Bloomsbury, the Brunswick Centre, local attractions, news and chat

[sheothebudworths]

facelift may be shit, getting rid of the junkies seemed to be popular with a lot of people living there.

Uhhhhh....?

 

[sheothebudworths]

(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!)

 

[Reno]

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 ?

 

[toggle]

(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]

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! ).


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 ).

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]

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]

Alara (the wholefood shop) and the second hand bookshop (Skoob?) have been there for yonks though - both existed way before this development.

 

[phildwyer]

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.

 

[Macabre]

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]

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 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.

 

[sheothebudworths]

<taps fingers>

 

[christonabike]

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]

<cough> toggle !!! </cough.

 

[HackneyE9]

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]

PS - the then recently completed Brunswick Centre makes an appearance in Antonioni's 1974 movie The Passenger! Blink and you'll miss it...

 

[Brainaddict]

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]

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 has now moved to the "touristy" side of Bloomsbury at 35 Little Russell Street (near to the original jazz venue Pizza Express).

 

[toblerone3]

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.

 

[editor]

Woburn Walk is a period delight!

Stepping into the past: the historic Regency shopfronts of Woburn Walk in Bloomsbury, London -

On my wanders through Bloomsbury in central London, I was delighted to stumble across the beautifully preserved Woburn Walk, which oozed Ye Olde atmosphere in the late afternoon, autumn drizzle. One of the first examples of a pedestrian shopping street in the Georgian era, the historic...

www.urban75.org