the area was like before, but the pubs are good (there's one that serves Landlord, my fave beer) I'm not grumbling about Waitrose being there when I'm starving after working at the centre all day plus there's a good health food shop and a good second hand book shop nearby too. So, I like the area, I've been to the squarepie place and I like to admire the overpriced pans in the posh cookware shop.
sheothebudworths
23-09-2007, 09:18
Alara (the wholefood shop) and the second hand bookshop (Skoob?) have been there for yonks though - both existed way before this development.
phildwyer
23-09-2007, 13:36
Lived in Kings Cross for three years in the late 80's. It really wasn't that bad and I never had any trouble there, unlike in many other places in London. Also been round the Brunwick a lot and didn't find that too bad either. Shit can happen anywehre though. What were your bad experiences with either far you to think they were dodgy ?
Had my chain snatched at King's Cross in the wee hours once. Apart from that nothing actually happened, but the area was very intimidating after dark--loads of chaotic junkies, hookers, dealers and thugs hanging out looking for trouble. Russell Square was full of blokes having sex all night long, which is OK if that's your thing, but rather unpleasant if its not.
I used to work in the school of pharmacy, i go back often to meet people, and now in ucl so I'm around it a lot. I don't know anyone who thinks the choice of shops was poor given that TCR is only a ten minute walk away. Just the usual high street shite trying to use bloomsbury's image for marketing.
sheothebudworths
23-09-2007, 21:03
facelift may be shit, getting rid of the junkies seemed to be popular with a lot of people living there.
toggle - to clarify, it was this quote, in response to my stating that my mum - a council tenant (and very involved locally), for 37 years - was not pleased with the redevelopment - that I was responding to.
It's not an *all or nothing* case, clearly (imo)!
I found it slightly offensive tbh - that you were writing off the viewpoint of my old ma :rolleyes: :mad: :D as if it didn't count.
But tbf, you sound as though you may know people living there too - and for obvious reasons, I'm honestly interested to hear you expand on your original post!
It just read as a very over-simplified reaction to me, but apologies if my reply seemed harsh and you actually have personal experience (first/second/third hand - whatever). :)
Your second post doesn't explain your first any better though. :p
sheothebudworths
25-09-2007, 20:03
<taps fingers>
christonabike
26-09-2007, 12:33
I think it looks great
The shops could do with being more diverse, though
I prefer it to how it was, but then again I use it as a shopping centre, and I thought it was well shit before
:)
sheothebudworths
26-09-2007, 23:28
<cough> toggle !!! </cough.
HackneyE9
27-09-2007, 07:08
The cinema's gone slightly downhill too - bought by the Curzon chain, whose first action was to....hike up the prices to West End rip-off level. £9.50 for a movie, anyone?
(I started a thread on this but nobody cared!)
HackneyE9
27-09-2007, 07:09
PS - the then recently completed Brunswick Centre makes an appearance in Antonioni's 1974 movie The Passenger! Blink and you'll miss it...
Brainaddict
27-09-2007, 08:16
The cinema's gone slightly downhill too - bought by the Curzon chain, whose first action was to....hike up the prices to West End rip-off level. £9.50 for a movie, anyone?
(I started a thread on this but nobody cared!)
I care about cinema prices but I'm kind of resigned to the central london prices in the same way North Koreans are kind of resigned to putting up with Kim Il Jong till he dies.
lang rabbie
30-09-2007, 10:47
Didn't the Cartoon Museum get booted out from the Brunswick?
Their peppercorn rent ended when the redevelopment started - I think the centre owners had them occupying a big space that they couldn't get shops to take, rather than boarding even more of the centre up.
The Cartoon Museum (http://www.cartooncentre.com/) has now moved to the "touristy" side of Bloomsbury at 35 Little Russell Street (near to the original jazz venue Pizza Express).
toblerone3
05-10-2007, 09:25
I think the sprucing up is good even if the shops are a bit high street brand etc. Old delapidated Brunswick was depressing. Don't worry there is still plenty of charming grime in the area.
But there is a mismatch between some of the shops and what local residents can afford. Some people have commented about the shoppers in the Brunswick centre "Where do they all come from?"
I think nearby Marchmont Street is still one of the nicest streets in London. :)
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